St Luke’s Anglican Church, West Street, Coopernook

St Luke’s Anglican Church at Coopernook is built on land donated by William Newton of “Coopernook House”.¹ Built of timber with a shingle roof (since replaced by asbestos tiles), the church was designed by Charles Soward Hornabrook (later to become an Anglican priest and marry William Newton’s daughter Anna) in the Victorian Carpenter Gothic architectural style.² It was constructed by Smith Bros of Cundle and dedicated by Dr Pearson, Bishop of Newcastle, in September 1886.³

Arbor Day in 1900 was celebrated by the planting of sixty trees around the church dedicated to, amongst others, Baden-Powell and “heroes of South Africa”.⁴

In 1921 the church is noted as being lit by acetylene gas and having an oak reredos⁵ in the form of a soldiers memorial.⁶

Fundraising was undertaken in the early 1930s to prepare the church for its 50^th anniversary celebrations.  In September 1936, the church was said to contain many internal furnishings donated by parishioners⁷ and two Plane Trees were planted.⁸

The building developed a lean and major restoration works were carried out circa 1990 to correct this.⁹

Early photos show the church enclosed by a timber picket fence. It now has a low brick fence with metal gates along the frontage. The church was deconsecrated in June 2019.

Author: Penny Teerman