Former Wesleyan Church
The original Wesleyan Church was erected in 1873 but destroyed in 1897. The building which remains today was constructed to replace the original church.
The new church was fabricated by A. Simpson and Son in Adelaide and a trial assembly of the building took place in Adelaide before the Church was shipped to Darwin in 1897.
The building is made of steel with steel angle frames and clad externally with horizontal pressed metal profile cladding which mimics weatherboards. Originally the church had a hipped roof surmounted by a semi-circular vent along the length of the short ridge.
The new church was designed specifically to withstand the ravages of further cyclones and to that end, cables or chains were attached to each corner of the roof to anchor the building down to concrete pads, and the roofing sheets were fixed with hook bolts to the roof purlins.
The effectiveness of this design is apparent in the fact that the church has survived a number of cyclones since that time.
In 1940 the church was enlarged with the addition of the timber and two fibro cement transepts in order to accomodate both the combined Methodist-Congregational and Presbyterian congregations which worshipped in the church.
During the period 1942-46 the church was the chapel for HMAS ‘Melville’, the official name for the Darwin Naval Station. In 1946 the church became the home of the United Church of North Australia and continued to be used for worship until 1960 when the new Uniting Church in Smith Street was completed.
Over time the church has been altered with the original external metal cladding in places replaced by asbestos cement sheeting and windows and doors also altered. The original entrance porch visible in early photos has been removed and replaced with a higher level entrance and sliding door. Additionally several verandah posts have been removed, and the central floor level has been raised and a new entrance ramp and platform installed, to accomodate this higher level when the building was converted to a mission store.
The Wesleyan Church is significant because it is associated with the rebuilding phase in Darwin which followed the devasting 1897 cyclone.
It is also signficant in that the construction system and design is of exceptional interest being an early prefabricated metal structure built specifically to withstand cyclonic conditions in Darwin.
The church demonstrates the provision of religious facilities during the early phase of settlement and particularly during WWII when it served as the Naval Chapel.
Declared: 26 July 1995.
Produced: April 1996.
