St. James’s / St. Phillip’s Church

Very rare early etching of St. James church and  St. Phillips Church, Sydney.

St James’ Church was commissioned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1819, designed by the convict architect Francis Greenway and constructed between 1820 and 1824 using convict labour. Governor Macquarie and Commissioner John Bigge laid the foundation stone on 7 October 1819. The building was originally intended to serve as a courthouse as Macquarie had plans for a large cathedral to be built on the present location of St Andrew’s Cathedral but they were put on hold by the intervention of Bigge who had been appointed to conduct a Royal Commission into the colonial government. Bigge initially approved of the courthouse project but by February 1820, less than four months after his arrival, he strongly recommended its conversion into a church.

St. Phillip’s church was built by orders of the colony’s first chaplain, the Reverend Richard Johnson, using convict labour in June 1793. The wattle and daub construction church was later burnt down by convicts in 1798. A second stone church operated on the current site of Lang Park from 1810 to 1856.

References:
Butler, Printed Images in Colonial Australia 1801-1901, p. 69-70
Ferguson, Bibliography of Australia, 2390
Kerr, Dictionary of Australian Artists p.134-135

Collections:
National Gallery Australia: Accession no NGA 2009.1108.5