St Andrew's Anglican, Lutwyche

"Here lies all that could die of Alfred James Peter Lutwyche". These simple words are inscribed on a pink granite Celtic cross placed on a grave that is situated next to St Andrew's Anglican Church on Lutwyche Rd at Lutwyche. The street and the suburb are named after the man who is buried there, Mr Justice Alfred Lutwyche, who was Queensland's first Supreme Court judge. The cross was erected in his memory by his wife Mary, who is also buried there. (Photo: © 2010 the foto fanatic)

It is fair to say that the church owes its presence here to Judge Lutwyche. Lutwyche, a practicing Anglican, purchased the land on which the church stands in 1864 and donated it in 1865 when the local Anglicans decided to build a church. He and his wife participated in the planning of the church which was designed by RG Suter. Here is that church in a picture that was taken in 1888.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #63963)

In the early 1920s the congregation decided to build a new church, which was opened in August 1926 by the Bishop of Brisbane and a crowd estimated at over 2,000 people. The second church is shown below in a photograph from 1939.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #69232)

This new church was designed by Melbourne architect Louis Williams, and features a tall bell tower that contains thirteen bells, apparently unusual for a church in a suburban parish. (Photo: © 2010 the foto fanatic)

Fortunately the church is well set back from busy Lutwyche Rd, because the Northern Busway has created traffic snarls, not to mention dust and noise issues (see next Monday's post!). However the church sits serenely amongst some carefully tended trees.
(Photo: © 2010 the foto fanatic)

The web site of the church can be found here, and it is interesting to note that both the rector and the deacon are female.

Click here for a Google Map.

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