Emu Bay Chapel on the Hill

George Augustus Robinson is recorded as holding the first Christian service in Emu Bay during his four years wandering around Tasmania seeking Aboriginal people in the 1830s.

In 1849 a petition signed by several locals with a list of 27 donors offering to donate £64 towards the cost to build a chapel was sent to the London Court of Directors of the VDL Co. by Mr. James Gibson, the resident manager, requesting a grant of land on which to build a chapel.

It is believed the first church was constructed of small palings with shingles was built overlooking Emu Bay on land donated by the VDL Co.

Carpenter Mr. Thomas Wiseman built a church on land on the northern side of Wilmot Street, fronting Marine Terrace. The following report was in the Cornwall Chronicle 19th November 1850:

BERNIE (sic) Settlement.— About 1 p.m., on the 19th October, (Friday) ... the Rev. Mr. Greig (sic) arrived overland from Circular Head, visited the Protestant Chapel, and took apartments at the 'Emu Inn'. I was informed that the Lord Bishop of Tasmania presented a ' doucer' of £25, to expedite the completion of the chapel which expected to be finished about the end of November ... On the afternoon of Sunday, 20th October, the Rev. Mr. Greig performed Divine Service in the Protestant Chapel, which was prepared specially for the occasion.

On the 16th July 1855 Bishop Nixon licensed the church, performing Divine Service and other Ecclesiastical duties. This little chapel with humble beginnings survived until 1884.

See also St George's No. 29