Trial Harbour Church

In 1883 a church was built by voluntary labour near Trial Harbour with the assistance of Mr. T.S. Williams, the Orient Mine manager and his sons Luke and Tom. This building was used by all denominations, despite the Williams family being Methodist. The Orient mine was situated about 5 kms east of Trial Harbour.

The following appeared in The Mercury newspaper in June 1883:

MOUNT HEEMSKIRK [From a Correspondent] For some time it has been thought very desirable to build a small place for those who wish to meet on the Sabbath for divine worship, although Sunday services had been held at various places, but now a place of worship has been built on the Orient T.M. Co.'s claim, and was opened on Sunday , 20th of May ... Mr. Thos. S. Williams manager of the Orient T.M. Co., read a report showing all the accounts and what had been done by the friends towards the building. Mr. Tims gave timber for the roof; the carpenter gave a day-and-a-half's labour; Mr. Moore, the blacksmith, made the candelabra in the centre of the church, holding four candles. The place was, nicely papered, looks very well. From the report read by Mr. Williams it appeared there was still a debt on the little church of £12. At the close of Mr. Williams' report the chairman asked the choir to sing. The choir sang one of the well-known hymns of Sankoy & Moody. ...

The outside structure was unconventional with timber offcuts from the mine placed vertically. The lower part of the inside was constructed of blackwood boards 6 feet in height, the floor was celery top pine. Shingles measuring 2 feet by 6 inches made up the roof.

Quote from Nic Haygarth's - Luke William's and the first church on the west coast mining fields (see links)

The surprise failure of the Orient crushing in October 1883 threw ‘a great damper … on lode tin mining at Mount Heemskirk …’ Confidence in the field evaporated. Thomas Williams resigned his post, and the little church and reading room was removed. Mayne’s Tin Mine later produced 140 tons of metallic tin near the site of the Orient, showing that the area had at least limited potential.