St Peter's Mission Statement

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History of St Peter's

The St Peter's Lutheran Church building as it stands, was originally a Wesleyan church, dating back to 1870. The story of how it came to be follows.

On 27th August 1834, the Methodist Sunday School Union met and decided that another Sunday School was needed. They already had at least six in Hobart but these were filled to capacity and therefore another school was needed to accommodate the 152 children who were waiting to attend. These schools went some way towards making up for the lack of a state system of education. The Union agreed that the new building should be in either Macquarie or Davey Street.

A building in Davey Street, next door to the present church, was decided upon and the school was set up. This was so successful that a chapel/schoolroom had to be constructed to the rear of the block where the church now stands. By the 1860s, this became inadequate for the numbers. A 1973 pamphlet on the Church's history wrote:

"Under a new Superintendent, Mr Edward Hawson, the Sunday School grew rapidly. With 152 scholars and 14 teachers, the size of the chapel was quite inadequate. As a result, proposals were made for the building of a new sandstone church."

This idea of a new building was enthusiastically supported and on Thursday 21 July 1870 - on the fourth day of heavy rain making conditions almost intolerable - the foundation stone was laid. This honour was bestowed on Mr Henry Hopkins, now old and frail, who was a great merchant and philanthropist of the time. On the day he laid the Davey Street stone, he arrived in his carriage at the appointed time of half past two, laid the stone, then wished everyone "prosperity and the successful completion of the building" before driving off. Nine weeks later, he would be found dead, but not before he had laid at least one more church foundation stone, in Elizabeth Street.

The new Davey Street building was completed the following year to an architectural design by Crouch and Wilson of Melbourne. The dedication service took place on Friday 11th August. The Hobart Mercury reported on the occasion:

"It will be remembered that a tender was accepted by the trustees for the whole work at 1440 pounds, the building to be of the Gothic style of architecture occupying an area of 66' x 38' (20m x 11m).. the accommodation provided to be for 350 worshippers, the brown stone to be used in the building to be supplied from the Summerleas quarries and the white stone from Bridgewater...a more snug, comfortable and well-finished church could hardly have been wished for."

The paper also praised the installation of *benches instead of pews, adding that the "material and workmanship are of the best" and "present quite an ornamental appearance."

* the benches have since been replaced by pews.