Photo of the Tue 27 Oct 2009 article in The Mercury

David & I were enjoying a quiet afternoon hanging out at the Museum Courtyard Café. I was organizing material in my trusty UMPC, while David browsed through that day’s edition of The Mercury. Suddenly, he flipped the paper over to me & said, “This may be of interest to you.”

Being pretty preoccupied with what I was doing, I intended to give it a quick once-over, assuming it would probably be nothing much, but not two lines in, I was captivated by the story.

Unfortunately, this particular article was not included in The Mercury online, so I haven’t the actual article to link to. I managed to get a copy for myself by paying for it on Newstext but I’m not allowed to reproduce it here.

St. Margaret’s Church & Cemetery is situated near the start of Saunderson Road in Risdon. That places it less than a kilometer away from the Risdon Cove Historic Site, site of the first British settlement in Tasmania.

The church was built in 1867 but, oddly enough, isn’t on Tasmania’s heritage register. According to the article (which is found on page 9 of the Tues 27 Oct 2009 edition of The Mercury, by Charles Waterhouse), the building “is deteriorating so much it is collapsing”. It doesn’t say when the church was closed down or why.

I was intrigued & very excited. So David & I decided to take a drive down to pay this little church a visit this afternoon.

It was a splendid afternoon for a drive & for photography too. The sky was a brilliant blue with perfect little cotton puffs of cloud scattered about. We pulled into Saunderson Road & I immediately recognized the faded pale paint & red roofing of this historic building.

The road in was loose gravel & there was a sign carelessly tossed on the ground that read, “Notice: We are currently re-developing East Risdon Cemetery. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.” It’s a shame they aren’t doing up the church as well.

According to the article, the owners of the church, Millingtons Funeral Directors, agreed that the church was in a bad state but said, “It’s not high on our priority list at the moment.” Luckily, demolition had not been considered but the owners insisted that the church “needed to have a use”.

Large sulphur-crested cockatoos were twirling & screaming in the air above me as I made my way down the little path leading to the church building. As I rounded the corner to the front of the building, my jaw dropped, aghast. The sandstone staircase leading up to the main door of the church was, literally, crumbling into dust! The capstones of the staircase looked like they were just about ready to tumble right off, they were all askew.

My heart broke. This little church is such a treasure & yet it was clear that it had been neglected for years & years.

As I circled the building, I noticed that the foundation was truly giving way. I wouldn’t dare step foot in this rickety church! Blackbirds were busy flying in & out of the holes & gaps in places where the roofing had come loose, chirping merrily as they nested in the nooks & crannies there.

I had a wander through the cemetery as well. I was surprised to note that this cemetery was still in use; the most recent burial here was just this year, a couple of months ago.

I was particularly interested in the older tombstones. I may be wrong, but I think the earliest one I could find was that of a baby named James Alexander Barr, who died in 1875, 8 years after the church was built, at one year of age. Child mortality was so high in those days.

This particular tombstone was so worn down by time, over 100 years, that someone had come along & tried to preserve whatever was engraved by filling it in with either black paint or marker ink. It even looks like that was attempted more than once. The last line, however, is rather poorly done, it’s quite illegible.

As I moved between the tombstones, some so old that they look like they are near topping over, I was struck by a sense of how seemingly forgotten & abandoned this place was. We were only ten minutes away from the bustling modern streets of Glenorchy, yet this place FELT like it was still out in the middle of nowhere. Isolated. Alone. It’s almost as if it was still in the time space of the past, in the late 1800s.

I came to check out St. Margaret’s Church an an eager & enthusiastic mood, almost bubbling over with excitement really. Yet, I felt my steps slowing down within its grounds, almost out of reverence. For what? I do not know. Perhaps for the implacability of time. As we were readying ourselves to go, I felt almost melancholy. Certainly I did feel sorry for the venerable crumbling church. But it was more than just that. It was just the place & the air about it.

I hope to find out more about St. Margaret’s Church in time to come & learn some of the stories of the people who lived & worshiped here. I hope that, if nothing else, this post may help bring more awareness of this gem of history lying seemingly hidden on quiet Saunderson Road here in Risdon & hope that it will soon be restored & re-take its place in the community here.