Ch.5 – The Consecration of Holy Trinity Church

Anglican Church Glen Innes

On the 2nd February 1876 the Rt. Rev. Turner, Bishop of Grafton and Armidale consecrated Holy Trinity Church.  He earned the title of the “Builder Bishop”.  It must have been a busy time in Glen Innes with the consecration of the Church on the Feast of the Purification Day on 2nd February, and the Annual Pastoral and Agricultural Show on the 7th and 8th February.

In 1876 Glen Innes was described as being: “pleasantly situated at the foot of a hill at an elevation of 3,700 feet above sea level, on the Rocky Ponds, on the road between Armidale and Tenterfield, 420 miles N.NE of Sydney”.  At that time the Vicar’s stipend was £300 of which the people of the Parish had to find  £200.  The size of the Parish had been reduced by the creation of the Parish of Tenterfield in 1868.  However, the Rev. J. H. Johnson served such places as Bukkulla 60 miles away together with Cope’s Creek, McLeods’s Creek, Ollera sixteen miles west of Guyra, Newstead 25 miles west, Moredun Creek, Limestone Creek and Strathbogie. The Rev. J. H. Johnson concluded a long and distinguished career to the Church in Glen Innes in 1878.  Dangers there were for all travellers and the ministers were exposed to the elements of weather and other obstacles. Visiting Ollera, near Guyra for the Rev. J. H. Johnson meant a good day’s travel and in those times bushrangers roamed.