Community
14 August, 2026
Fighting to keep history
A GROUP has formed to ensure the Lismore Presbyterian Church building remains in community hands after services were closed due to a reduced congregation.
The church building was constructed in 1864 and has been closed for services – including weddings and funerals – since 2022.
A number of residents and Lismore expats have been getting in contact with Group Co-convenor Andrew Lang since, forming the group Friends of the Lismore Presbyterian Church in a bid to keep the 162-year-old building in community hands.
The group has already seen between eight and 10 members sign up, with plans for members to take up the maintenance and preservation of the building.
Mr Lang said the local presbytery, which also looks after the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Skipton, is looking to put the church up for sale in 2027 after decreasing the service frequency.
“Services continued every fifth Sunday until 2022 – once the congregation’s dropped below five, I think the presbytery has a threshold for maintaining a church,” he said.
“The congregation did drop below five, and then the church couldn’t be used for the regular services of every Sunday even though members of the Skipton congregation were travelling here and vice versa to maintain the congregations.
“Skipton is also in the firing line for being closed and sold.
“This is possible because the titles of all these churches are held by a trust corporation set up by the Presbyterian Church around the 1950s, and that effectively puts the title in the church’s name rather than the congregation’s name.
“We are hoping that can not be the case for Lismore, and that we would be able to have it retained both as the building it is with the plaques, memorial windows and construction, and can also be used for a whole range of community-building activities.”
The closure of the Presbyterian Church has resulted in Lismore only having one church building – the St John the Baptist Catholic Church, which was opened in April 1923.
Originally designed by Mortlake’s Hamilton and Co and built by Skipton’s George Botterill with locally-quarried bluestone, the Presbyterian Church has seen a number of changes to become the building it is today.
This included the replacement of the rail fence in 1907, a memorial bluestone wall to pay tribute to Lismore residents Mary Helen and Grace Gibson erected in 1947 and the addition of the apse and vestry in 1951.
Mr Lang said the Lismore Presbyterian Church was voted on at a meeting of Lismore residents in March 1863, with the architect, builder and finances all acquired by the end of the month.
“Some of the townspeople were Presbyterians and, in March 1864, they had a meeting saying the ad hoc system of the minister who used to come out of Kilnoorat every so often and hold a service in a house or woolshed wasn’t helpful,” he said.
“By October 1864, they had the first service with the roof on, walls up and windows in – it was just amazing the rate they got it all together.
“Lismore was a small community. The railway wasn’t here, the roads were terrible, there weren’t too many good bridges and people got around with a horse and cart, bicycle, horse or walking.
“They were all coming in inclement weather to get together every Sunday – it’s hard to imagine.”
Mr Lang said some members of the Friends of the Lismore Presbyterian Church group had family ties dating back to the conception of the church building.
“One of the people who was a key player in this Friends of the Lismore Presbyterian Church group’s development is Bill Mack, who grew up on Berrybank Station just at Berrybank,” he said.
“His family were key members and benefactors of the church – Joseph Mack’s daughter Mary gave all the money for building the Jubilee Sunday School across the road.
“Joseph Mack contributed a fair bit of the money to the Presbyterian Church and the manse.
“My great, great grandfather J L Curry was south of Derrinallum – it would have been eight miles by pretty ordinary road to get here.
“There was also the Logan family of Mount Elephant, the Wilsons at Gala, the Mack family at Berrybank and the Robertsons at Gnarpurt – all six of them were eight miles away.”
Mr Lang said he had childhood memories of being at the church.
“When I was going there as a kid in the 1950s, it was full and all the kids – there might have been 20 of us – were in the side area extension,” he said.
“The minister would have a big alarm clock and send us off to the Sunday school across the road.
“A lot of people have links to the church.
“They mightn’t have been devout Presbyterians, but they’ve got close links and we want to see the value of the church and see it maintained as a community asset.”
Avon Buchholz, who lives in the neighbouring town of Derrinallum, said she was keen to be part of the group working to honour the enduring legacy of some of Lismore’s oldest families.
“We want to honour our ancestors because the Buchholz family had a long connection with the church,” she said.
“I’ve been through the process of seeing the Uniting Church in Derrinallum being sold and the building being stripped inside, which was devastating.
“Prior to that, I saw the Catholic Church in Derrinallum close and all the fixtures were handed back to people who donated them in the Anglican Church.”
Mr Lang said the group is hoping to hold a variety of events at the building, including University of the Third Age meetings, choirs and musical activities, writers’ workshops and events to celebrate local history and forgotten crafts within the region.
He said he was hoping to see the church building remain in use in the community, particularly since the building is still in good condition and has had works to maintain it.
“What we’re doing is working out all the things that could be done here without changing the layout,” Mr Lang said.
“There might be things which would need a bit more floor space, so there would have to be a way to compress the pews together, and a system going so the church was open a few days a week and in the evenings for people.
“It’s hard to say just how significant a church building is for the community because people grow up, get old and die, and a new generation comes through and people come who don’t really have an affiliation with the town of any sort of length of time.”
Anyone with ties to the Lismore Presbyterian Church looking to join the group could contact Mr Lang on andrewlang001@bigpond.com or 0409 977 048.
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