2013 is the 100 year anniversary of the demolition of St James' Old Cathedral in the position from which it once commanded Port Phillip in 5 acres of grounds on Little Collins and William Streets. Next year the congregation can celebrate the reassembly of the stones and furniture and the re-opening on Batman and King Streets near Flagstaff Gardens.
The foundation stone was laid in 1839, and the then landmark building greeted the first bishop, young (41) Charles Perry, on his arrival in 1848 with his wife Fanny, now better remembered as Frances as a result of her hospital work.
Above is an early photo of the reassembled building. The original had an octagonal tower:
An appealing dignified modern Georgian bluestone and local sandstone basilica architectural design both outside and in, with a flat ceiling and excellent acoustics, plainly wasn't large or marvellous enough for Marvellous Melbourne, and the centre of ecclesiastical gravitas shifted to something in medieval gothic sandstone on Flinders and Swanston in the fourth quarter of the 19th century.
We were in the congregation for St James day following the open day. The congregation were entertained to learn that one churchwarden, Edward Oxford (renamed John Freeman), had been an exile from Bedlam, where he was previously long incarcerated after an attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria.
A small choir comprising some of Melbourne's experienced public choral singers (who regularly gather here on roster) rendered music and words carefully integrated into the congregational worship with very singable hymns and traditional Church of England liturgy. The preacher's message well captured the chequered history of the building as a parable of the transitory essence of human existence that nevertheless points to Eternity. A substantial feast at morning tea was surrounded by memorabilia of 174 years.
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