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3pm Sunday 23 February 2014
The service was followed by afternoon tea.
For a century and a quarter the Hunter Baillie Memorial Presbyterian Church has stood on the corner of Johnston and Collins Street Annandale.
The Minister, Session and Congregation of the church extended an open invitation to attend the 125th Anniversary service, which was conducted in the distinguished presence of Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Marie Bashir AC CVO Governor of New South Wales.
The Hon Jamie Parker, Member for Balmain presented the church with a NSW Flag
Clan McLeod piped the Governor in and out of the Church The Sydney University Musical Society was accompanied by Ralph Lane on the Hill & Son Organ. The Ferguson Library provided a display and reenactment of the writing of the 1939, 50th Anniversary History. The Guest Preacher was the Rev Dr John Webster.
Governor being piped out of Church and Pipe band on Lawn after service: Video
"This very ornate church, which occupies a com- manding situation at the corner of Johnston and Collins streets, and which has been in course of erection for nearly four years, has now been completed. It was opened for public worship on Saturday, 23rd February, the services on the occassion being conducted by the pastor, Rev. P. Falconer Mackenzie, and the Rev. A. Marshall, M.A., of the Scots' Church, Collins-street, Melbourne. It, along with the handsome school hall at the rear, was erected at the entire cost of Mrs. J. Hunter Baillie, in memory of her late husband, who was a liberal friend and benefactor of the Presbyterian causse in this colony, and the bulk of whose property was bequeathed for the purpose of endowing two professorships in connection with the Presbyterian College. MTS. Baillie has also provided all the furnishings for both church and school-giving to each a fine American organ, and to the former a silver communion service. The whole gift, includ- ing cost of site, will not fall veiy far short of £30,000
The following is a short description of the church :-It is built entirely of stone on concrete foundations. The main entrance porch has a stone groined ceiling and marble floor, and is protected with handsome iron gates:-this is the first story of tower, the second being the ringers' floor, and the third the belfry-the whole height of tower and spire being 176 feet from pathway level. The seats, rostrum, font, and table are of polished cedar of chaste design. The pulpit, of Oamaru stone, is deeply carved in panels representing scenes in Bible history, the whole standing on a marble shaft. The font is also of Oamaru stone, of a design in keeping with the pulpit. The windows are handsome stained glass throughout; the gas fittings of polished brass, the main lights' being given from a bard of Scotch thistles round the columns. The inside measurement of the church is 76 feet, by an overall width of 44 feet, and a height to apex of roof of 46 feet, and is capable of seating about 600. The church has nave, aisle, transepts, and a small child- ren's gallery ; the clerestory walls being carried on grey granite shafts, unpolished, with bluestone caps and bases." Article is accompanied by an illustration - 1889 'HUNTER-BAILLIE MEMORIAL CHURCH, NORTH ANNANDALE.', Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 - 1872), 27 June, p. 33, viewed 12 February, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63621748
Is this church Annandale's version of the Taj Mahal? by: Alexis Carey, From: Inner West Courier Inner City, February 04, 2014 3:59PM
"Ou Saturday afternoon a large and representative gathering assembled in the spacious manse grounds attached to the Hunter-Baillie Memorial Presbyterian Church, Johnston-street, Annandale, on the occasion of a garden party to formally welcome the Rev. R. Moorhead Legate as the colleague and successor of the Rev. P. Falconer Mackenzie to the pastorate of the church. The afternoon was a delightful one for such a purpose, and there was a generous response to the invitations that had been issued..."1898 'GARDEN PARTY AT ANNANDALE.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 17 October, p. 9, viewed 24 February, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14180381