Community & Business
21 July, 2021
Historic church heritage listing success
A HISTORIC Mareeba Church that has been standing for more than half a century has successfully been recognised as a piece of Australian and architectural history after officially being heritage listed in recent weeks.
A HISTORIC Mareeba Church that has been standing for more than half a century has successfully been recognised as a piece of Australian and architectural history after officially being heritage listed in recent weeks.
The Mareeba Uniting Church was built in 1960 on the Corner of Rankin and Walsh Street by renowned Cairns architect Eddie Oribin whose other works including his own home and studio, have been heritage listed.
The application for the Mareeba Uniting Church to become heritage listed was lodged in February by the Australian Institute of Architects.
They felt that there are not enough post World War II buildings heritage listed and acted on behalf of the local community to keep the building in its original glory.
Queensland president of the Australian Institute of Architects Dr Michael Lavery said that they are excited to have helped the local community in getting the church heritage listed.
“The Institute of Architects is thrilled to assist in highlighting and having listed important heritage places in the state,” he said.
“We don’t have a lot of listings for buildings post-World War II and normally listings are put forward by private citizens, they’re time consuming and a lot of information required to do them.
“We became aware that the church was going to have to sell the building and knowing that it was going to be sold we wanted to help the community in protecting it.”
“It really is a fantastic example of this kind of architectural work and of this architects work.”
The organisation that manages Uniting Churches across North Queensland, Perspiratory Carpentaria, has stated they do not have a current decision on the future of the church.
“Due to the heritage listing we are considering what might be the options for the property into the future,” a spokesman said.
The Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust makes the final decision on the future of the church, whether it is to be sold or not.
Becoming heritage listed does not mean that the church cannot be sold however it allows property owners to apply for State and Federal Government funds to assist the maintenance of the property.
