St Barnabas' Anglican Church, Broadway, is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the Diocese of Sydney,

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, Australia. The church is located on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, near the

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and

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in the Sydney suburb of . Commonly called "Barneys", the church is well known in Sydney for its church signs, including a celebrated "battle" with the publican across Broadway. The church would put up one sign and the hotel would have another with a witty reply to the church's sign. Some of the signs attracted the attention of the Sydney media.

History

Built by

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labourers in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

region of Sydney, the foundation stone for the building was laid in 1858. Much later, some of the land in front of the church was sold and became the site of a commercial building in the Beaux-Arts style.

Arthur Stace Arthur Malcolm Stace (9 February 1885 – 30 July 1967), known as Mr Eternity, was an Australian soldier. He was an alcoholic from his teenage years until the early 1930s, when he converted to Christianity and began to spread his message b ...

, the "

Eternity Eternity, in common parlance, is an Infinity, infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside tim ...

" man, was a member of the church.

2006: fire and destruction

A fire ravaged the church building at 3.30 am on 10 May 2006. It took firefighters around eight hours to completely contain the fire. Destroyed in the fire were a 100-year-old

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, a historic

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window (valued in the media at over a million dollars) and memorials to parishioners who died in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The investigation concluded that the fire was probably started at the power box. No accelerants were found, indicating that arson was not a cause.

2010: demolition of old church building and rebuilding

The old church building was demolished in 2010 and the new building, designed by Sydney architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, was opened in June 2012. The new church building also houses a social community centre and creche. It was awarded a High Commendation (buildings of religion) at the 2013

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in Singapore and the 2013 International Architecture Award.

"Eternity"

, a member of the congregation, attracted attention for writing the word "

eternity Eternity, in common parlance, is an Infinity, infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside tim ...

" in chalk on the streets of Sydney from the 1940s through to the 1960s in a distinctive copperplate style. "Eternity" was featured on the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...

during the 2000 New Year's celebrations. A documentary about Stace, called ''Eternity'', by Lawrence Johnston was released in 1994.

Battle of the signs

R. B. S. Hammond began the weekly ritual of the St. Barnabas message board. His witty and often thought provoking messages were what made St Barnabas famous. Some include; "Drink and trouble are like petrol and fire", "Alcohol makes your mind stagger long before your feet do", "Do not nurse a grievance, teach it to walk" and "Divorce is the hash we make from domestic scraps". Continuing on the tradition was Robert Forsyth, who found that he had competition from Arthur Elliot, publican of the nearby pub, Broadway Hotel. The two noticeboards would often display subtle wordplay, including the following: * St Barnabas: "This church is for sinners" ** Broadway Hotel: "This pub is for drinkers" * St Barnabas: "Money does not make you happy" ** Broadway Hotel: "I'd rather be rich and happy than poor and happy" * St Barnabas: "God made sex for marriage not for money" ** Broadway Hotel: "Wish he had made money for marriage" * St Barnabas: "Free Grace brothers and sisters" (St Barnabas was next to a

Grace Bros Grace Bros was an Australian department store chain, founded in 1885. It was bought by Myer (later Coles Myer) in 1983. There were 25 stores across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory plus a few in Victoria, until they wer ...

store) ** Broadway Hotel: "Free David Jones too" (referring to another Australian department store) * St Barnabas: "The best things in life aren't things" ** Broadway Hotel: "Things are not all what they seem to be" Nowadays and perhaps somewhat ironically, after some services, particularly the later services, parishioners share fellowship with each other at the pub opposite St. Barnabas.

Ministry

The senior minister since 2010 is the Reverend Mike Paget. Other senior ordained staff include Jason Cheng, Erica Hamence and Rhys Duggan. St Barnabas' also employs a music director, Steve Crain, and a substantial ministry team. Previous ministers at the church include:

Gallery

File:BurntOut.jpg, Church the morning after the fire File:(1)St Barnabas Church Broadway Sydney-2.jpg, Some of the remains of the old church

References

External links

*
Anglican Diocese of Sydney

St Barnabas Broadway Soccer Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnabas, Saint Anglican Church, Broadway Anglican church buildings in Sydney Churches completed in 1858 Buildings and structures demolished in 2010 Destroyed churches in Australia Former Anglican church buildings in Sydney Demolished buildings and structures in Sydney Churches completed in 2012 Anglican Diocese of Sydney 1858 establishments in Australia 19th-century Anglican church buildings in Australia Ultimo, New South Wales Modernist architecture in Australia Gothic Revival architecture in Sydney Gothic Revival church buildings in Australia 21st-century Anglican church buildings in Australia