St Andrew's is a wonderful, well cared for country church. Built of stone, it has a very unusual and attractive round turret at one end of the building that is reminiscent of a hop kiln, except for having little, decorative battlements around the top.
The history of St Andrew's goes back well over a century when land was donated for the building of a church and cemetery by James Clark in 1885. It was part of land granted to him by Governor Frederick Weld in 1874. The cemetery was consecrated in 1886 and not long after that event, work commenced on the construction of the church. By 1889, the building was completed and the beautiful little church was consecrated by Bishop Bromley.
Inside, St Andrew's is simple, clean & airy, with bright carpet and pine pews. It retains a still-well-in-use feel about it. An interesting point of difference between St Andrew's and so many of the other small country churches built throughout Tasmania is that it has no grand stained glass windows installed. However, this doesn't take away from the beauty of the church building at all as it doesn't seem to need them, having a complete feel about it as it is. The cemetery is in front of the church and has the resting places of many early settlers to the district.
The beauty of the church has been appreciated by people from across the globe with the visitors book having been signed by visitors from the USA, Canada, Holland, Sweden, New Zealand and the UK.
For a short time, Ellendale was a parish in its own right with St Andrew's the centrepiece of the parish. However, during the great depression of the 1930's saw the end of the independent parish and Ellendale is now part of the parish of Hamilton.
This beautiful stone building is located on the left hand side of the road as you drive out of Ellendale and is very visible. Well worth a stop for a wander around the church grounds.
Main Text & Information Source -
"From Black Snake To Bronte" - Book by Audrey Holiday & John Trigg
