Gympie council decision on Kilkivan’s St Matthews Anglican Church released

An historic century-old church in the west Gympie region is at the centre of a grassroots campaign to preserve it. Now the building’s future has been decided.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig and councillors voted unanimously to try and relocate an historic century-old church at Kilkivan before disposing of the land it was located on.

For more than 135 years, St Matthews Anglican Church has called its land at 29 Bligh St home.

That is likely soon to change, though, with Gympie councillors voting to explore moving the historic building.

Councillors have voted unanimously to begin exploring options for relocating the building as part of a wider move to dispose of a dozen blocks of land owned by the Gympie Regional Council.

The council now considers these blocks to be surplus to its needs.

The church was built in 1888 and served as a place of worship for 125 years before being deconsecrated in 2013.

Residents have been fighting to save the church since news of a possible sale became public.

Martin Essenberg, Mavis O'Neill, Dawn Choate and Dorn Gooding are among the Kilkivan residents hoping to restore the St Matthews Anglican Church.

The church has remained a popular location for residents, who maintain the building is an important part of the town’s history.

Its condition remains good except for small patches of wood rot.

The Bligh St land the church sits on is one of a dozen blocks the council wants to rid itself of as “surplus to its needs”.

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Councillors agreed to explore moving the church before disposing of the block.

Whether this could be done hinged on the ability to locate a suitable block to shift the church too.

One proposal floated at Wednesday’s meeting was to shift the building near the railway, a few hundred metres away.

Doing so would not come cheap though.

Staff said the final bill was unknown but expected it to be five figures.

The church was built in 1888 and served as a house of worship until 2013, when it was deconsecrated. Photo: Tanya Easterby/The Gympie Times

Councillors were told moving another building in the town a similar distance was between $30,000 and $40,000.

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Councillor Dan Stewart said some of the blocks in question had been under discussion “for years, going back to the last term” and he was happy to finally allow the council to move forward with its plans.

The remainder of the blocks to be disposed of are vacant.

They include land at Diamondfield Rd, Amamoor, Cinnabar Rd, Cinnabar, Old Maryborough Rd, Woolooga, and Dart St, Tin Can Bay.

Some of these blocks will have boundaries realigned or will be amalgamated with other blocks before the council rids itself of them.

They will be marketed and sold by way of expression of interest.