13. St Peter’s Anglican Church
A simple Victorian Gothic church comprising one room, porch, gable roof. It was originally built as a Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1859 which closed in 1893 and remained unused till its conversion to the Anglican Church in 1905. In the Church of England Yearbook of 1894 it is noted that, “Great efforts have been made to re-establish a Sunday service at Mintaro, but hitherto without success. There are so few who would attend our church that they will not be responsible for the expense of renting a suitable building”. (1) Despite this apparent lack of enthusiasm, however, fortnightly services were eventually conducted in the Institute building from March, 1903, to August, 1905, by the Reverend Frank Sewell, Anglican Minister for Auburn and district. “In the month of March, 1905, Rosina Forsyth Mortlock (wife of William Tennant Mortlock, owner of “Martindale” station) commenced the movement for providing a permanent building for church purposes. In that month a meeting was called by the Rev. F. Sewell, presided over by the Archdeacon of the district, the Ven. Archdeacon Russell, at which it was decided to purchase an old disused protestant meeting house, which had been used originally by the Primitive Methodist sect, now unrepresented in the village”.(2) The church and land (including a four-roomed house and stable, later demolished to build a small Sunday school, which was itself demolished sometime between 1972 and 1981) was then bought from a Mr. Sydney Torr at a cost of ninety pounds. “A contract was entered into with Mr. Arthur of Manoora to make good the structure, to alter certain arrangements, and to erect others according to plans furnished by the Rev. W. Eugene Perrin, Rector of Unley”.(3) The restoration of the Church cost one hundred and twenty one pounds seventeen shillings with furnishings at thirty nine pounds nine shillings; the dedication took place on 17 August, 1905, and the church was renamed after the patron saint of St. Peter. The Mortlocks strongly supported the establishment of the church including the donation of numerous embelishments such as the altar candlesticks, and altar paintings added in 1914. Evidence suggests that without the instigation of the Mortlocks, the Anglican church may well have decided not to acquire the old Primitive Methodist chapel. In effect this building has a two-fold historical significance, being linked with the growth of Methodism in Mintaro in the 1850s and 1860s, and also, in latter times, illustrating the social influence of the large pastoralists in the district who by and large supported the Anglican faith because of their “social station”. Sources Vestry Record in St. John’s Anglican Church, Mintaro. (2) and (3). 1894 Church of England Yearbook Page 335 (1) “Methodism in Auburn and District”, Rev. Ian Paull, 1961 Page 13. — quoted from Mintaro Conservation Study[1] NOTES 1. Mintaro conservation study, McDougall & Vines (Architectural & Heritage Consultants), Norwood, South Australia, 1988.
29. Mortlock Park
Mortlock Park is community land held in trust by the Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council to help provide recreation facilities for the community of Mintaro, the Clare and Gilbert Valleys region and visitors to the area. Council manage the property and the Mintaro Progress Association, through a lease agreement with Council, maintain the recreation facilities. The Association’s Mortlock Park Subcommittee is responsible for day-to-day maintenance, and are assisted by the Mintaro-affiliated sporting clubs who participate at the Park. The main user of the Mortlock Park grounds is the Mintaro Manoora Sporting Club. The Sporting Club along with Mortlock Park Subcommittee organise the running, setup and maintenance of the oval and netball courts and applicable facilities for the community. The facilities are used for football and netball games and functions during the winter season. Cricket games during the summer season are coordinated by the Auburn-Mintaro Cricket Club. Mortlock Park is made up of an oval, 3 netball courts, clubrooms, toilets, multiple sheds and water resources. The clubrooms are used for community and private functions. It is fully equipped with a stainless steel kitchen, including large oven and dishwasher, and also includes multiple change room facilities for team sports. In 2013 a portion of the Mortlock Park property was leased to the Minister for Emergency Services and houses the local CFS buildings and assets. This area is managed by the Mintaro CFS. In 2017 Mortlock Park was designated as the ‘Fire Last Resort Refuge’ for the community. Access to Mortlock Park for visitors, community members and sporting supporters should be made on the western side of the grounds, off Mintaro Road, through the Frederick Ranson Mortlock Memorial Entrance Gates.[1] Mintaro Progress Association sought approval in 2022 for the Frederick Ranson Mortlock Memorial Gates, which had been damaged and deemed unstable, to be redesigned to meet the entrance needs of the current century. They were rebuilt in 2023 with community support and were rededicated at a ceremony on 24 February 2024.
14. Wesleyan Methodist Church Group
The two most prominent religious denominations in Mintaro last century were the Wesleyan Methodists and the Roman Catholics but together with the Primitive Methodists and the Bible Christians, Methodism clearly dominated the religious life of the town. Many of the early pioneers of the town and district were active Methodists such as Edward Tralaggan, Thompson Priest, James Torr, George Sandow, Henry Jolly, and others. These settlers supported the establishment of the first Wesleyan Methodist church which was built in 1854 at a cost of £150. The builders were Messrs. Jenkins, J. Jenkins and Blackley and the Chapel built was one room with a door in front and one at the back, and two windows in each side. The 1854 Wesleyan Church was the first church built in Mintaro followed by St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church which was dedicated in 1856. More Cornish people had been attracted to the town to work in Thompson Priest’s slate quarry and miners from Burra who had returned from the Victorian gold rush bought sections of land with their earnings and set up homes. Hence the population of Mintaro itself grew and also the proportion of the town that were practising Methodists. In 1867 the larger Wesleyan Methodist Church was built and dedicated in May of that year. This building was renovated in 1914 at a cost of £72.1Os. and a wunderlich ceiling added. Redecoration was again carried out in 1934. These two buildings are significant because they illustrate different stages in growth of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Mintaro. The 1854 Church is an excellent example of a late primitive church with stone detailing which is rare in Mintaro. The 1867 Church is more sophisticated Victorian Gothic. There is additional visual emphasis on the front facade with corner buttresses, a small tower/spire, carved stone scroll and a slightly projecting porch.[1] Don and Julie Benger bought the two Methodist Churches in 1993. By this time the congregation numbers had dwindled. The small church or Sunday School Room, as it became known, was used occasionally and the larger church for special occasions such as ecumenical Christmas and Easter celebrations. In 2018 the Edmunds family bought the manse and the churches, which are being renovated. NOTES 1. Edited extract from Mintaro conservation study, McDougall & Vines (Architectural & Heritage Consultants), Norwood, South Australia, 1988.
15. Wesleyan Manse
The Wesleyan Parsonage was built in 1859 close to the 1854 Church and at the time of building was referred to as “the Mission House”. The house had two rooms with a passage. It was built in the southeast corner of the Chapel acre by Mr. John Pearce. The woodwork was let to Mr. Jolley (sic) … Mr. Thompson Priest plastered the inside walls of the house. The original Parsonage was substantially added to in 1891 when three rooms and a passage on the northern side of the house were built by Mr. H.D. Jolley (sic) for £249.10s. to the design by Reverend S. Rossiter.[1] The Parsonage was subdivided from the Church group and sold separately in 1972. The manse was bought by Don and Julie Benger in 1990 and used as a residence. They also hosted bed and breakfast accommodation, including in the western accommodation wing which was built by Clare stonemason Max Hoad in 1993.[2] The Edmunds family bought the manse and the churches in 2018. The manse has been renovated since then.
16. Original School & Cottage
Former Allotment No. 10 (now Lot 66) was purchased by Isaac Duance, a labourer, in 1855. Storekeeper Richard Lathlean who already owned shops and residences on Lot 38 became the new owner in November 1869. In 1872 the same year that the Mintaro Primary School was opened teacher James Fry acquired Lot 10 and four years later also the adjoining Allotment 22 (now Lots 63, 64, 65). This building indicates several construction stages progressing from the western round chimney to the projecting 1870s villa front.[1] Isaac & Mary Duance, both from Cornwall, the newlyweds arrived SA 13 Aug 1852 on the Gloucester by assisted passage.[2] They arrived in Mintaro about 1853/54. When Isaac Duance and family left Mintaro in 1869 the property was purchased by Richard Lathlean, Secretary to the School Committee in Mintaro. He had advertised less than two years earlier for a schoolmaster for the town[3] and was possibly securing it for the schoolmaster’s accommodation. By March the following year, 1870, James Fry and his wife had been appointed ‘conductors of the Mintaro School’ and were advertising that ‘in a short time be prepared to take a limited number of Boarders.’[4] Lathlean and Fry were both devout Wesleyan Methodists and members of a local Board of Trustees which was established to secure the adjoining properties (lots 11 & 12) and advocate for the building of a public school. This was approved by the Board of Education on the 2nd of October 1871.[5] Shortly after the new school was completed, in May 1872, James Fry became the owner of Lot 10. He then purchased the old Primitive Methodist Chapel (lot 22), next door, in 1876.[6] Fry continued as the headmaster until his retirement in 1902 and passed away at Mintaro in 1909, aged 77. The building had many changes over this time. The property transferred on his death to his third wife Lucy Stewart Fry and son-in-law Albert Clayer and then after Lucy died (1929) it was sold in 1933 to Ruby May Grace, married daughter of John George Midwinter and Mary Ann Dew. The property had been in the Fry family for over 60 years. It is suggested that the building became a rental property during the mid 1930s through to the 1980s by which time it had been transferred to Ruby’s daughter Lois May Hobbs. In 1990 Ian McDermid, in partnership with Luis Mendoza, obtained the property and set about restoring it to its original condition, while also installing a bore, electricity and an effluent system as well as developing the garden.[7]
17. Old Primitive Methodist Chapel
The building is locally known as the first Primitive Methodist Church this fact has not been established (see below). The Anglicans were the first to purchase the property in June 1856 and the small structure could well have been erected soon afterwards to serve perhaps as a combined residence and church. The Gothic windows at the front as well as this building’s location in Church Street tend to suggest ecclesiastical function. Reference to an Anglican place of worship in Mintaro are scant but relevant snippets of information which appear in the official Church of England Year Books are worth repeating here. Mintaro’s Anglicans were under the clergy of Reverend W. Wood of St. Barnabas, Clare, and first mention of Mintaro was made in the 1856-57 Year Book. In the 1869-70 issue the remark was made that there was a lack of church attendance in the whole district and by 1876 schoolmaster James Fry became the new owner of the property. In the 1889-90 Year Book first mention was made of a building in Mintaro with a seating capacity of 30. Four years later it was noted that greater efforts were being made to re-establish Sunday services at Mintaro but response was low and a suitable building was not feasible. Rosina Mortlock of Martindale was instrumental in resurrecting Anglicanism in Mintaro and as a result of her persistence and financial backing the former Primitive Methodist complex across Young Street in Lot 23 was purchased by the Anglican Church in 1905. This is a simple hip-roofed sandstone cottage with charming lancet windows to the front elevation, …[1] The property, Lot 22 Mintaro, was sold by Joseph Gilbert to The Right Reverend Augustus Short D.D. Lord Bishop of Adelaide in 1856, also with Lot 9 Mintaro.[2] Locally known as the first Primitive Methodist Church, this is recorded in Ian Paull’s 1961 book ‘Methodism in Auburn and district’ where he states ‘The original meeting place of the Primitive Methodists is now the home of Mrs. Albert Grace whose late husband was a Methodist local preacher.’[3] The certificate of title for the property confirms this as it transferred to Ruby May Grace (nee Midwinter) in 1933.[4] It should also be noted that on the earliest map of the Mintaro subdivision allotment 22 is designated as ‘Church.’ After only a few years the Primitive Methodists found the property too small and in 1858 it was reported in the South Australian Register of 15 October that they ‘are now about to erect a chapel as their present room is not large enough.’[5] This new chapel was opened on December 23, 1860[6] and the old chapel is thought to have reverted to a schoolroom. James Fry, licensed teacher, purchased the property in 1876 and it remained in the Fry family for 64 years, transferring to his wife Lucy Stewart Fry and son-in-law Albert Lionel Clayer after his death in 1909. After Lucy Fry died in 1929 Albert sold the property to Mrs. Grace. During her ownership it appears to have been a rental property for some of the time with names such as Laskey, Marston, Fisher and Pearce being associated with it.[7] Ian McDermid, in partnership with Luis Mendoza, obtained the property in 1997 and set about restoring and renovating it as bed and breakfast accommodation to complement their adjoining property, Lot 10, which they had acquired in 1990.[8] A key feature of the restoration was removal of the verandah on the eastern face of the building and the reinstatement of the original peaked portico and the gothic windows.
01. Institute & Former Council Chambers
A meeting of the Stanley District Council was first held on May 5th 1868, the main outcome of which was a petition to call on the Government to establish a local court there. The Register of June 5th 1868 listed A. Melville, J.P. as Chairman and Patrick Dowd, George Faulkner, Daniel Brady and Henry Jolley as Councillors. About 9 years after the first meeting the Council Chamber, now known as the Civic or District Hall was built. It was linked to the adjoining Institute in 1942, ten years after the Stanley District Council was amalgamated with the District Council of Clare. The Civic Hall, on the right, was built in 1877 and the adjacent Institute was built a year later in 1878. The Institute has been the centre of the town’s social, cultural and entertainment activity. It has served as a polling booth and centre for issuing ration books, and on its walls are hung the various Honour Rolls of the Fallen as well as prominent local citizens. A bio-box was added in 1949 and in 1951 it was noted that the Institute “… was equipped with modern fluorescent lighting, Dunlopillo seats in some chairs, a bio-box and an electric tea urn is the centre of communal life”. In 1987 the recent extension linkage was built and both buildings restored and upgraded. The buildings were originally enclosed along the front by picket fencing which survived as late as 1951. Again, in 2019, the Institute was refurbished, adding wheelchair access to the supper room and an all-abilities toilet, as well as refitting the kitchen with improved facilities. This refurbishment was supported through a Building Better Regions Fund grant in conjunction with the Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council.[1] The Institute continues to be a hub for the Mintaro community, for meetings and events, and as a place for gathering on solemn occasions. The annual ANZAC Dawn Service is held by the war memorial in front of the Institute. With its upgraded facilities the Institute is available for public hire as a venue for meetings, conferences, weddings, receptions and the like. Notes Mintaro conservation study, McDougall & Vines (Architectural & Heritage Consultants), Norwood, South Australia, 1988.