St Paul's Anglican Church

The first Church of England services in Ipswich were held in a timber building in Ellenborough Street. A brick church was then erected in 1850 on the corner of Brisbane and Nicholas Streets, opposite the present-day church on Brisbane Street. This was always intended to be a temporary building and was later used as a Sunday School and day school. It was demolished in 1877.

Construction of the new St Paul’s Church commenced in 1855 and was completed in 1859. The Reverend John Moseley was the rector at that time. Originally called St Paul’s Church of England it became St Paul’s Anglican Church in 1981. In 1882 the first Galilee Porch, made from cast iron, was installed at the entrance to the church. This would be replaced in 1926 with the current Galilee Porch War Memorial.

The limestone wall on the Nicholas and Brisbane Streets was added in 1872/1873, funded by charity events held by the church and members of the congregation. The first photograph of the fence available on Picture Ipswich was taken in 1876. A 1873 newspaper article quoted Mr. Gill as thanking Mr Sparrow specifically for funding a quarter of the fence.

In 1885, the congregation had outgrown the building, and so aisles and a vestry were added in 1888/1889 to the design of F. D. G. Stanley. The western extensions added in 1929 were designed by prominent Ipswich architect, George Brockwell Gill.

The Rectory built in 1895-1896 was designed by George Brockwell Gill. It replaced an earlier building on the same site which had become dilapidated (which you can see in the 1876 photograph). There have been only minor changes made to the current rectory building since it was constructed. It ceased being the rectory in 1990 and is now used for church office purposes.

Clergy (incomplete)