St John’s Lutheran Church, 32 Roderick Street, Ipswich, n d (image courtesy of Picture Ipswich)

In the early 1850’s many early immigrants who settled in the Ipswich area were from Germany. Regular migrant shipping services from the port of Hamburg, Germany travelling to Moreton Bay, Australia began in 1852. A large number of the German immigrants were of the Lutheran Faith, and settled in the Rosewood Scrub area as well as Ipswich, Moreton Bay and the Fassifern Valley. By 1861 there were about 2,000 Germans in Queensland and by 1879, some 17,000 German immigrants had settled in the colony.

The first St John’s Lutheran Church on the corner of Roderick and Nicholas Streets, Ipswich was a brick building erected in 1864. The government had granted the acre and a half of land to the Lutheran Church for a Church building two years earlier. Before this, German immigrants had gathered together for worship in the Ipswich Wesleyan Church (Ipswich City Uniting Church) on Ellenborough Street. Services were conducted in the German Language as most German Immigrants had limited or no English vocabulary. There were no Lutheran ministers until Pastor C F A Schirmeister arrived in Queensland from Germany in 1857. Based in North Brisbane, he travelled between congregations conducting services at Brisbane, Toowoomba and Ipswich and overseeing the Lutheran congregations. By 1859 German speaking services were being held on alternate Sundays in the Ipswich Wesleyan Church and the Church of England Sunday School hall, offering weekly services for German immigrants.

Pastor Schirmeister stayed with St Johns until 1866 when the congregation’s first resident minister, Pastor E Heiner arrived from Germany.

In 1929, a new manse was erected at 32 Roderick Street to replace the first parsonage erected in Nicholas Street above the Church in 1887. It was dedicated by Pastor Dohler. After plans to purchase the Temperance Hall opposite St Johns failed, it was agreed that a new Sunday School and Parish hall be erected at the back of the Church. In 1941 Pastor H Prenzler dedicated the hall in special services.

In 1958 a decision was made to build a new Church. The congregation celebrated its Centenary in 1960 while building commenced on the new brick Church. The old St Johns Church was demolished in 1961 and a valedictory service was held amidst the ruins. Further services were conducted in the Church Hall while the new Church was being built. The new St Johns Church was finally opened in 1961. Built of brick with a wide forecourt and entrance, the building faces Roderick Street with a cross patterned into the brick wall. A tall spire above the tower holds an aluminium cross that at night is illuminated.

To read more about the history of St John’s Lutheran Church please visit the Ipswich Central Library and borrow ‘St Johns – God’s Gracious Story of 150 Years of Lutherans in Ipswich’.

St John’s Lutheran Church, 32 Roderick Street, Ipswich, 1971 (image courtesy of Picture Ipswich)