Emu Plains

St. Paul's Anglican Church, Emu Plains

On Sunday afternoon we took a drive to try and find the Anglican Church at Emu Plains.  We had done an on-line search and discovered that this Church has a traditional service on Sunday mornings at 8.00 am. so we were curious to see just how far away it was from our home.   We drove over the Victoria Bridge that crosses the Nepean River along the Great Western Highway, turning right into Russell Street and then right into Pyramid Street.  The Church is situated on high ground with commanding views towards the Blue Mountains over what would have once been rural countryside.  It is bounded by Short, Mundy and Nixon Streets and also the Great Western Railway line.

The Church was closed, so we could not view the inside, but I believe there are some stained-glass windows.  I am not sure whether the Church is used, because there seemed to be a large Ministry Centre with a hall on the opposite side of the road, where the doors were open, as if ready to welcome a church service later on that afternoon.

Alongside the Church is a cemetery  The Cemetery retains a formal layout in its original section located to the east of the church with gravestones laid out on either side of a broad grassed path and is lined with poplars, white cedars and pines. The grave memorial of the Ryan family is prominent in the collection of older grave stones. More recent burials are located on the open sides of the hill. The church site also includes a pair of weatherboard c.1950s classroom blocks, and a c.1990s brick hall. The buildings are set within stands of jacaranda trees and other mature landscape plantings concentrated along the southern boundary including radiata pine, poplar, white cedar, pepper, and brush box.  Many of the gravestones are in a dilapidated condition.  

In 1929 a bushfire burnt down the rectory destroying many of the Parish records.  The inscriptions on the gravestones now provide the only historical evidence of the occupants of the gravesites.  In 1967 the cemetery came under the administration of the Penrith City Council.

St. Paul's is an example of Victorian Gothic-Revival, constructed of stone and completed in 1848 to a design by Edmund Blackett.  It contains a nave, chancel, vestry and porches.  It is quite a pretty looking church, but I suspect the inside may not be in such good condition.

The gabled roof has a bell turret on the west gable containing a brass bell.  The roof is mainly slate tiles, with some corrugated galvanised steel being a more recent addition.

Part of the Anglican section of the Cemetery.  There was evidence that some large trees had either been cut down or fallen down in storms, as there were several stumps lying around.  The roots of these trees has caused obvious damage to the gravesites.

Some of the gravestones dated from 1860.  You can see the backdrop of the Blue Mountains as you look westwards.  The Cemetery is kept in good order and condition by the Council and the grass was neat and tidy on the avenues between the gravestones.

We enjoyed our little exploration of the Cemetery and would have liked to see inside the Church.  We are not sure whether it is a Church for us, but  shall continue to investigate a few more possibilities in our neighbourhood over the coming weeks.

Emu Plains is the traditional land of the Darug people.  The first British explorers, led by Watkin Tench, surveyed the area in 1790 and named it Emu Island after sighting some emus on land they mistakenly thought was an island in the River.  Governor Lachlan Macquarie renamed it Emu Plains when it was realised that occasional flooding of the River gave the Plains the appearance of an island.

Acknowledgments

1.  N.S.W. Office of Environment & heritage

2.  Wikipedia

3.  Emu Plains Anglican Church.org.au