A hub of worship and community life in a district near Dubbo is about to celebrate a milestone.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
St John the Baptist Emmagool Church on the Obley Road has given 90 years of faithful service to the people of Toongi.
Its parishioners who think of it as “home” plan to mark the anniversary with a thanksgiving service on November 4.
They’re contacting the original families whose forebears combined to establish the building as a community church for all denominations in 1928.
Shirley Trethowan has been part of the congregation at Emmagool since 1959 and told the Daily Liberal of some of the church’s history.
“The timber was donated from various farms around the area and then it was all milled at one place which was ‘Cranbrook’, owned by the Pascoes because they had a mill at that stage,” she said.
The timber was donated from various farms around the area and then it was all milled at one place which was ‘Cranbrook’, owned by the Pascoes...
- Shirley Trethowan
“So it is very local and it was used as a community church.”
Down the track it became an Anglican church and continues to be so.
In the decades since it was built people congregated inside the timber walls for regular services and significant occasions.
Among these were several weddings, with Val and Don Wright the first bride and groom to walk down the aisle in 1957, Mrs Trethowan said.
There had been a lot of baptisms and Mrs Trethowan understood one funeral had been conducted at the church.
Ahead of the November 4 service, Emmagool has been receiving a makeover.
Volunteers received help from Team Rubicon for a working bee in August.
“A little while ago we received a letter saying that the church was heritage listed,” Mrs Trethowan said.
“So we decided we’d try to paint the church for this special occasion being 90 years old.
“That entailed quite a few working bees and that sort of thing.
“So it’s looking very shipshape.”
Mrs Trethowan has lived at Dubbo in 1988, but continues to regularly attend the monthly service at Emmagool.
“It’s still home,” she said.
An open invitation has been extended “to anyone who has had any previous connection to the church or anyone that would just like to come” to the November 4 service.
“Everyone’s welcome, it would be lovely,” Mrs Trethowan said.
“The more the merrier.”
The Sunday service will start at 10am and then people can enjoy “the traditional cup of tea afterwards” and continue catching up.
Anyone wishing to attend is asked to call or text Shirley Trethowan on 0407 253 191 or Elizabeth Allen on 0408 682968 to assist with catering.
St John the Baptist Emmagool Church is located on the Obley Road next to Wambangalang Environmental Education Centre.