Welcome

The land upon which the church is built is the traditional land for the Kaurna people and has been cared for, nurtured and managed by the Kaurna people over hundreds of generations.

This land was taken up in 1838 by John Snooke, a merchant of Hindley Street, and over many years and several owners was used for grazing cattle. In March 1898 the land was sold to the Roman Catholic Church and then to the Salesian Society in 1992. In 1997 a coalition of the St Francis Xavier’s Seminary Inc., The Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust (S.A.) and the Synod of the Diocese of Adelaide of the Anglican Church of Australia Inc. bought the eastern half of the property. The Uniting Church Property Trust (S.A.) bought a southern portion of the above land, consisting of 1.24 hectares in May 2002. This is now the site of the church.

Great foresight on behalf of the members of four local Uniting Churches facing possible declining membership saw the coming together of these congregations in the building of a large new church on Sir Donald Bradman Drive at Brooklyn Park, opening on 8 December 2002. The churches involved were Holder Memorial on South Road at Mile End, Torrensville on Hayward Avenue, West Richmond on Marion Road and Brooklyn Park on May Terrace.

The foundation of these churches can be traced back to 1841 when Wesleyan services commenced in Thebarton, followed by Plympton in 1847, Torrensville in 1880 and then Fulham in 1856. In 1883 the Bible Christians started services in Mile End and in New Thebarton in 1879. The Wesleyan and Bible Christian causes joined together to form the Methodist Church in 1901. Brooklyn Park church opened in 1913 and West Richmond in 1942. A United Parish was formed in 1970 which included the Cowandilla Presbyterian Church and the Torrensville Congregational Church along with Thebarton, Mile End (Holder Memorial), Torrensville, Brooklyn Park and West Richmond Methodist Churches. These churches (except for Torrensville Congregational) became the Adelaide West Parish of the Uniting Church in Australia in June 1977.

All the years of Christian ministry and witness culminated in an historic decision to close the four remaining Uniting Churches and to come together as a regional church with the vision of becoming “A Church for Everyone, Dynamic in Worship, Prayer and Community Service”.

Since that memorable opening day, the church has continued to witness to the community with four Sunday services including an online service. We seek to make a difference in our community and our dream is to be a place that welcomes and accepts all people, a community of hope where lives are transformed in Jesus.

The Perry Memorial Pipe Organ was originally presented to the Holder Memorial Methodist Church, South Road, Mile End. Following the rationalisation of churches in the district in 2002, it was transferred and rebuilt into Adelaide West Uniting Church at Sir Donald Bradman Drive.

The organ was built by AH Weber in 1914, rebuilt by JE Dodd and Sons in 1944 then relocated, rebuilt and extended by Clive Arkley of Perth in 2003. It’s original case was given to a church in Melbourne, a new detached console constructed, capture system added and façade pipes reduced in number and repainted.

The organ is housed in an elevated purpose built chamber. Additional pipe work, new bellows, a new blower, swell engine, capture system and solid state electrics were added.

The organ is appreciated for its romantic characteristic and its significant enhancement to traditional styles of worship. Ongoing refinements continue to improve its performance in the dry acoustic of the multi purpose auditorium.

Specifications

Great               61 notes

Open Diapason  8
Claribel                8
Principal              4
Dulciana              8
Flute                     4
Fifteenth             2
Mixture             111

Swell               61 notes

Hohl Flute        8
Flute                 4
Piccolo             2
Celeste             8
Gamba             8
Principal          4
Nazard
Mixture          11
Oboe                8
Oboe              16
Tremulant

Pedal
Bourdon                16
Lieblich Bourdon 16
Bass Flute               8
Octave Flute           4
Oboe                       8
Fifteenth                 4

32 notes concave radiating.

Usual couplers and general cancel.

5 adjustable thumb pistons on Great and Swell and 5 General Thumb pistons with duplicated toe pistons.

Muldersoft capture system with transposer and MIDI interface and sequencer.

Our current organists are Meredith Dowdy and Ryan Taylor (organ scholar).

A scholarship has been made available for an organ scholar to have professional training for the special ministry in music.

Information supplied by Wayne Colebatch 2010 (former Adelaide West organist)