All Saints’ Anglican Church Bodalla
Completed in 1901, All Saints’ Anglican Church sits on a hill on the outskirts of Bodalla, a small town on the New South Wales south coast.
Getting There
Only a 40-minute drive from Batemans Bay, Bodalla is on the Princes Highway, so if you are travelling the coast, you will probably pass through. Parking at the church is very easy, as there is room at the back of the church, or on the street outside. We parked outside and walked, as the short driveway is bordered by mature bunya trees. Flanking both sides of the walk up the hill, the huge trees add to the beauty of the church.
The Church
Designed by architect Edmund Blacket (and later his son Cyril Blacket), and funded by T.S. Mort, a prominent local businessman, All Saints’ is built of local granite. The woodwork, including the amazing ceiling is of oak. The stained glass windows, the Chancel tiles the unusual reredos of marble mosaic, as well as the pipe organ, were brought from England.
Born in England at Bolton, Lancs. in 1816, T.S. Mort came to Australia in 1837, a pioneer of Australian dairying (through the creation of the Bodalla Estate), of engineering and shipbuilding at Balmain (Morts Dock), the wool industry and other enterprises. He devoted the last fifteen years of his life to the invention of a process of freezing and exporting Australian meat to supply the need of England. He died on 9th May, 1878, of an illness contracted in ministering to the needs of one of his workmen.
During our visit to Bodalla, we were fortunate to find the church open for cleaning. The interior is beautiful, with stain-glass windows, commemorative plaques on the walls and amazing woodwork for the ceiling. If you are in the area, it is certainly worth a visit.
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To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.