The foundation stone of the Methodist (now Uniting) Church in Woodonga was laid on Wednesday 6th November 1918 by Mrs W Robinson in the presence of about 300 people.
‘In a cavity behind the stone, current copies of the local newspapers and other documents were placed in a bottle.’
The new stone church was built on the site of the old church.
The stone for the building was quarried from a near-by range by voluntary labour and carted to the site by the church trustees.
William Simpson, a stonemason of Young, originally from Scotland, was the contractor for the stonework.
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‘The church … comprises the main auditorium of 18 by 34 feet, and porch and vestry each 11 feet outside measurements. The roof is of iron, painted an appropriate slate colour, the doors and windows are gothic, and the ceiling is of Wunderlich steel in gothic pattern.’
The value of the church, building and fence was 600 pounds. About 140 pounds of this was collected by Reverend L Peacock and George E Cooke.
Some materials from the old church were reused.
‘An oak communion table was the gift of Mrs W Robinson senior, a table cloth from Mr W Robinson junior. The pulpit carpet was a gift from Thomas Smith junior. The aisle matting was given by Reg Dawe, an oak chair for the pulpit by Mrs Joseph Dowling and the oak collection plates were from Mr W Jeffries.’
Woodonga was originally a family settlement, with members of the Cooke, Loader and Price families, who were related by marriage, being the first settlers in 1873.
‘Grandfather’ Loader and Thomas Smith senior had enabled their homes to be used for Methodist church services before the first church was constructed in 1898.
It had been a timber church, moved from Monteagle when the Church of England there built a new church.
This photograph of the second Woodonga church came into the Young Historical Museum’s collection in 1969.
We were then told that only one of the pictured men was still alive: Herbert Edgar Price, who was born in 1884 to William and Martha Price, two of the original settlers at Woodonga.
He is standing second from the left, leaning against the wheel of the cart. He died in 1970, aged 85.
Herbert had married Sophia Davis in 1909.
Sophia was born in 1884 to Edwin and Charlotte Ann Davis, also of Woodonga.
Her brother, John (1894-1961), is standing slightly behind and to the right of Herbert, and another brother, Edwin (1888-1963), is the man furthest to the right in the photo. The man to the furthest left in the image is Thomas Smith senior (1857-1927).
Karen Schamberger - Young Historical Society
