Dr Lang's Church

Here I am back at Church Hill again. It really is an under-rated - indeed, unknown - part of Sydney's history. Thus far, I have told you about the second St Phillips which stood on Church Hill from 1800-1856, and the third St Philips which was consecrated in 1856 and is still active today. Then I told you about the amalgamation of St Philips and The Garrison Church into the Parish of Church Hill. Today, I will introduce you to "Dr Lang's church".

This incarnation of Scots Presbyterian Church stands today on the original site of St Andrew's Scots Church, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1824. This is the corner of Jamieson Street and York Street. This building only dates from 1930. Previously, a centenary service was held in the original The Scots’ Church on Sunday 18th July 1926, and the building was demolished a few months later, to enable the widening of York Street for the southern approaches of the Harbour Bridge.

So, what did the original Scots Church look like? Here is an engraving from 1842. It was designed by Edmund Blackett.

The moody photograph below is by Harold Cazneaux, and was taken immediately prior to its demolition to enable York St to be widened for the Harbour Bridge. And now to Dr Lang. The Rev’d John Dunmore Lang arrived in Australia in May 1823. He conducted the inaugural service of the Congregation on 8 June 1823. A Crown grant of land was given to him by the Governor in order to build a church. The block was located on the corner of Jamieson Street and York Street in an area later known as Church Hill. On 1st July 1824 Governor Brisbane, also from the same part of Scotland as Dr Lang, laid the Scots Church foundation stone. A stone church, with a plain tower, seating 1000 people, was opened on 16th July 1826. The actual cost was £3000 and it was opened with a debt of £1480. The Rev’d Dr John Dunmore Lang had a long and distinguished ministry. He was also an outstanding statesman and personality, being active in civic, educational and government circles as well as in the Church. On 14th October, 1856, my great-great-grandfather, Thomas James Selby, married my great-great-grandmother, Mary Ann Puckeridge, in Dr Lang's Scots Church. Thomas was 19. Mary Ann was 17.

Parish of Church Hill

Two exterior shots of St Philip's

During 2013, something of significance, ecclesiastically speaking, went under the radar here in the centre of Sydney. I have mentioned before how in about 1802 the new colony was divided into two parishes - St John's Parramatta and St Phillip's Sydney - both presided over by The Rev. Samuel Marsden who had arrived in the colony in 1794 as underling to the first cleric, Rev. Richard Johnson. The first church in the colony was St Phillip's and its third incarnation (1856) stands today at the top of Church Hill, on York Street. About a kilometre away, much closer to the harbour bridge, stands the Church of the Holy Trinity, more well-known as The Garrison Church, which was established in 1840.

An interior shot of St Philip's which is far nicer than either of our cathedrals

In 2013 these two parishes combined to form the Parish of Church Hill. This is a wonderful gesture to the history of this part of Sydney. St Philip's is a puzzlement to me. The Australian History Society maintains that it was named in honour of Governor Phillip, and hence the double-L. However, the current building uses only a single-L. Was there a Saint Philip? St Philip's also likes to label itself "York Street Anglican". Now it is part of this new parish. I guess they fit together well, noting the double name of The Garrison church mentioned above. And that is another puzzlement. Why did Holy Trinity come to be known as "Garrison" when at that time the troops were garrisoned at the George Street Barracks (Wynyard) which is alongside St Philip's!

Two exterior shots of The Garrison, the interior of which I find a smidge gloomy

I have posted about St Philip's York Street before.

Then & Now: The ugliest church in all Christendom!

Lang Park is a triangular handkerchief of land on the rise up from George Street to the ridge that goes over the bridge. It is inconsequential, sans meaning, sans beauty. But it resounds with history.

With the second image, I tried to recreate the first, which allegedly was sketched in 1817. St Phillips stood in the centre of what is now Lang Park, but which in the first half of the 19th century was known as "Church Hill". There were churches all around, eventually, but not initially. This was he only church in colonial Sydney until the construction of St James on Macquarie Street. Indeed, the colony was divided into two parishes, St Phillip's Sydney and St John's Parramatta, both presided over by the Reverend Samuel Marsden.

This was the second St Phillip's, the first was burnt down in 1798 - deliberately, I gather. This one on Church Hill had a sod turned in 1798, but was not "open for business" until toward the end of 1800. It was built of shoddy materials to a shoddier design, by shoddy workmen, and was replaced in 1856 by another building about where that windmill is (now we would say "on York Street").

Forgotten Nooks - Church Hill

Come with me on a leisurely meander up from Sergeant Major’s Row, where the sandstone rocks morph into ridges covered with Forest Red Gums, up the rise where stands the church of St Phillip. Turn and look back from whence we came, and to our left we see the ragged rows of tents, the already crumbling wattle’n’daub huts of the convicts, the soldiers and the few free settlers. Ahead lies the beauty of the cove where ships of many nations already ride at anchor. Survey with me a township barely 22 years in the making.


Now leap 200 years into the future with me, where the second church to bear the name St Phillip stands just across York Street from its namesake burnt to the ground in 1856. We stand on the green of Church Hill, surrounded by the houses of many Christian faiths. The foundation stone of that original St Phillip – ‘the ugliest church in all Christendom’ – rests on the southern wall proudly proclaiming its consecration in 1810.


Church Hill remains as a small handkerchief of park bounded by Grosvenor, York and Lang Streets, now renamed Lang Park to honour the memory of the fiery Presbyterian pastor, John Dunmore Lang. Many churches still grace its perimeter, but in this more godless age, not all performing their original purpose.

Church Hill is a forgotten nook within the city, mown down by the juggernaut of urban renewal.


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