Tornado church rises from ashes

The rebuilding of St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Dunoon is under way, two years after the tornado. Watching the progess are church organists Narelle Cierpiol and treasurer Georgina Murray.

Members of St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Dunoon must be hoping that it is third time lucky for their church now that reconstruction on a new building has begun two years after a tornado ripped through the village.

The original church was built in 1911 and was blown off its stumps in a big storm in 1952. The interior was kept and the outside was rebuilt in brick and re-opened in 1953. But then in 2007 another ‘act of God’ knocked the church to the ground again.

“We’re hoping this one will last and will be built to withstand storms,” treasurer Georgina Murray said. “I believe the last one was done with volunteer labour and donations of bricks and so forth, this is being done with the aid of insurers and engineers.”

A ceremony to bless the ground and all the workers was conducted on November 3 by Cannon Margaret Davies and the first sod was turned by regular parishioner Bill Elliott.

Georgina said everything was in place including the selection of new furniture and a new alter and they should be ready to hold their first service in the new church in about six months.

“There will be a huge picture window behind the new alter so we can look out and contemplate Gods creations during the service,” she said.

For the past two years Anglicans in the Dunoon area have continued to hold services every Sunday at the old Uniting Church, which had been closed down for about a year before the tornado.