St Luke’s Anglican Church, Wallsend

The historic church of St Luke at Wallsend is the second oldest Anglican Church in the Newcastle area. Built of locally cut stone in 1880 on land granted by the Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Company, the church retains many of its original features including cedar pews, an elaborately carved font and an 1855 Walker pipe organ, one of the oldest in Australia. The addition of stained-glass windows over the years has enhanced the beauty of the church.
Anglican services at Wallsend commenced in late 1861 shortly after the establishment of the mine and the town. These were held in the blacksmith’s shop at the mine by Rev. Thomas Dodd, Rector of Hexham, until the erection of a timber-slab building in 1864 which served as both a school and church. Following the death of Rev. Dodd, the Wallsend part of the Hexham parish was attached to St John’s, Newcastle for almost three years. With the arrival from England of Rev. Joshua Spicer Wood in 1867, a new parish known as Wallsend was formed. Upon his departure in 1877, Wallsend was annexed to St James’, Wickham. In 1880, Wallsend became a separate parish again with Rev. Walter Tollis appointed as rector. The parish once covered a much larger area than it does today and has at various times included Hexham, Waratah, Lambton, Minmi, Swansea, Cooranbong, Yarramalong, Wyong, Edgeworth and Birmingham Gardens.
This publication includes a short history of St Luke’s plus details of: 2382 Baptisms (1826-1925); 1458 Marriages (1867-1965) and 2320 Burials (1862-1872), (1925-1985)
Entries dated earlier than 1867 were extracted from the Hexham registers. All records are fully indexed. The registers have been transcribed in accordance with the access conditions stipulated by the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle.