Take the opportunity to explore the fascinating grounds of Christ Church Longford, with some of the oldest graves in Australia.
Christ Church (built 1839) was originally intended to serve as the Cathedral for the Norfolk Plains district. The first church was built in 1829, as a clergyman was expected to arrive from England in 1830. The government donated the site of 8.5 acres, and building finished in 1831, however the building was poorly built and seven years later stays were erected to stabilize the church. With weak foundations and unstable walls, work commenced on a new church in 1839 to the design of Robert de Little and consists of a broad buttressed nave with cast iron columns (added in 1878). The magnificent five-light east window, with Perpendicular Gothic tracery, depicting Christ and the Four Evangelists, was made by William Wailes, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1842 and was probably the earliest figural window in the country. The grounds are entered through a Gothic lynch-gate.
The grave yard contains some prominent early settlers, including Anne Edmunds (d.1841 age 86), mother of the first child of British descent born on the Northern side of Van Dieman’s Land. Her son, born on 3 Nov. 1804, was named William Dalrymple in honour of Lt Col William Paterson and the founding of Port Dalrymple.
“Voices from the grave” is a walking tour through Christ Church graveyard.