The price of disposals

Percy from the Pews
ANOTHER chapter of disappointment will be written this weekend in the saga of North Hobart’s Holy Trinity Church.

Saturday sees a further sell-off of a parish property asset with the auction of a house at 11 Church Street, within the church precinct. Built in 1870, a Victorian brick home of four bedrooms, opposite St Andrew’s Park and but a short stroll to North Hobart’s restaurant strip, it should fetch a good price.

Just a brief recap – the historic 1840s church itself was cast aside as an Anglican place of worship, closed by Bishop John Harrower, then sold in January (with its adjoining more modern parish centre) to the Greek Orthodox faith for a very modest sum.

The church aside, property disposals have included the associated mission church of St Margaret’s, in Federal Street, and a large parish house in the Glebe. Now comes the 11 Church Street sale – and indications are another home in the street will soon follow.

It is again worth noting that when the Hobart City Council funded a Conservation Management Plan aimed at Holy Trinity’s restoration and future preservation because of the building’s heritage importance to Australia, aldermen spoke of conserving the overall precinct due to its historic significance.

It is also worth noting that with money already netted from property disposals, more to come, and what is in the Leonard Keefer Bequest to Holy Trinity when it becomes due next year, there would be a very tidy sum of a million dollars plus available to embark on the much-needed external repairs of the church’s deteriorating sandstone. It also raises the question of where the funds already to hand are being used.

Meanwhile, nothing further has been heard of how the Greek Orthodox Church will find its own funds needed to save Holy Trinity.