CRHR Visit to Christ Church Cooma March 2025
The Monaro’s oldest church, Christ Church on Church Road, Cooma, has the distinction of being the oldest on the Monaro and is classified by the National Trust of Australia as a building of interest and architectural merit.
Christ Church Cemetery, Cooma, is the final resting place for many Monaro pioneers.
It was only in June 1823, at Billilingra, that Europeans first, formally, sighted this Monaro area. (Captain John Currie, Brigade Major John Ovens, Joseph Wild and at least one aboriginal.)
It lay outside the Limits of Location set by NSW Governor Darling beyond which the acquisition and occupation of land were prohibited.
Those who settled here did so in defiance of the government and became known as squatters.
Victoria did not become a separate state until 1851 so that, in 1845, it was still part of NSW and the Monaro area was regarded as taking in county extending from Michelago well into what became Victoria.
Not surprisingly, it took years for people to settle here in significant numbers and for decades there was no town of Cooma – rather, there existed a “locality”.
A burial ground developed on land along the road that led to Myalla. It is believed that there are several graves here for which there are no records or markers.
Of graves that are recorded, the oldest is that of Johanna O’Rourke, from Tipperary in Ireland, who died aged 21 in 1842.
Another of the early graves is that of Murray Mitchell, the son of the explorer and surveyor Sir Thomas Mitchell, who died aged 18 in 1846.
In 1843, the Reverend Edward Gifford Pryce was appointed by the Church of England as Missionary Chaplain to Monaro and the South Coast. He was the last of the Missionary Chaplains to be sent from England to Australia by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and after months of homelessness, he took up residence at The Grange, a house near the burial ground.
This house remains. At that time, there was no church on the Monaro.
Early in 1845, Bishop William Grant Broughton (the first and only Church of England bishop of Australia) visited this area and while here, after consultation with Pryce, John Lambie (Commissioner for Crown Lands) and Government Surveyor McCabe, decided to build the Christ Church on land adjoining the burial ground, belonging to William Bradley.
Bishop Broughton also designed it, while staying at the Kirwan Inn, Cooma and on 17 February that year, he laid the foundation stone.
But financial and labouring problems beset the project and the building was not completed until 1850.
The site of the church was absorbed into what became a cemetery.
The cemetery, following Crown Land subdivisions, was broken up into sections along denominational lines – Roman Catholic, Church of England, Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Quaker, Jewish and ”other denominations” in accordance with the practice of the time.
Early in the 20th century, the Church of England bought from the Crown that section of the cemetery on which the church stood.
From 1845-1850, the town of Cooma developed quickly and even by the time the construction of Christ Church was completed, it had become apparent that it had been built in the wrong place and was too small.
Services took place at Christ Church from January 1850 until 1872 when a new church, St Paul’s, in town was completed.
Since then, it has been used for Church of England services infrequently – some years not at all.
There have been a few periods when the church was used for services by other Christian groups. It has also been used for special services, most recently in 2011, for descendants of the early settlers of this district buried in the cemetery, and from time to time is visited by groups of people during historic church/building tours.
Following the development of the present cemetery off Mittagang Road in Cooma (~1876), the old one was closed to further burials except for a few people who had a close ancestor who was a worshipper at the church during the 22 years that it was the sole Church of England church in the district.
Records show that 243 people are buried in the cemetery, with all but 50 to 60 having died in the 1800s.
With the ravages of time and weather, the church has periodically fallen into disrepair and it underwent renovations in 1936, 1960 and 2001.
The building now stands as a memorial to the early settlers and pioneers of the area, and to Bishop Broughton.
Ref: aboutregional.com.au 4 Apr 2023 by Gail Eastaway
It was great to see that The Snowy Monaro Regional Council only last week placed a QR code at the Church entrance sign. This, new work, provides access to the cemetery burial data base and a map of all known graves. https://www.snowymonaro.nsw.gov.au/Community/Cemeteries/Cemetery-Search-Tool You have to look for and use the “Old Cooma Cemetery” not Christ Church on the site. They have done a great job. Noelene Whiting is the Environmental Management Administration person leading this initiative. Here is an example:
On 23 Mar 2025 Rob and Margaret Quodling joined a number of local Cooma families at Christ Church for the 180th Anniversary Commemorative Service. Jim Litchfield provided a brief welcome and history. Reverend Martin Christensen (Canberra based) led the service. The Right Reverend Mark Short, Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn provided the Message of the day. Locals, Heather Little provided the Thanksgiving prayer and Sue Litchfield, the Bible reading.
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