The former Mareeba Uniting Church was built in the town of Mareeba on the
Atherton Tableland in 1960 and is one of a series of innovative buildings designed by Queensland architect Edwin Henry (Eddie) Oribin (1927–2016). Originally established as Mareeba Methodist Church, it was built during a period of Christian modernisation and growth, and served as its congregation's place of worship from its dedication in August 1960 until January 2021. In the 1880s, the Atherton family established a wayside inn and store at the crossing of Granite Creek, supplying goods to traffic passing between
Port Douglas to the north and the new tin mining township of
Herberton to the south. A settlement developed on the southern side of Granite Creek, on the traditional lands of the Muluridgi people, and was surveyed by E. B. Rankin as the town of Mareeba in 1891. In 1893, it became a railhead when the
Cairns-to-Kuranda railway line was extended, and by 1919 Mareeba was the district's most important town. Owing its prosperity to a diverse agricultural economy, post-
World War II (WWII) Mareeba grew to become the largest tobacco-growing centre in Australia, and in 1954 the town's population reached 3,369. In 1954, the combined population of Methodists and Presbyterians in Mareeba was 752, of which just over half (388) identified as Methodist. It spread rapidly throughout the United States of America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries through itinerant preachers and later throughout the world through Methodist missionaries. The term "Methodism" arose from the methodical way the Christian faith was approached and included an emphasis on preaching, evangelism, a love for singing, and social activism. However, it was expected that a church would still be recognisable as such, resulting in a wide range of variations combining traditional church elements, symbols, and functions with new construction techniques, materials, and forms. A new flexibility in the spatial organisation of modern churches resulted in an immense variety of plan arrangements that broke away from the traditional
cruciform or rectangular plan. These altered church interiors reflected the community celebration of worship, without distance between clergy and people. Carried out between 1953 and 1957, the Mission was the largest attempt ever made by the Methodist Church to reform the nation, emphasising the Christian faith as the only answer to social and industrial problems. Meetings were held in capital cities and main provincial centres throughout the country, conducted by campaign leader Reverend
Alan Walker. Attracting large crowds, the crusade received wide newspaper and radio coverage. Utilitarian war memorials in post-WWII were popular and many public buildings, including memorial churches, were funded with the assistance of the Commonwealth government's tax deduction scheme for donations to war memorial funds. In the case of the Mareeba Uniting Church, the memorial was an incorporated tower, rather than the whole building. In 1942, the church purchased a third adjacent lot to the south. In preparation for relocating to the new site, a church hall was constructed on this lot in 1956–57, leaving the corner of the property vacant. Over the next few years, fundraising continued and Cairns-based architect E H Oribin was engaged to design the new church. Afterwards, Oribin engaged in other design projects and designed his own homes, which were all located outside north Queensland. Oribin died in 2016. Throughout his career, he was devoted to experimenting with different structural and aesthetic ideas, drawing inspiration from a wide variety of Australian and international publications. Characteristics of Oribin's work included meticulous detailing, structural creativity, and concern for the modulation of light. He was also known for his model-making skills and superb craftsmanship, often creating objects himself. In 1956, Oribin designed the
Mareeba Shire Hall which was constructed at a nearby site in Walsh Street in 1960–61. To be constructed primarily from brick and timber, the design had a square floor plan with its main entrance at the corner facing the intersection, full-height glass front walls with timber fins, and a brick tower. The interior was laid out on the diagonal, with the chancel and a small vestry in the southeast corner. This arrangement allowed the congregation to fan outwards around the altar, and was a type that had been successfully employed in Europe in the 1950s. The choice of a square plan for the Mareeba Methodist Church took advantage of both the remaining space available on the site and its corner position. A ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone was held on Saturday 2 April 1960, attended by Methodist church representatives from the Northern District. The stone was set by senior circuit steward Mr Andy Smith and an address delivered by the Reverend R W Moreton (of Cairns). During the ceremony, an inscribed silver trowel was presented to Smith by Oribin. A
wayside pulpit was added south of the building soon after the church's opening, using funds raised on that day. Two years after its completion, a
Tablelands Advertiser article described the church as already a landmark in the district. The church was also photographed during the 1960s by noted architectural photographers
Richard Stringer (1968) and Peter Wille (). Oribin was named as an innovative architect in a study of significant 20th century building in 1988 and the building has since featured in articles and architectural theses. The Mareeba Methodist Church illustrates Oribin's use of angular motifs, similar to St Andrew's Church in Innisfail, Oribin's first house (1958) and his
Oribin Studio (1960) in Cairns. Like Wright, Oribin's architecture follows organic principles. His buildings are compatible with their environments, closely integrated with the site, and have regard for the processes of nature and the forms they produce. Oribin's buildings use local materials, respond to the topography and climate to produce comfortable conditions, and have highly organised layouts. Oribin's first house was included in a 1969 journal article, which detailed organic architecture and its wide variety of forms, materials, and interpretations employed by Australian architects, with features such as clearly expressed timber structure, textured brickwork, free massing, and complex geometries that complemented natural elements of their site. Some of the studio's features, such as the peaked gable roof form and angled timber side walls with triangular fanlights over casement windows, were reused and adapted by Oribin to suit the site and scale of the church. The church furniture, both fixed and movable (pews, removable communion rails, pulpit/lectern, stand for baptism font, moveable plant pots), was designed by Oribin to reflect the overall design of the church, with sharp angles and triangular ornamentation. In 2021, the surviving pane is displayed within the church, mounted on a wall. In 2010, the congregation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the church building. In 2013, two of Oribin's other works, the first Oribin House and the Oribin Studio received the "Enduring Architecture Award" at the Australian Institute of Architects' Queensland Architecture Awards. == Description ==