St Augustine's Anglican Church, Leyburn

The settlement on Canal Creek (a tributary of the Condamine River) had grown from the 1840s to service the colonising settlers following the stock route blazed by the Leslie brothers in 1840 to the southern Darling Downs. Known from 1853 as Leyburn, the first sale of allotments was held in 1857 following the survey of the town earlier that year. Architect Richard George Suter (1827–1894) was responsible for the design of at least ten of some thirty-four churches built during the episcopate of Bishop Tufnell (1859–74) including St Mark's Warwick (1867–70) and St James' Toowoomba (1868–69) as well as a number of timber churches including St Andrew's Lutwyche (1866) and (the first) St David's Allora (1868). Suter also undertook a considerable amount of work for the Queensland Board of Education. Like his churches, Suter's early schools used timber with outside studding as a construction technique, an ingenious modification of traditional half-timbered construction developed and popularised by Suter in Queensland. He designed relatively few houses, but residences such as East Talgai (1868) and Jimbour (1873–4) homesteads are some of the most substantial and distinguished ever erected in Queensland. == Description ==

Leyburn is a rural village on the southern reaches of the Darling Downs, some northwest of Warwick, on the banks of Canal Creek. St. Augustine's Church is located on the north-eastern approach to the village from Toowoomba, Dove Street. The church is timber of outside stud framing on low timber stumps with a steeply pitched gabled roof clad in hardwood shingles. It is reputedly styled on English village churches of the period, expressing many Gothic elements in a vernacular form of construction.The church is positioned centrally within the site, which slopes gently to the east. The nave is orientated east-west, with the chancel at the eastern end and Dove Street to the west. Entrance to the site is through a timber arched gateway with a small pine tree and a short bay of picket fencing to either side. The remainder of the fencing is of timber rails. There are several saplings to the perimeter fence, and a clump of eucalypts to the northern side. To the east of the site is a small weatherboard store, and a memorial to the gold miner Dan Bray under an open shelter also roofed in shingles. The church is a simple rectilinear form, with the chancel to eastern end and the porch to the south of the western end. The addition housing the vestry is to the south-east corner. The wall framing of studs, noggings and bracing is exposed to the exterior of the building, and purposefully arranged as a decorative element which is further emphasised by its contrasting colour. The wall cladding to the interior of the framing is pit-sawn planks of cypress pine, some wide, laid horizontally. The roof is steeply pitched with gable ends, and a timber bell-cote with spire at the western end. The roof is clad in hand-split hardwood shingles. The entry door from the south porch is a boarded and ledged door with a lancet head, and still furnishing its original bolt and rimlock. Inside, the nave has a special quality of light created by a continuous opening between the top of the walls and the roof framing, to the sides and the gable ends. The tall, narrow windows hand painted with a stipple pattern also contribute to this light. These windows have trefoil heads applied to the outside, giving them a Gothic-like shadow internally. They open by sliding along tracks to the inside of the wall. The floor is of wide raw cypress pine boards, which are hand-scrubbed clean to retain their bleached appearance. The exposed roof framing and trusses have been stained. All the major members are stop chamfered. The trusses feature twisted vertical tie rods. The chancel arch, also of lancet form, is lined with beaded board. The furniture reputedly dates from the church's establishment. The altar, lectern, pulpit and pews are of stained pine. To the west end of the aisle is the movable stone baptism font. The altar has been moved away from the apse to face the congregation. The original timber screen from the altar is presently stored in the vestry. To the rear of the altar there are now stained glass windows. To the side walls of the chancel are gas lamps on swivelling brackets. The later addition of the vestry is lined with narrow boards. It houses a dresser, washstand, bed, wardrobe, and the bellows organ. Also stored here are the original gas lamps from the roof, and the dedication chalice and plate. == Heritage listing ==

St Augustines Anglican Church, Leyburn was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 August 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. '''The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.''' St Augustine's Leyburn was erected in 1871 to the design of one of Queensland's most notable architects, RG Suter. Responsible for some of the state's most significant residences he also undertook considerable work for the Board of Education as well as the Church of England. His timber buildings in particular for both organisations established a local tradition, albeit without the architectural pretensions of Suter's original designs, of timber buildings with outside studding which combined economy, internal finish, and picturesque appearance. Architect also to several churches constructed in stone, it was Suter's timber churches such as St Augustine's (believed to be his only remaining timber church) which presented a challenge to the theological thinking of the time which viewed timber as an unsuitable material to be used in the construction of the houses of God. Together with other buildings of the nineteenth century particularly of the 1860s and 1870s, St Augustine's is a symbol of the more prosperous times of Leyburn and an integral part of its townscape which presents a remarkably intact example of an early Queensland township as well as an important representation of the settlement of the Darling Downs. '''The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage.''' St Augustine's is a rare example of a surviving timber shingled roofed building; made more remarkable by the survival of its shingled relative, the playshed at Leyburn State School. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. Although reputedly patterned on the form of English village churches, the expression of the timber work and the simplified Gothic motifs give St Augustine's a delicate lightweight vernacular charm; there is a special quality of the internal light through the eaves and translucent windows. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Together with other buildings of the nineteenth century particularly of the 1860s and 1870s, St Augustine's is a symbol of the more prosperous times of Leyburn and an integral part of its townscape which presents a remarkably intact example of an early Queensland township as well as an important representation of the settlement of the Darling Downs '''The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.''' St Augustine's Leyburn was erected in 1871 to the design of one of Queensland's most notable architects, RG Suter. == References ==