South West Life

This article was written by Akita Olsen.

Looking for a new place for an afternoon picnic?

St Marks Church, or "the Old Picton Church", is the second oldest church in Western Australia. The story starts in July 1840 when an American Whaling ship called the Samuel Wright was wrecked in Koombana Bay, Bunbury (by the way, did you know that there are 29 recorded shipwrecks in Koombana Bay?).

The skipper of the Samuel Wright, Captain Coffin, salvaged some of the timber from the ship and used it to build a cottage in Picton. Two years later, in 1842, the cottage was then purchased by the Reverend John Ramsden Wollaston and his family, who had just arrived in the area.

Reverend Wollaston had arrived with the intention of becoming the chaplain at Australind, but upon arrival he was told that there were no funds to build a church, nowhere to stay, and that his salary would not be paid until he had a church. He was over 50 at the time, but with the help of his sons and the local farmers, he worked as hard and as fast as possible to transform the cottage into a church. It was made from pit sawn timber, wattle and daub walls with rushes for the roof - which ended up costing around 129 pounds.

Although there has been various restorational work done to the building and grounds since then, the church is nearly exactly the same. It was extensively restored in 1942 but the character has been retained. The churchyard contains a graveyard, where many of Bunbury's more famous pioneers including William and Margaret Forrest (the parents of John and Alexander Forrest), Henry and Susannah King (who built King's Cottage), and John and Helen Scott (who were some of the area's earliest settlers).

From the Hyett collection (date unknown)

Recently I visited the church, and when I walked inside it felt very small, and I tried to imagine it having many people fill up the building. On the church's opening day there were about a hundred settlers present. Reverand Wollaston is quoted as saying "On September 18th 1842 occured the most important event of my life... the opening of the new church... the first testimony for God and His church in this district".

The St Mark's Church is set amongst a lovely park/setting in the Picton area, off Flynn Street in Bunbury. It is surrounded by huge trees with a beautiful park and lake with ducks. You can wander through the graveyard, or if you want to have a picnic at the area - there are outside toilets, seats within the park, bins and plenty of parking.

Services are still held in the church each Sunday from 8am.