St Matthew's Anglican Church, Drayton, Anglican church in Drayton, Queensland.
St Matthew's Anglican Church is a small bluestone church on Beatrice Street in Drayton, designed by James Marks and built in 1886–87 by Seath, Hobart and Watson. Its porch carries a sandstone bell turret, added after the belfry was removed in 1889, and the bell now hangs in a free-standing tower. A timber hall of 1913 and a rectory of 1902–03 stand beside it, both moved to the site in 1930.
The first St Matthew's, a slab building, opened on 23 January 1859 after two acres north of the parsonage were bought in 1856. By 1884 it was too small, so architect James Marks advised a hilltop site with better foundations. Seath, Hobart and Watson's £850 tender was accepted on 26 March 1886, and Bishop William Webber laid the foundation stone on 16 August 1886. The bluestone church, with a timber chancel to cut costs, was dedicated on 22 December 1887.
The name comes from Glennie's scheme to dedicate a church in each of four Darling Downs towns to an evangelist: St Luke's Toowoomba (1856), St Mark's Warwick (1857), St Matthew's Drayton (1859) and St John's Dalby (1866). The present church, the second of that name, was dedicated on 22 December 1887. Its 1913 Sunday School hall reuses flooring from the demolished first church and its 1901 roofing.
The church stands on a hilltop site at Beatrice Street in Drayton, chosen in 1884 on architect James Marks's advice because the ground gave better foundations than the earlier site. The bluestone church, timber hall and rectory sit together, the hall and rectory having been moved here in 1930. The bell now hangs in a free-standing tower after the weight of the turret and bell damaged the porch by 1910.
The building uses locally quarried bluestone, a material that was less common in church construction of the era in this region. This choice makes it a distinct example of 19th-century church architecture in Queensland.
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