St Paul's Anglican Church, Proserpine, Anglican church in Proserpine, Australia.
St Paul's Anglican Church is a church building in Proserpine featuring a parabolic arched roof over the nave, built with laminated timber arches and brick walls. The structure includes a horizontal entrance canopy that frames the main entry point.
Anglican services in Proserpine, then part of Bowen Parish, were held by a visiting clergyman from Bowen by 1896. A building committee formed in 1904 secured a Main Street site opposite the mill, and the first St Paul's, a small timber church, was completed in 1906. The present church was designed by Eddie Oribin and built from 1958 to 1959 by Les Tinsley & Co.
The parish was part of Bowen Parish until 1904, when a building committee raised funds for a church on Main Street opposite the sugar mill. Bishop Ian Shevill's Anglican Building Crusade, which collected £145,000, encouraged modern designs; his rules fixed a third of the interior for the sanctuary and two thirds for the nave.
The church stands at 8 Main Street, opposite the site of the Proserpine Central Mill, and is entered beneath the flat side roofs past the separate brick tower. It remains an active Anglican parish, so check service times before visiting and keep clear of the sanctuary during worship.
Architect Eddie Oribin used experimental structural techniques in the 1958 design, applying early methods of laminated timber arch construction that were uncommon in Queensland churches at the time. This bold engineering approach distinguished the building from more conventional religious structures.
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