Bungonia and Towrang Anglican churches attract 'strong' buyer interest

Real estate agent, Peter Mylonas, said he was astounded by the number of enquiries for Saint John's, Towrang and Bungonia's Christ Church.

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The Canberra/Goulburn Anglican diocese is selling the churches to raise funds for Saint Nicholas parish. Diocesan archdeacon of chaplaincy and mission, Tom Henderson-Brooks, previously said the sales would fund a second minister and residence in the growing north Goulburn parish.

The diocese says both churches have little or no usage and carry maintenance and insurance costs. But sections of the communities are "upset" and saddened by the move.

Mr Mylonas, an Anglican deacon, won an expression of interest to sell both structures. They will be offered at a March 30 online auction.

"I've never been inundated with so many enquiries. It's just madness," he said.

"We've sent out 60 contracts and interest has come from all over NSW."

Fifty of these have been for Bungonia's rubblestone and Bundanoon sandstone church. Village resident, Anne Wiggan, said it was designed by William Kemp, architect Edmund Blacket's master apprentice, and completed in 1878. It is heritage listed and described by archaeologist, Edward Higginbotham, as of high cultural value and reflective of the area's wealth and population at the time.

It includes triple-lancet windows, diagonally laid ceiling boards, arched doorways, a large vestry, stained glass windows commemorating local families and rectors, and a small bell tower.

The King Street church sits on 6200 square metres across two separate titles, is zoned RU5 village, and holds a separate toilet block.

Mr Mylonas said potential buyers included people of faith who wanted to retain both churches, but also parties keen to build a house.

Christ Church can't be demolished. But Mr Mylonas said the block could accommodate a second residence or even cabins for a retreat centre.

"People are just really keen to buy country churches. These days people are renovating them internally. Bungonia's is spectacular," he said.

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Mrs Wiggan, a historian and worshipping catholic, said people were "quite upset" by the sale decision. There was no public meeting about it.

"But it seems inevitable," she said of the sale.

"The issue for the community is that people donated items and it's difficult for us to understand how this goodwill becomes a commercial proposition. Nothing comes back into the community and the best hope is that someone buys it and continues it as a church.

"...People say it was where family members were married or baptised, and it's those memories that are so difficult to leave."

Mrs Wiggan said she understood the Diocese's rationale to provide for Goulburn's growing population. However she stressed that Bungonia was also an "exploding" area, without an active Anglican ministry.

The church is used for births, deaths, marriages, Easter and Christmas services.

She hoped items such as wall plates and war records, plaques and a "beautiful stained glass window" above the altar, depicting Christ as a teenager with his carpentry tools, could be retained.

Archdeacon Henderson-Brooks earlier said the Diocese would work with the community in regard to some internal items.

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Meantime, some members of the Towrang community have expressed similar sentiments about Saint John's sale. A 264-signature petition opposed the move and the community met with church representatives last November. The Diocesan Council approved its divestment in August, 2022.

The sale contract details the now closed cemetery's presence, acknowledges the presence of possible interment rites and unidentified graves, requires a buyer to preserve all headstones, plaques and memorials and not disturb them. Public access to the cemetery must also be maintained.

Only one headstone is visible at the property's rear but a plaque lists people believed to be buried onsite.

The circa 1929 church features a raked ceiling and stained glass windows, sits on 5600 square metres and is zoned 'community.' Housing or other uses would require a rezoning and heritage considerations.

The online auctions for the Bungonia and Towrang churches will be held at 1pm and 2pm respectively on Thursday, March 30 by Peter Mylonas Property Solutions.

They follow the 2017 sale of Christ Church rectory at West Goulburn.

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