THE PARISH
The Parish of Carindale-Carina-Belmont originated from the Church of the Annunciation - Camp Hill Parish, which itself was established in the 1920s. In 1954, land at the corner of Sankey and Flavelle Streets Carina was acquired to establish an Anglican daughter church to serve the growing population of the south-east suburbs.
In 1957, an RAAF hospital hut was relocated from Victoria Park to the site and reconfigured to accommodate the church and hall. By 1964, the adjacent house had been purchased and designated as the Rectory. The Parochial District of Carina-Belmont was formed in 1977, with Rev’d Maurice Collins appointed as its inaugural Vicar.
In 1978, the Archdiocese of Brisbane purchased the 2-acre property on the corner of Old Cleveland Rd and Bridgnorth St Carindale for future expansion of the Church, and by 1984 the decision was made to move the Parish centre from Carina to the new site at Carindale. The land at Sankey St was sold to the Qld Housing Commission and the Church/Hall building was moved to Pimpama for use as a community centre.
Construction of the Carindale church commenced in March 1991. Archbishop Peter Hollingsworth conducting the service of dedication in October 1991 and at this point, the Parish was renamed Carindale-Carina-Belmont. The adjacent Rectory was built soon afterwards, and a six-metre ironbark cross on the eastern corner of the property was completed in 1994. After many years of dedicated fundraising and loan repayments, St Gabriel’s was officially consecrated by Archbishop Phillip Aspinall in May 2010.
Much of St Gabriel’s furniture from Carina was reused in order to maintain continuity from Carina to the new location. This included the pine altar with its alpha and omega symbol, wooden pews, altar rails, pulpit/lectern, as well as silver items including the crucifix, sanctuary lamp, candle stands, processional cross, and sacred vessels. New additions by local artist Nickolaus Seffrin include the baptism font, altar crucifix, prayer desk, chair, and votive candle stand.
Source: ‘Behind Our Wooden Cross’ by Margaret Cameron, Thomas Dobson and Graham Taylor (2013)
THE PROPERTY
Historically, the Carindale church property was agricultural land with records dating back to the 1860s, situated on Brisbane’s outskirts and originally owned by the Mackenzie family under the name ‘Springfield’. Later, the site functioned as resting paddocks for cattle transported from western properties to Brisbane, en route to the Cannon Hill Meatworks.
Many trees were planted by the pioneer families on the property around the original farmhouse, and some are now over a hundred years old. Species include bunya pine, kauri pine, hoop pine, silky oak, black bean, and remnant rainforest trees; these remarkable trees remain to this day. They are all subject to the Brisbane City Council’s Vegetation Protection Order (VPO) and we have the privilege of caring for them for future generations. Later plantings have included grevilleas, poinsettias, poincianas and eucalypts. St Gabriel’s also hosts a wide variety of bird life, such as mynahs, white ibis, rainbow lorikeets, lapwing plovers, magpies, white cockatoos, kookaburras and brush turkeys.
Source: ‘Behind Our Wooden Cross’ by Margaret Cameron, Thomas Dobson and Graham Taylor (2013)
