New life is being breathed into one of Longford’s iconic main street buildings with the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association preparing the historic Longford Tabernacle to become the peak farming body’s new state headquarters.
Work is now well underway on the Tabernacle, one of many Baptist churches built by local farmers William and Mary Gibson in the late 1800s.
The former church and later funeral parlour in Wellington Street is in the midst of extensive alterations that will link the main building to the former manse at the back via a glass atrium.
The 70s brick additions and yellow glass windows will be removed and the façade tastefully restored while the interior is fitted out with office space, board room, kitchen and bathroom.
TFGA board member and building committee Leader Elizabeth Lord said they had been looking for a place away from the city centre that was still highly visitable for members and in a central location.
Following a long tenancy in Cimitiere St, Launceston, in a building that was not fit-for-purpose but increasingly valuable, and then a temporary move to premises near the Blood Bank in Charles St, the TFGA’s staff of 10 are keen to move into their new home.
TFGA president Ian Sauer said that it was a privilege to be able to ensure the Tabernacle was sympathetically restored while providing modern, comfortables premises for the TFGA in its heartland.
“It will have the capacity for at least 18 people to work there, allowing stakeholders and complementary organisations to use the board room and work areas when required,” he said.
“It will also be a great meeting place for local community groups in the evenings – our project manager said he had never worked on a project that had been so warmly welcomed by residents.”
William Gibson, born in 1820, was the son of David Gibson – a convict who became a leading pastoralist.
Like his father he was deeply religious and was renowned for breeding the famous Scone Merino sheep which, in its time, produced the finest quality wool in the world.
He served for many years on the Longford Municipal Council and was a member of the Legislative Council between 1959 and 1964.
Mary also had a strong church background, being the niece to one of the first Baptist ministers in Australia, the Reverend Henry Dowling.
The Gibsons built Baptist churches in Hobart, Launceston and Perth and tabernacles in Deloraine and Longford, both of which built from the proceeds of the sale of championship-winning rams that were sold for 1000 guineas each.
Smaller, wooden chapels were also funded by the Gibsons in Bracknell, Devonport, Latrobe and Sheffield, along with the majority of the ministers’ wages.
The foundation stone of the Longford Tabernacle was laid by Mary Gibson on Friday, June 11, 1880 and the church consecrated on April 26, 1881.
For TFGA member Sandy Gibson, the sixth generation to live on the Gibson’s 1416-hectare Native Point property between Perth and Evandale, it was particularly pleasing to see the tabernacle reinvented and realise there was a personal connection.
“We’re still in agriculture, with the farm now being run by my son, the seventh generation of Gibsons, and it’s wonderful and fitting that this next chapter connects the building to farming,” he said.
The renovation is on schedule to be completed by November.