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St Peter's Presbyterian Congregation 175th Anniversary

Published on: July 2019

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-106372

St Peter's Presbyterian Congregation 175th Anniversary

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (13:15:00):

On Sunday 30 June I attended the 175th anniversary service of St Peter's Presbyterian congregation in North Sydney. The celebration commemorated a New South Wales Government land grant on the harbour's north side for a Presbyterian church, manse and school in 1844. With the church's focus on education, it was particularly appropriate that the first Presbyterian building north of the harbour was the weatherboard St Peter's School, where early church services were also held.

The service was truly special, with some beautiful hymns and readings by various attendees, all in celebration of 175 years of Presbyterian faith on the North Shore. I obtained a copy of a wonderful book on the history of Presbyterians in North Sydney—congratulations to Alex Jones for compiling that. We were fortunate to be joined by His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley, AC, DSC (Ret'd)—now the Governor‑General—my Federal colleague and member for North Sydney Trent Zimmerman, and the Reverend Kamal Weerakoon. I thank leaders John Buchanan and Steven Pym, the Cantorion Sydney Choir, male voice choir, and the Chinese Christian Bilingual Church Choir.