St Matthew's, Marryatville, Kensington. St Matthew's about 1900 This beautifully looking church was erected between 1848 and 1849 on land given by George Brunskill. He had arrived in South Australia in 1839, leased and bought land and set up a brick making plant at Kensington. Private donations and some money from Bishop Short was enough to get the building started. Its foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1848, only a few weeks after a similar event at the nearby Cheetham Church. St Matthew's was consecrated by Bishop August Short on 24 March 1849. The congregation and church was looked after by M.B. Hale until 1850 and for the next year by T.P. Wilson. John Watson was its incumbent from 1851 until 1855. From then on it was Edmund Jenkins who remained until 1888. W.A. Swan took over and was in charge until 1900 when R.W.G. Dempster took over until 1931. Harold Giles put in 26 years and T.J. Hayman, who replaced him in 1957 remained until 1966. During the Rev. Swan's incumbency major improvements were made to its buildings and the number of worshippers increased substantially. After the first service held in 1849 the church was debt-free. Within ten years the church was enlarged with a gallery and in 1865 a vestry was added as well. The cemetery was officially closed by Government proclamation on 27 October 1864. On 30 August 1990 St Matthew's Anglican Church was placed on the Register of State Heritage Buildings and on 28 March 1999 Sir Eric Neal, AC, CVO, Governor of South Australia unveiled a plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversery of the laying of the foundation stone and the consecration by Bishop Short. ********* Below are SOME of the headstones of St Matthew's Cemetery. In an attempt to save as much space as possible and increase the speed of downloading, only part of the stone is displayed. Flinders Ranges Research has a full photograph of each of these, and many others as well. More than 100 years later *** If you would like to find out more, please go to HOME PAGE for more information. Thank you for visiting Flinders Ranges Research, We hope you enjoy your stay and find the information useful. This site has been designed and is maintained by FRR.