St Francis of Assisi Church

62 Cavendish Street, Nundah Q 4012

Service Times

Eucharist: Sundays 9.00am - Sung Eucharist with traditional hymns. Morning tea to follow.

Eucharist: Thursdays 9.00am

Accessibility: All areas of this site are wheelchair accessible; the church, undercroft and one toilet.

If you need to speak to someone, please Contact us.

Facilities Hire

The Undercroft at St Francis is available for hire for one-off functions or regular bookings. This venue is equipped with disability access to both the room and one toilet.

Please Contact Us for further information.

History

In the early 1880’s the area comprising Nundah parish was within the boundaries of the Parish of Sandgate. The “Moreton Mail” of April 24th 1886 reported the opening of the new Anglican Church in Nundah:

“The Nundah Anglican Church was opened by Bishop Webber on Sunday morning.  It is a neat little wooden edifice, seated to accommodate 100 people, and is erected on a piece of land fronting Sandgate Road, a few yards above the railway crossing just above Kedron Brook.” 

The site was next to what is now the Toombul Shire hall.

The “Church Chronicle” of November 1905, reported a suggestion to move the church to a more central site away from the noise of trams. The church was moved a short distance up the hill in Donkin Street on land where the present Roman Catholic presbytery now stands. The exact date is unclear and how the land was obtained is uncertain, but it is at that time that a hall was first built.

Eight years later, in 1913, the parish was again looking for a new site for the church and hall and it was reported that by June 1914 “it had found land in an elevated and central position.”  So the church was moved for the second time and a greater distance.  Services were temporarily held in the Toombul Shire hall. The Christmas Day Service in 1914 was held in the church in its new position on land at the corner of Cameron and Cavendish streets after successfully being moved and enlarged. 

The time came when the small wooden church of St Francis no longer met the needs of the area. Twelve years after the initial raising of funds and the many difficulties involved with the building process, the new church was dedicated on the 10th May 1959 at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. There were 1,000 people in attendance to celebrate that occasion. Later many people returned for Solemn Evensong sung by the students of St Francis College. Archbishop Reginald Halse, who performed the dedication, said, “When I hear people say that modern building cannot rise up to the older standards, I am prepared to say ‘Come and see this new church’.

The church was consecrated on 5th October in 1974. Both the consecration and the laying of the foundation stone took place at the time of the festival of St Francis.

Connections with St Francis College

The “Brisbane Theological College” was founded at All Saints’, Wickham Terrace, in 1896. The Sisters of the Sacred Advent had the previous year opened the “Eton High School” in Buckland Road at Nundah and in 1907 were considering selling when the diocese stepped in and acquired the property. They moved their college onto the site and it became known as the Nundah Theological College and was to be the Provincial College for all Queensland Dioceses and was renamed St Francis College. The college was moved in 1936 to Milton.

There was close co-operation between the parish and the college and from 1912-1917 Canon P.A. Micklem was both Principal of the college and Vicar of the parish. The Sunday school also took advantage of this co-operation.  The role of Superintendent of the Sunday school was filled by a student from the college.

With the relocation of St Francis College to Milton in 1936 the Rector, Rev’d Shaw, arranged for the college chapel to be moved a short distance up the hill onto land that had been purchased at the corner of Imbros and Olive Streets at Wavell Heights.  On February 7th 1937 the first service was held in what was dedicated as the “Church of the Holy Spirit”.