Sunshine Presbyterian Church

The first Presbyterian Church services commenced in June 1907 at the Sunshine State School.

 

On the 3rd November 1907, the services were transferred to the newly built Mechanics Institute in Hampshire Road. In 1908, Mr. John Thomas Lawton, who was later to become the first ordained Minister in Sunshine, conducted the services.

At a meeting in 1908, Hugh Victor (H.V.) McKay offered a site for a church in a number of locations in Sunshine, with the church selecting the corner of Devonshire Road (now terminates at the railway line) and Anderson Road.

The first Presbyterian church was a wooden building and was dedicated on the 9th October 1910.

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in May 1926, H.V. McKay laid the foundation stone for the present brick church, sadly he passed away a few days after this event from terminal cancer. 

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In 1928, the wooden church was replaced by the current magnificent brick church. The former wooden building was then used for Sunday School.

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In the years to follow, the McKay family presented a number of gifts to the church, including the pulpit and furnishings; the communion cloths; the memorial window in memory of H V McKay; another window in memory of Hubert Selwyn McKay; a further large memorial window; and carpets.  The church was to become known as the Sunshine Presbyterian Church, McKay Memorial.

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The original wooden building was destroyed by fire in January 1973, the act of an arsonist.

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The church contains a Roll of Honor memorial tablet of its eight members who Paid Supreme Sacrifice during WW1.

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Ernest Day

Harry Stanley McLean

Archibald King McColl

John Stewart

George David Somerville

John Williamson

William Robert Steers

Leslie Steers

 

​Today the church is still in operation and sits proudly adjacent to the H.V. McKay's Memorial Gardens.

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Ref: S&DHS Newsletter Dec 2022

Photos: S&DHS