The Land

Our Story

The West Melbourne Baptist Church was established in the 1860s when North and West Melbourne were the growth suburbs of the new city of Melbourne.

The work started as a Sunday School in North Melbourne that was established and staffed by members of the Collins Street Baptist Church. Gradually there was a call from the local residents for services of worship.

The church was made up of migrants, most of whom had come to Victoria in search of gold.

In 1865 a meeting of Baptists of West Melbourne and Hotham (name for North Melbourne between 1855-1887) met to establish a church and procure land as a base for Baptists in the area. An odd-shaped allotment bordered by Hawke Street, King Street, Curzon Street and Miller Street was gifted by the Crown on 27 March 1866 and became the base for the early Baptists.

Those establishing the new West Melbourne Baptist Church in 1866 put up the original bluestone building, about which an observer wrote: “It was not built for show. Its architecture is extremely severe, designed for use and durability.”

In 1870 the West Melbourne Baptist Church was formally constituted and in the same year the Rev. W B Garner was inducted as the first minister.

The church grew, including the Sunday School which had over 500 children and an extension was added in the 1880s. A three bedroom brick bungalow was built as a manse after the First World War and was located on the corner of Hawke and Miller Streets.

The church facilitated the establishment of many other churches: Footscray in 1883, Newmarket in 1886 and Essendon in 1890.

From the 1890s, the population in the inner city declined and the economy went into recession. The large congregation and work among children diminished and many people left for the leafy eastern suburbs or west to the new suburbs of Footscray, Essendon, Moonee Ponds and beyond.

In December 1930 a circuit scheme, involving the sharing of the West Melbourne pastor, was established between the two small churches of Newmarket and West Melbourne. This lasted for several years and in 1949 the West Melbourne Baptist Church formed a new circuit with the North Carlton Baptist Church. This partnership was led by the Rev Bill Salter, pastor of North Carlton, who was assisted by various College students stationed at West Melbourne.

A significant event in the late 1950s was the church’s involvement in the Billy Graham Crusade. The church office was used to give administrative support and especially to ensure appropriate follow up of people responding in different ways.

In 1961 the church was told by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works that its site was shortly to be compulsorily acquired for road works. This put any future planning on pause but the church decided to demolish the old bluestone church building. The final services were held in the old church building on 3 March 1962 and thereafter demolition commenced.

Much of the property was leased in 1962 to the Kangaroo Petroleum Company which later was purchased by Caltex. The church transferred its activities to the manse and the rest of the property was used by the oil company.

In 1986 the Board of Works advised the church that it was no longer interested in the property. The church built a new chapel which was opened in March 1990.

Early in the twenty-first century the lease to the oil company was cancelled and a new vision was created by the church, under the courageous leadership of Gary and Evelyn Heard, for what became the Hawke & King complex. This is a vertical community consisting of 74 apartments which was opened in July 2018. The building was designed with community in mind, with style and attentiveness to the environment. A proportion of the apartments are devoted towards people needing affordable housing.

The church gathering space, also doubling as a community centre, was created on the southern side of the apartment complex.

From 2005 the church was called The Eighth Day but in 2020 it became known again as the West Melbourne Baptist Church.