Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to talk about the oldest church in Australia, Ebenezer Church, which is in my electorate. The Reverend Grant Bilby had the pleasure of hosting a couple of hundred people on Sunday for the annual pilgrimage. Ebenezer Church was established in 1809. It was a pioneer in education in the colony, beginning a school in 1810. The church is the oldest school building in Australia. The first communion service according to the Church of Scotland was conducted in 1824 by the Reverend Dr John Dunmore Lang, and Andrew Johnston was ordained as an elder. David Dunstan and later Charles Smith, carpenter for Governor Macquarie, and architect Greenway—after whom the seat is named—did the carpentry at Ebenezer Church.

Next year, 2009, will be the bicentenary, and already plans are underway. A number of families have lived in the seat of Greenway in the Hawkesbury area for that length of time, 200 years. They are not the same people, obviously, but their descendants—families like the Johnstons and the Turnbulls. Jennifer Turnbull actually did one of the readings on Sunday. Normally, every year at the pilgrimage, we have the pleasure of hearing her sing one of the old hymns. (Time expired)