St Mary Magdalene, the rebuilt 'St John's in the Wilderness', works with St Peter's College caring mission in Adelaide city
St Mary Magdalene Anglican church and the former St Peter's College Mission hall in Moore Street, Adelaide city. At left: St Mary Magdalene church stained glass window designed by Vanessa Smith (nee Lambe) and of Adelaide firm Clarkson's Ltd.
St Mary Magdalene Anglican mission church, dedicated to working with the poor and marginalised people, was rebuilt in 1886 in Moore Street, Adelaide city, with the design and materials from “St John’s in the Wilderness” church from 1841.
The original St John’s church in Halifax Street, in Adelaide city’s southeast corner, on land donated by first colonial treasurer Osmond Gilles, was commonly called "St John's in the Wilderness" because of its remoteness from the busier northern part of Adelaide. The church was poorly built, leading to a demolition order in 1885.
During the rebuilding of the new St John's, opened in 1887 in Halifax Street, minister Frederic Slaney Poole decided to use materials and fittings from the old church for a mission church in a spiritual "no-man’s land” in the city. This economy also was necessary with South Australia being in an economic depression. The architect for the severely detailed gothic building erected in 1886 in Moore Street, using much of the materials and following much of its former St John’s structure, was R. Garlick Holwell, who designed many local churches, and the builders Couch & Perkins. The church’s bell from the first church is marked “1838”.
Opening as the mission church of St John’s in Halifax Street, the church was consecrated as St Mary Magdalene in 1893. From its foundation, the church worked with the city’s poor and marginalised people. This mission role was boosted from 1908 when the church, after being linked in 1906-07 to St Cyprian in North Adelaide, was handed over to the Adelaide bishop and C.S. Hornabrook was made missioner.
Educated at St Peter's College in Adelade, Hornabrook began his career in an architect's office before entering the Anglican ministry in England. He eventually returned to Adelaide as curate of St John's in Halifax Street on 1892-94 when it was responsible for St Mary Magdalene's Church. He was archdeacon of Mount Gambier when appointed as St Mary Magdalene's missioner.
Hornabrook took up the idea from England of public (wealthy private) schools sponsoring a mission for underprivileged inhabitants of a city. Hornabrook gained the backing of past and present boys of St Peter's College when he suggested to headmaster and Anglican minister H. Girdlestone that St Mary Magdalene become the college's mission.
The college's involvement in the mission brought a flow of donations. Because the small church only had a small rented cottage for its general welfare and relief work, a purpose-built mission hall was needed. An anonymous gift of £1000 hastened the hall being built to provide a free day school kindergarten with free meals for poor children. It ran clubs for adults, girls and boys, as well as a troop of Scouts and Guides. St Peter's mission was eventually moved to the Elizabeth region, north of Adelaide, in 1957, reflecting demographic changes in the Adelaide metropolitan area.
In 1919, St Mary Magdalene's was given full status as a parish. After the 1920s, when the congregation was nearby working class, worshippers came from inner suburbs using their new motorised transport. From the late 1970s, St. Mary Magdalene's and St. Oswald's Parkside were among those that developed distinctive styles of worship attracting congregations from many parts of the metropolitan area.
A notable internal feature of St Mary Magdalene church was a three-light stained glass window depicting Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary, designed by Vanessa Smith (nee Lambe) of Adelaide firm Clarkson's Ltd. Smith, also designed and built windows for St George's, Magill, and St Saviour's, Glen Osmond. The window was dedicated to the memory of Percy Robert Ferris, rector of the parish 1940-47.
