St John's Anglican Church Precinct

St John's Anglican precinct at South Townsville tells the story of rebuilding after cyclones. It comprises a small timber church constructed in 1907; a timber rectory constructed c1907; and a small timber and fibrous-cement sheeted church hall. St John's Church is the third church erected on this site, replacing an 1898 church destroyed in 1903 by cyclone Leonta, which in turn, had replaced an 1884 church destroyed by cyclone Sigma in 1896. The rectory is also the third residence on the site, replacing vicarages destroyed in the 1896 and 1903 cyclones. These buildings remain amongst the earliest surviving Anglican Church buildings in the Diocese of North Queensland. The 1907 church was designed by Charles Dalton Lynch, the Townville partner of the architectural firm of Tunbridge, Tunbridge and Lynch. As Ross Island was a working class neighbourhood, it took four years to raise the funds for the new church, which was dedicated on 17 February 1907. The date of reconstruction of the vicarage is unclear, but it is known to have been in place by 1911.