Bishop's Lodge

The Bishop’s Lodge is a landmark structure on an exposed northerly ridge of Castle Hill. It is visible from surrounding suburbs and from the sea. The lodge has magnificent views of Cleveland Bay and Magnetic Island. When the first Anglican services were held in Townsville in the early 1860s, the town was part of the diocese of New South Wales. A church and vicarage were built in the early 1870s. A school was established in 1877, and by 1878 the diocese of North Queensland was created with George Henry Stanton as bishop. In 1883, Bishop Stanton selected land in Belgian Gardens for a bishop’s residence. Construction was about to commence on a cathedral, which took precedence over a bishop’s house. A new bishop, C G Barlow arrived in 1891 and soon after, commissioned local architects Tunbridge and Tunbridge to design a bishop’s house. It was completed in 1897, only to be damaged by Cyclone Leonta in 1903. One of the longest serving bishops here was John Oliver Feetham who lived in the lodge for 35 years. He died in his bed on the verandah in 1947. In the 1970s, a memorial chapel was created on the verandah in his honour. The house remains the official bishop’s residence.