St John's Church, Bega

In 1876 Edmund Blacket, the NSW Colonial Architect and the architect most favoured by the Church of England in NSW, was engaged to design Bega’s St John’s Anglican Church (in Church Street) with seating for 300. The Church was built by well-known local builder R W Thatcher and was opened in January 1878. There is no record of Blacket ever having visited Bega, but the Church (distinguished by good proportions, good materials and a minimum of fussy detail) is considered as one of Blacket’s finest country churches.

In 1897 the adjacent Gothic-style St. John’s Anglican Church School Hall was designed and built by Underhill and Thatcher. It was constructed as a result of fundraising undertaken by Mrs Louisa Evershed, the wife of Dr Montague Evershed.

Image: Bega Valley Historical Society