New Town and Lenah Valley Anglican acknowledges that we meet on the traditional land of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people of the Mouheneenner band who lived by the River Derwent in this area for 8000 years. We are committed to Reconciliation between Aboriginal peoples and non-Indigenous peoples in our state of lutruwita/Tasmania.
New Town and Lenah Valley Anglican has a heritage of 180 years of ministry in our community beginning with the opening of St John’s, New Town, in 1835. St James, New Town, was also established as part of the Parish of St John in 1916 in response to new housing development around Augusta Road and the development of the tram service to Lenah Valley. This became the independent parish of St James the Apostle in 1919.
Ministry in Lenah Valley (previously called Kangaroo Valley) commenced when the Kangaroo Valley Mission Church began to meet in 1895. This congregation continued until 1934. Initially it was part of St John’s, New Town, and from 1919 part of the newly-formed St James parish. After World War II the Lenah Valley Anglican community began meeting in the Community Hall. The Church of St Andrew in Lenah Valley was opened in 1961 as part of the Parish of St James which subsequently became St James and St Andrew in 2001.
On 1 July 2013 the two Anglican parishes in New Town and Lenah Valley were reunited to form a combined parish. In December 2016 St Andrew’s moved to reunite with the St James’ and St John’s congregations.
In 2014 we appointed a full-time Children and Families Minister. That year we also completed an extension and upgrade of the facilities in St James Hall. Following the Centenary of St James in 2016 we have been implementing a new Development Plan, featuring the construction of a children’s Play Garden at St James for church and community use dedicated in November 2019.
Credits for image above: shutterstock_1473570917.jpg Artist: Suthikait Teerawattanaphan