Information

Samuel and George Grimes established a Baptist mission on their Fairfield Farm (see entry).The Grimes family and Thomas Blacket Stephens were pioneering Baptist figures in the colonial governments. Ball notes that 15 members of the Baptist churches were prominent in colonial governance, and Baptists, including Stephens, held the mayoral office for six of the first eighteen years. The first Ministers were Mr. W. Grimes and Rev. W. Moore from 1865 to 1870. The Grimes brothers (Samuel and George) with Chris Poole took over the ministry from 1870. A building to accommodate 90 persons was opened on 26 December (Boxing Day) 1865, at a cost of £100. A larger building at double the cost was opened in 1888. By 1890 there were was a Sunday School with eleven teachers and 130 scholars. Among the members of the Church was Joe Soden. The mission was constituted as the Fairfield Baptist Church on 18 September 1912 under Rev. R. Horn. A Sunday School mission was started at Ekibin in 1917. The congregation and church building was relocated to Ipswich Road, Annerley, in 1934, and became the Annerley Baptist Church (see entry). The Fairfield Church was re-started as a Sunday School mission and had a new building erected in 1940.

Citations

Les Ball. Baptists in Colonial Queensland in Rod Fisher.(Edited) Brisbane : houses, gardens, suburbs and congregations. Brisbane History Group 2010. pp. 248-252; Unnamed. Annerley Baptist Church: One Hundred Years. in Folder Three. Annerley Library Local History Collection.

Image Citations

Map References

QSA. QSA Series ID 2043 City of Brisbane and Suburbs Maps – A1A Series. 1 chain to the inch. Plan of subdivision of section 30 City of Brisbane. 1 chain to an inch. Surveyor General’s Office, Brisbane.(quarter-size). 634488