OUR HISTORY
Our parish is part of the North West Deanery, Lilley Archdeaconry and the Diocese of Brisbane.
St James’, Kelvin Grove was founded in 1901 and St John’s Enoggera became a parochial district of the parish of Grovely in 1970 and a parish in 1978, however worship in the parish commenced in 1898 with a service in Samford Road, Alderley.
St. John’s, Enoggera was founded in 1951 with a church hall on Wardell Street. The hall was dedicated on the 12th August 1951. In 1962, the hall was replaced as a place of worship with the current church.
2009 was a momentous year in the life of the people of Enoggera and Kelvin Grove parishes as it saw the formal union of two worshipping communities into one parish family. 2010 was a year of consolidation and building on the foundations laid in 2009. To the credit of our spiritual leaders, Fr Rod Winterton, Fr Jack Phillips as well as all parishioners, the transition and building process was seamless. In part this was due to the careful planning over a number of years, partly due to the resilience of parishioners, as well as the commitment to seeing amalgamation as a way forward and God’s will for our community.
Our local community
The parish includes the suburbs of Enoggera, Alderley, Dorrington, Gaythorne, Mitchelton and Newmarket, as well as parts of Ashgrove, Kelvin Grove and Red Hill. A significant number of parishioners reside outside the parish boundaries but most live within the parish; some continue to walk to church as they have done for generations.
Recent statistics
As at June 30, 2018 the estimated resident population of Green Hills Anglican region was 22 331 persons. While the number of residents born overseas is significantly lower that the Queensland total, this number is steadily growing.
The majority of residents in the Green Hills Anglican region are professionals (30%) and clerical and administrative workers (16.3%). The population of the area is increasing considerably as multi-dwelling units are being constructed.
Although there are similar numbers of primary school aged children in both state and private schools, there are more than double the number of secondary school students attending private schools.
External local facilities
Our churches in both Kelvin Grove and Enoggera are on extremely busy arterial roads into the city (5 km for St James and 8 km for St Johns). Both churches are serviced by Brisbane City Council bus services. Newmarket Village is a large shopping complex close by, however there is no shopping centre in the suburb of Enoggera. Brookside, a large regional shopping centre is proximate to the parish. There is also a Centrelink office located at Brookside. The parish shares the suburb of Kelvin Grove with Queensland University of Technology and both parish centres are well serviced by local state, Catholic and private primary and secondary schools.
Additionally we are the local parish for Hillbrook Anglican School. Our suburbs are undergoing change at a dramatic rate with stand alone older family homes on large blocks making way for smaller sub-divisions and high occupancy dwellings are increasing substantially to cater for young couples wishing to live close to the CBD. Gallipoli Barracks is situated two blocks from St John’s, however, as most soldiers live off barracks, little contact is maintained.
The area is dominated by small businesses (1569) compared with 57 medium and 15 large businesses. The local area also has a Respite Centre, a Senior Citizen’s Club, two Aged Care facilities, libraries, swimming pools, and service clubs. Most financial institutions are represented in the area or just outside the parish boundary.