Sandgate Baptist Church 1.91

Sandgate Baptist Church is a heritage-listed former church at 6-8 Flinders Parade, Sandgate, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey and built in 1887 by William Street. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 November 2003.HistoryThe former Sandgate Baptist Church is the second Baptist church in Sandgate and opened on Christmas Day 1887.Baptists first arrived in Queensland in 1851 and were established in Brisbane by 1855. A church was constructed for them in Wharf Street, Brisbane in early 1859, soon after the arrival of Reverend B G Wilson. From this church, preaching stations were begun which developed into suburban churches. From 1868 open-air Baptist services were being held at Sandgate on the shore in the vicinity of the 1887 church.In September 1852, James Charles Burnett made the first survey of the Sandgate area and the first sales of land were held in 1853. By 1858 there were 25 people living there and a hotel and shops had been established. In the 1860s, as access to the area improved, Sandgate developed as a seaside town on the English model providing salubrious sea air and a refuge from the oppressive heat of a Brisbane summer. Early Governors of Queensland and other prominent citizens spent holidays at Sandgate and there were guesthouses and houses available for rent from an early date.