THE little church in Kameruka has a tonne of history behind it.
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The Holy Trinity Kameruka Church sits on a hill overlooking the Kameruka Estate, taking in green rolling fields as well as the houses and Lord’s View cricket grounds, which remain part of the old village.
It was designed by Edmund Blackett and built in 1869 by Charles Galli of Wolumla, assisted by volunteer labour from the estate.
At the time of its construction, the estate was actually titled “Kamaruka”.
The church was built during the time of estate owner Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth, who donated the land of the church and the cemetery to the Anglican Church.
Sir Lucas-Tooth’s three sons died as a result of active service in World War 1 and he himself passed away in 1916, so his granddaughter Christine inherited the property.
She later married Derick Foster and in the 1970s their son Frank took over management of the estate, before he sold it in 2007.
In December 1870, a bible was presented to the church by William Macquarie Cowper who became the first Anglican Dean in Australia.
The bible is on display in the church to this day, and Mr Cowper was the great-great grandfather of the current church warden, Sandy Macqueen.
“There’s a lot of history here,” he said.
Six months ago, the church began to be repaired.
The fence was painted, sign renewed, dead and dying trees removed and the floor sanded and sealed.
A heritage grant allowed a repainting of the ceilings, and a painter will repair the woodwork on the roof and paint it.
Also, two pews that had been missing for 40 years were recently found.
Mr Macqueen said after last year’s annual service, a man approached him and said he thought he had the pews, after collecting them during a clean-up in a shed in St John’s Church, Bega.
Mr Macqueen had been searching for the pews for years and was very happy they had been returned – although he had recently discovered another is still missing, after finding a slot for it behind the church organ.
“After 40 years the church is back to almost the way it was when it was built,” Mr Macqueen said.
The church is only small, it can sit around 100 people, and Mr Macqueen said as there are many churches in the vicinity, the one at Kameruka is rarely used aside from an annual service and weddings, baptisms and funerals of which there are around six per year.
The annual service took place on Sunday.
THE Kameruka Estate is to be sold again in November.
The 1452ha estate was sold by Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth’s great-grandson Frank Foster to British shipping and farming magnate Giles Pritchard-Gordon for $9million in 2007.
It is now being auctioned with an expected price of between $11-12million, after renovations conducted by Mr Pritchard-Gordon to the homestead as well as upgrades to the agriculture business.
It is being sold with the nearby 397ha farm Staplehurst, also owned by the Pritchard-Gordon family, which includes a mud brick homestead as well as the Mardon home and the property’s original cottage, built around 1860.
Mr Pritchard-Gordon died in 2011 and his wife Lou has chosen to sell the estate.
Kameruka and Staplehurst will be auctioned online from November 5-7 by Meares and Associates.