Coal, Steel and the Holy Cross: Post-War Churches and Chapels of the Hunter Region, NSW

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to the growing body of scholarly research into the boom in church construction that took place in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. Building on recent work by Lisa Marie Daunt and others, it focuses on a regional location as a noteworthy arena of this activity and seeks to understand the forces behind the appearance of a number of striking examples of modern church and chapel architecture. Due to its development as a major mining and industrial manufacturing centre, the Hunter region of New South Wales became a place of significant church construction. After the Second World War the region experienced a wave of church building activity as authorities looked to accommodate expanding congregations and as new religious territories emerged, particularly within the suburban growth areas of Newcastle. This paper examines key developments in church design and construction within the Hunter region in the post-war decades by considering three areas of architectural change and innovation: the simplification of traditional form, the introduction of new spatial arrangements, and the creation of physically and visually rich interior environments through the use of textured materials. Structuring the study around these areas clearly reveals how change took place in the transition from a conservative modernism to a range of innovative designs. The paper argues that not only do these changes reflect the impact of liturgical reform and the desire to enhance the church-going experience of modern-day worshippers, they also need to be understood in terms of a shift away from the patronage of established local architectural practices to the commissioning of Sydney architects who were employing new ideas for church and chapel design.