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Canberra City Uniting Church
Braddon, ACT 2612
Church Information
| Church Name: | Canberra City Uniting Church |
| Church Previous Name: | Canberra Congregational National Memorial Church |
| Denomination: | Uniting Church in Australia |
| Street Address: | 69 Northbourne Ave, Braddon ACT 2612, Australia |
| Suburb: | Braddon |
| State: | ACT |
| Postcode: | 2612 |
| Foundation Stone Laid: | unknown |
| Foundation Stone Notes: | The memorial stone for the church hall was laid by the Rev W Albiston, President of C U A N Z on 1/11/1952. The text on the stone is not known. Information/photographs are invited. The foundation stone for the church building was laid on 21/2/1959 by the Rev J F Dickinson, President of the Congregational Union of Australia and New Zealand. The text on the foudation stone is not known. Information/photographs are invited. A stone tablet on the current church building records; City Uniting Church - This church was opened by - His Excellency The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen - AK GCMG GCVO KBE - Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia - on 29th February 1988. |
| Date Opened: | 29-02-1988 |
| Date Closed: | unknown |
| Email: | admin@churchesaustralia.org |
Comments
The Canberra City Uniting Church, Braddon is part of the Canberra Region Presbytery of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW & ACT. "The birth of a Congregational Church in Canberra was a meeting held on 16th January, 1929 when a decision was made 'that a fellowship of Congregationalists be formed in Canberra." For the next 10 years, progress was slow, with many frustrations. However, during the war years, the church joined with the Reid Methodist Church, whereby they supplied the minister and the Methodist's the church building. This was a successful joint co-operation but finished when the Methodists appointed a new minister to their church in 1946. This left the congregationalists with no place to hold their worship services. They returned to the Y M C A building, with a smaller congregation as some of its members remained with the Reid Methodist Church. After much frustration with both the Sydney Canberra Committee which oversaw the Canberra work and the local authorites, with delays in granting building approvals, a church hall was eventually opened on 6/12/1952, with a kindergarten extension opened in 1953. The church building was eventually erected and was opened by The Hon R G Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia on 14/11/1959, and known as the Canberra Congregational National Memorial Church. A manse was dedicated on 22/8/1971. The church became part of the Uniting Church in 1977, after many years of discussion. In the interim, many ministry initiatives, further property projects, and preparation for Union were undertaken, including the adoption of the name 'City Uniting Church', agreed on on 24/8/1976. However, by the early 1970s preliminary ideas began for the redevelopment of the site to include a church and other commercial facitities. This culminated in the present structure, opened by the Governor-General on 29/2/1988. A Tongan congregation also uses the church facility. More historical information/photographs of the church/congregation are invited. Photographs uploaded 22/10/2025.
For much more details of the Congregational church story see ; Riley, Douglas, A history of the Congregational National Memorial Church, Canberra, known since union as City Uniting Church, 1929-1979. Illuminate, accessed 22/10/2025, https://illuminate.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/132
