Malvern Presbyterian Church

Story

Malvern Presbyterian Church is located in Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1886, it was the first Presbyterian Church to be founded in the City of Malvern and is now within Stonnington, a metropolitan area of Melbourne.The church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. A good example of Post-Federation, Australian Arts & Crafts architecture, it is in stylistic sympathy with the many Federation style houses in the area. The church became a hub of the district and the place of worship for many leading citizens of the area and reflected the self-confidence of Edwardian Melbourne. The Congregation produced three Moderators of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria and continues to thrive as a diverse congregation in a busy inner-east suburb.BackgroundMalvern is one of several daughter churches formed by families from the Toorak congregation. Originally, the area was called the Gardiner Road district and developed from the 1860s as a place for wealthy Melburnians to establish large houses in a semi-rural environment. Commenting on this in 1925, the Rev Graham Balfour – who grew up in Toorak in the 1870s – described it as the "vice-regal" district, adding: "grouped around....beautiful undulating land, studded with magnificent redgum trees, were the homes, generally in wide domain, of the men who by industry, foresight and character, had attained wealth and honour in this young country. A large proportion of these were Scotch Presbyterians." The Scottish and Ulster Presbyterian influence was significant.