History of st judes
BEGINNINGS
Anglican ministry in the district of Dural began in the early years of the 19th century with occasional visits by clergyman such as Rev Samuel Marsden to the sawyers and pioneer farmers of the area. In 1839 Rev William Clarke was appointed by Bishop Broughton as the first minister of the newly created parish of Castle Hill and Dural, although there was no church building as such in the parish. A Church of England denominational school already existed at Dural in 1839 but it was not until 1846-48 that the church of St Jude’s was built at Dural on what was then the Great North Road to the Hunter Valley. In Castle Hill, the former Government barracks building was used (and named St Simon’s) for church services from 1839 until 1861, when the church of St Paul’s was opened.
The First Century
Dural remained part of the parish of Castle Hill from 1839 to 1937. In that period, three Anglican branch churches were built in the Dural district: Kenthurst (1887), Annangrove (1899) and Arcadia (1907). Dural Public School took the place of the denominational school in 1869. St Jude’s Anglican Cemetery at Dural was opened in 1876 and is still in use for parishioners. A Parish Hall was built at Dural in 1914-16 on the site of the old school house.
In the first hundred years or so of St Jude’s existence, the main families who led activity at the church included the Bests, the Moores and the Fullers.
Becoming a Parish
In 1937 St Jude’s Dural became a Provisional Parish, with Rev Ronnie O’Brien being appointed the first Rector. During his incumbency (1937-1949), three more branch churches were added to the new parish: Galston (1938), Annangrove (1939) and Glenorie (1941). Dural became a fully fledged Parish in 1947.
The branch structure of Dural parish reached its peak with the addition of Hillside in 1951, bringing the number of churches to be serviced by the Rector to seven. The administrative pendulum began to swing in the opposite direction in the 1970’s, with Kenthurst acquiring the status of a separate Provisional Parish, and the branch churches of Glenorie, Hillside and Annangrove being closed. Galston followed suit in 1983, leaving Arcadia as the sole remaining branch church in the parish of Dural.
More Recently
A new, larger building for church services and other parish functions was completed in late 1979 on the Dural site; the original church of St Jude’s also continues to be used for regular services.
Since 2005, the Anglican churches at Dural, Kenthurst and Arcadia have combined to form the re-named parish of Dural District.