Hello Linda, That is an interesting article, I had read that this afternoon. The church was a 20th century one I was after something much earlier. Thank You Russell The HARRIS family Thomas George Harris A Glenpatrick Miner Also...Collins and Carey I'm now mining for information if you can help in any way contact me, Russell on the email address [email protected] ----- Original Message ---- From: linda and Stan Edwards <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, 31 August, 2007 7:28:39 PM Subject: Re: [GEELONG] Colac I did locate this report from 2005 which says the wesley church and hall in grant st colac is under uniting church ownership. and relate to its status as a heritage building, it has some interesting descriptions so was obviously standing then if this is the same one. http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/admin/file/content56/c3/Colac%20Church%20explantory%20note.doc linda ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For on-line indexes and information on Geelong and District http://www.zades.com.au ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sick of deleting your inbox? Yahoo!7 Mail has free unlimited storage. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html

Hello Russell, For the period you're looking for I don't think you should be looking for a physical church building - basically it didn't exist then. In those early years, the various ministers would have been travelling on horseback from Geelong or Melbourne and although the baptism may have been listed at Colac they would be entered (often much later) in the register for their church in Geelong or Melbourne. Some statements from the Colac-Otway Heritage Study covering buildings in the area ............ "The Wesleyans did not establish a presence in Colac until 1858 and relied on a circuit minister for six years until a permanent local appointment was made. The Minister lived in a small, plain, single storey house until the congregation had raised sufficient funds for a new manse and church in the early 1870's. The manse, a two storey brick structure, was erected in 1872 at 81 Wallace Street for use by Rev. Groves." "A Wesleyan presence was established in Colac in 1859 with the erection of a small church in Church Street. This sufficed until 1874 when a larger church was built in Murray Street, a little to the opposite of the Commercial Hotel. There was some disquiet in the church community on this location in the main commercial street of Colac but it was not until 1924 that the site was sold and a new church and Sunday school planned for Skene street. While building works were going on the Wesleyans held services at the Victoria Hall." "The Regent Theatre (23 Murray St) was originally built as the Paramount Theatre in 1925. The site had earlier been occupied by the Wesley Church and was totally cleared to make way for the theatre. The original owner and promoter was John McDonald a Colac estate agent and dealer. The Regent Theatre Co of Geelong bought the property in 1931 and changed the name." So definitely no church in 1851. If you look at the Geelong & District directories ............ http://www.zades.com.au/geelong/gddrsrc1.asp you'll see that Frederick LEWIS is listed in 1851 as a Wesleyan minister, Yarra Street, Geelong. And if you look at the Geelong & District Consolidated Book Index ....... http://www.zades.com.au/geelong/gdbksrc1.asp you'll find plenty of entries by searching on LEWIS, F (also one for LEWIS, Rev Canon) that are for him. Hope that helps .............. Susie Z ----- Original Message ----- From: "Russell Harris" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 7:57 PM Subject: Re: [GEELONG] Colac > Hello Linda, > That is an interesting article, I had read that this afternoon. The church > was a 20th century one I was after something much earlier. > Thank You > Russell