All Saints Chapel
Lavarack barracks
Rockhampton man designs North Queensland Army Chapel.
A Rockhampton citizen soldier, Sgt. Neil Harvey has attended the opening in Townsville of an army chapel he designed.
The newly constructed All Saints Chapel located at the base of Mt. Stuart in Lavarack Barracks, was officially opened by the Minister for Defence, Mr. D.J Killen.
Other senior guests at the opening ceremony included the Army’s Chief of Personal, Major General D. S. Baldwin; Army chaplains – Chaplains General J.A. Morgan, K.H. Short, and R.A. Bush; and Commander of the 1St.Military District, Brigadier A.H. Smith. Local military heads, ranking clergy of North Queensland, civic leaders and government representatives also attended the opening of the Chapel, named after it’s forerunner in Nui Dat, Vietnam, which was the Australian force’s multi- denominational church during the Vietnam campaign.
The Chapel was constructed by Army sappers of the Victorian- based 21St. Construction Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers, under the control of Sydney-based 19 Chief Engineer Works, with the support of local tradesmen and business houses.
An Australia- wide competition was carried out in 1978 for a chapel design with Army Reserve soldier, Sgt. A.R. Harvey, of the Rockhampton based 9Th. Field Ambulance, winning the overall design, and former Army Chaplin, Cannon A.P. Rutter, of Staywell, Victoria winning the interior design competition.
The Chapel is of religious importance to Townsville as its bell, called the “Angelus Bell” , originally tolled in St. Joseph’s church in 1891, and was presented recently by the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
It is the first Army Chapel to be built entirely at public expense when in 1975, the Minister for Defence and the Federal Treasure, announced that the provision of Chapels at Service establishments and their maintenance, in future would be made at public expense.
Highlight of the Chapel is the wooden ceiling of Quandong, cut from a forest near Proserpine by a local timber mill with last year’s wet season holding up construction for several months because final cuts of timber from the forest could not take place until rain had stopped.
Wives of soldiers based at Lavarack Barracks have been busy over the past months embroidering 23 prayer cushions emblazoned with unit badges, representing 1400 ‘woman hours’ take pride of place in the Chapel.
News item from“Rockhampton Morning Bulletin”