From Port Wakefield to Port Pirie

Robin and Jenny discover a transformation in the St Alban's Anglican Church, SA, and revisit an altar from a previous blog entry....

I am happy to report that you are able to continue to travel with Robin as Jenny and I cross this huge country and along the way photograph Anglican churches for our calendar. After our trip to the Red Centre we had a fortnight at home catching up with personal admin and preparing for our next adventure and were soon on the road again. We have now retraced our steps into South Australia and called at the small town of Port Wakefield. In the 1880s Port Wakefield was the third busiest port in South Australia after Port Adelaide and Port Augusta so a significant part of the state’s history. We found there that the former St Alban’s Anglican church building is now ‘Salt of the Earth’ gallery and coffee shop. Sad but at least the building is being loved and cared for and lives on as an important part of the town’s heritage.

I had heard that the altar from the Farina Anglican Church was now in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Port Pirie so we called there to view it. The Dean, Mark Hawkes, very kindly opened the cathedral for me and I was able to find the altar in a tiny chapel. We were able to remove the coverings and confirm that it is the altar that appeared in the old photographs, one of which is in a previous blog entry. We have many kilometres ahead of us and our next important church photography stop will be in Darwin.