St John’s Anglican Church in Port Fairy was designed by Nathaniel Billing and was built of bluestone between 1854‐1856. It was supposedly the first church in Victoria with a full chancel. The two largest stained glass windows were made by Ferguson & Urie of North Melbourne.

Photos were taken 7th Jan 2011.

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Australian Town and Country Journal, NSW, Saturday 5th January 1889, page 26.

“… the Anglican Church, with its ivy-clad walls, presents a picturesque appearance. The interior is beautified by a splendid stained glass memorial window, representing Faith, Hope, and Charity. This was presented by Mr. A. H. Knight, of Koorongah, in memory of his wife, who died in England in 1886. The chancel window displays most artistic workmanship, and was the gift of Mr. Lydiard. The church is substantially constructed of bluestone, and was erected as a cost of £14,000…”

The Lydiard memorial window:

The three light chancel window is a memorial to Cecilia Lydiard (nee Wooldridge 1848-1871). She was the daughter of Henry Wooldridge and Sarah Anne Buckland and died at the age of 31 in Belfast (Port Fairy) in 1871. The centre light of the stained glass chancel window has the memorial text:  “IN MEMORY OF CECILIA WIFE OF G. LYDIARD”.

George Fletcher Lydiard (1833-1925) was the son of Admiral George William Charles Lydiard (R.N) and Mary Sturt. After Cecilia’s death George married Adelaide Frances Campbell (1856-1901) on the 2nd August 1877[1]. In 1877 George Lydiard was unanimously elected as president of the shire of Belfast (Port Fairy)[2] and re-elected in 1878[3]. He was also appointed Vice President of Belfast Farmers Union 11^th October 1879[4]. Lydiard was also a long-time friend and business partner of Andrew Halley Knight (see below) in the Koorongah Estate sheep station and in 1881 it was Knight, whilst in England, who relayed to Lydiard his findings, for a cure of Lungworm in Sheep and subsequently the estate was one of the first in Victoria to install a Carbolic acid fumigating room for the treatment[5]. G. F. Lydiard died at Euroa in 1925[6] aged 93.

The Knight Memorial window: c.1887.

The three light stained glass window of Faith Hope & Charity is a memorial to Elizabeth Hawkins Knight (nee Grylls, 1827-1886) and possibly made c. 1887.

The lower edge of the window can’t be seen to ascertain if there is any text but the subject of the memorial was Elizabeth Hawkins Knight (nee Grylls, 1827-1886) who was the daughter of the Rev John Crouch Grylls of Sydney and Sarah Richards. She married Andrew Halley Knight at St James Cathedral in Melbourne on 22 Aug 1848[7]. Her husband, Andrew Halley Knight (1813-1904), had arrived in Port Phillip from Edinburgh in 1838 and started business as ‘Alison & Knight’ merchants in Collins Street Melbourne. He owned extensive sheep runs around Kalkallo and Koorongah Estate near Port Fairly. After Elizabeth died in England in December 1886 he then married Ada Jane Atwood (1847-1941)[8] in Sussex in 1888.  A. H. Knight died at Croydon on the 6th July 1904.

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