14/10/2026
Circa 1909 - St. Phillips & James, Catholic Church was transported, from Blackville, in three pieces & reassembled at the Quirindi Rural Heritage Village in 2013.
After more than five years of planning, relocating and reconstructing, the St Phillip and James Catholic Church was officially opened and blessed on Saturday afternoon the 11th April 2015. Local parish priest Father Roel performed the ceremony in front of more than 100 people, with former Blackville parishioners among the crowd.
Quirindi Rural Heritage Village secretary Cedric Grayson made the introductions, while Father Roel gave a blessing and said he hoped it would be used in the future.
Chairman of the village committee, Bob McInnes, outlined the history of the church and the amount of work that had gone into its relocation and restoration.
He also thanked everyone involved.
It didn’t take long for the church to be put into use, with a naming ceremony held on Sunday.
Following the handover, the Heritage Village is now busy making big plans for the 17th annual Vintage Machinery and Miniature Railway Rally and Swap Meet on May 2 and 3. This year there will be a 100km tractor trek on the Friday preceding the rally.
Other features include the official opening of the 600m extension of the miniature railway track and tunnel.
Market stallholders have also shown keen interest in the event, with more than 100 already booked. For more information on the rally, contact Beryl Mannion on 6746 1479.
The first ceremony, a baby's Naming Day, was conducted by Carol Laylor, on Sunday the 12th April 2015. The images of the 106 year old timber Church, on its earlier site at Blackville & the Catholic Cemetery, are by David Billington, who visited the site at the end of May 2008. He found four headstones bearing inscriptions dated between 1876 and 1884.
David says: "Although the Church was then isolated, it was apparently once in the centre of the village on the banks of Black Creek, at Blackville on the Liverpool Plains. The village later moved further away from the creek but the Church remained.
