ST Brigid’s Catholic Church has long been Rosewood’s biggest attraction but it has suffered from some tough times in recent years. The church at 28 Matthews St is, it’s said, the largest wooden Catholic church in the country.
It’s a quite magnificent building that clearly had a lot of work put into it. It was designed by Father Andrew Horan, who also paid some of the cost of building it. Then Bishop Duhig opened the church on 13 February 1910.
The building is entirely wooden, made of timber on timber foundations. But it doesn’t seem to have been built to last, with the church taking on a lean that saw it closed in February 2020. According to the local priest, it leaned 20cm off centre back then. It had been constructed over an old mine on heavy black soil and had poor drainage. The outcome had been structural problems that could no longer be ignored.
A plan was hatched to move the church so that it could sit on sounder footing. when it was closed in February 2020.
The church has a nave and two side aisles, each of which features a separate cross and gabled window. Inside are a number of unusual frescos – one has the symbols of grain (bread) and grapes (wine) with the inscription ‘O memoriala mortis domini’ (In memory of the death of our Lord), while the other depicts angels and was painted in 1935.
The Queensland Heritage Register stated, “The interior of the northern wall was improved for the 1935 Jubilee Celebrations. Three stained glass windows by RS Exton & Co of Brisbane, and flanking murals on fibre supports by the important Queensland artist, William Bustard, were added. A scroll on the diagonal boards of the lower central section of this wall was probably painted about this time.”
Other features include an altar that looks like it has been fashioned from marble but is actually wooden and three saints’ statues.
