COULD an exact replica of St Brigid’s Catholic Church in Rosewood be built today?
The answer is twofold and interlocked.
If you could source enough money to fund the build … and if you could source enough timber to do the build.
To stay true to the replication, while sourcing enough money would be a giant hurdle, the real hurdle would be sourcing the correct timbers.
Take for example the interior.
The Crows Ash (Flindersia australis) flooring is constructed of exceptionally long 4in wide (10cm) by 1in thick (2.5cm) boards.
These boards would have been cut from what today is called old growth forest where Crows Ash trees had reached heights of 40 metres or more. The trees would have been at least 100 years old and heavily buttressed around the base.
Today, if you wished to reconstruct the floor of the church, its highly likely that the current limited availability of the timber would be also greatly hindered by the size of the boards you were seeking.
The alternative would be to search for a disused old church or school of arts (probably two or three) that you could buy to repurpose the flooring for the new church build.
If you leapt the Crows Ash hurdle, an even greater challenge awaits.
White Beech (Gmelina leichhardtii) is a native timber, which was once in plentiful supply in our rainforests and along higher placed alluvial flats.
The trees growing on the easily reached areas were logged out before and after settlement and almost all the remainder are now untouchable in national parks and reserves.
It is a highly prized timber which is considered to be one of the finest carving woods in the world.
This ‘softer of the hardwoods’ is lightweight yet strong and has a fine, even textured grain.
And much of it was used in the interior of St Brigid’s.
According to a report of an interview with the church builder, Robert Murphy, the massive roof is supported on 16, 8in by 8in pillars (20.3cmx 20.3cm). The pillars are 16ft (4.9m) tall.
The Gothic arches (5in x 5in or 12.7cm x12.7cm) and the decorative moulding are also of white beech.
As are the bannisters of the staircase up to the choir gallery and the front bannister along the gallery.
All this timber came from James O’Shea’s sawmill in Rosewood. It was located in Mill Street directly opposite and across the rail line from the Rosewood Showground.
While the church was officially opened in February 1910, the build was completed by September 1909 – evidence of that is the acceptance of the tender to paint the new church, inside and out, in July 1909 and a photograph in the Queensland Times in September 1909 showing a group of people in front of the “new catholic church in Rosewood”.
The completion date is important to James O’Shea’s involvement in the church build.
At 4.00am on Wednesday, 1909, the alarm was raised that a shed at the sawmill was burning.
By the time people arrived on site, the fire had spread to the main building and had reached a large pile of shavings.
So intense was the fire, that the structure was reduced to nothing more than blazing logs very quickly.
The news reports indicated that little machinery could be saved and the mill owner had lost all his pine and crows ash logs and all the dressed timber and moulding stored on the grounds.
The loss, Mr O’Shea told the reporter, was in the vicinity of £3,000 and he was only insured for £1,000.
Yet the man who had only purchased the operation in July 1908, was still willing to help when Father Horan asked.
After Sunday mass on February 6, 1910, the priest asked for assistance in readying the church yard for the opening the following weekend.
James O’Shea volunteered to supply all the timber necessary for the 60ft by 100ft (18.3m x 30.5m) tent that was to be erected near the church hall (the former St Brigid’s church) to accommodate the overflow of luncheon guests.
He also put his hand up to supply the timber for tables and seating and to bring a gang of workers to the grounds to erect the tent and make the furniture for the tent on site.
O’Shea sold the sawmill in July 1910.
