About St Andrew's

The History of the Central Box Hill Parish

A Presbyterian congregation was started in Box Hill in 1887. Its first church was a small weatherboard building in Court Street. As the congregation grew a larger weatherboard church was build in 1911 at the corner of Whitehorse Road and Bruce Street. It was named St Andrew's.

Again the congregation outgrew its building and by 1932 a brick church was planned. It was never built as the Presbyterian Assembly offered to Box Hill the fine Gothic bluestone church in West Melbourne which was no longer used for worship. As a great venture of faith, in the middle of the Great Depression, the Congregation accepted the offer, the bluestone chuch was demolished, the present church was erected and opened in 1935 in its original form , though slightly smaller. The stained glass windows, its fine pipe organ, and the furnishings from West Melbourne were installed in the new building.

In 1960 the S.W. Ray Centre was built to accommodate the Sunday School of over 500 pupils and the many activities of the congregation of almost 1000 members.

St Andrew's has been served by a succession of outstanding ministers. It has fostered new congregations in Blackburn, Wattle Park and Kerrimuir. In recent years it has built up an extensive mission outreach into the local community. It has provided accommodation for three ethnic congregations before joining with the rapidly growing Hanbit Korean congregation to form the Central Box Hill Parish. A second worship centre has been created out of the former gymnasium to accommodate the second congregation.

Recently the St Andrew's congregation and the Hanbit Korean congregation have been working on redeveloping the church premises in order to ensure they are well maintained, accessible and suitable for community needs into the future. The redevelopment project is the result of many years of planning.  Construction work started on 13 August, 2012 and is expected to last for around 12 months (Update: the expected completion date is May, 2014). There will be some disruption during this period. Sunday services for the St Andrew's congregation are continuing at the church as normal though some services for the Hanbit congregation have been temporarily relocated (refer to the Hanbit church website for details). Everyone is very welcome to attend these services - hope to see you there!