The Lindisfarne church buildings have been sold to members of Hobart’s Muslim community.
For more than 120 years, a site in Lindisfarne, Tasmania, has been a place of worship for congregations of the Uniting Church and its predecessor churches.
From around 2000, the Uniting Church congregations in Lindisfarne and Bellerive joined together as the Clarence Uniting Church ‘one congregation meeting in two locations’. Two years ago, the Clarence congregation chose to meet only in one venue (Bellerive) and the Lindisfarne church buildings were sold in 2025.
Hood Al Dawahdeh and Hebah Kaljeh, along with the Hobart Muslim community, are now repurposing the buildings into a community hub named the House of Guidance Hobart, which will provide a place of worship alongside educational, cultural, and social services.
Chairperson of the Church Council, Clarence Uniting Church Jan McGrath said: “The Lindisfarne members of the Clarence congregation have expressed genuine pleasure that the Lindisfarne site will continue to be a location for worship and services for the community. We are very supportive of the new life of the buildings.”
Uniting Church Tasmania synod liaison minister Rohan Pryor added: “What we really appreciate is that this will continue to be a place of community gathering, of reflection and worship, and for wellbeing and care.”
The new owners are respectful of the site’s history.
“I would like to acknowledge the beautiful heritage of this former church, built in 1903, as a place of worship,” Mr Al Dawahdeh said. “It has been serving the community for more than a century, and the House of Guidance Hobart will continue this legacy.”
The church in 1912 (source: The Tasmanian Mail).
Lindisfarne timeline
Pre-1860: The first place of Congregational worship on the eastern shore of the Derwent River was probably at Kangaroo Point in a building that started life as an inn called ‘The Waterman Arms’.
1896-1903: Congregational worship and fellowship began in Beltana – the old name for Lindisfarne – during the ministry of Rev Robert Ricards.
1903: May 27-foundation stone laid by Rev W Percy, Chairman of the Congregational Union; November 4-official opening of the church building as the Lindisfarne Congregational Church, on land donated by Mr Matthew Wilkes Simmons.
1904: The Sunday School opened.
1908: Front porch added and a small hall built at the back.
1956: The Lindisfarne church became part of the Lindisfarne-Cambridge-Richmond United Congregations, an initiative of the Methodist and Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches.
1961: The Unicorn Club was founded, holding monthly meetings including “fun and fellowship, debates and devotional activities”. The name Unicorn was a play on the words UNIted CO(R)Ngregation.
1962: Foundation stone laid for the hall.
1965: Extensions and alterations made to the church building during the ministry of Rev Arthur Warren.
1968: The building of the manse commenced.
1972: The Unicorn Opportunity Shop was opened in Lindisfarne village.
1975: The Tasman Bridge over the Derwent River was knocked down by the Lake Illawarra ship. Many eastern shore people began to worship at Lindisfarne as it was so difficult to get to their usual city churches.
2003: Celebration of the centenary of the church, including the publishing of a history booklet.
2022: 50th anniversary of the Unicorn Op Shop.
2025: Sale of the church buildings and manse.
