The Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd was constructed in 1892. The architect is unknown, however, it is possible that the design may be attributed to the work of JH Buckeridge, Brisbane Diocesan architect for the Anglican Church from 1886 - 1902. Buckeridge lived in Sydney from 1892 and managed the design of church buildings from there.
Reverend John Vincent, the first chaplain in the penal settlement of Moreton Bay, then part of the Diocese of Newcastle, arrived in 1829. Up until the late 1840s, parishioners held services in makeshift buildings, open-air services, and in private homes. In 1848 land was chosen in the present Queens's Park in George Street for the first Anglican Church in Brisbane, Saint John the Evangelist. With the establishment of the colony of Queensland in December 1859, it became necessary to form a new diocese within the Anglican Church. The Bishop of the new diocese, Reverend Edward Wyndham Tufnell, arrived in September 1860. Tufnell brought with him six young clergymen, inlcuding the Reverend Thomas Jones who played an important part in the early days of the Church of the Good Shepherd and other churches of the diocese.
By 1870, the Parish of Toowong had been formed and Brookfield was included as a remote part of that parish. By this time, Brookfield was settled by farmers and timbergetters who had arrived in the area in the late 1850s and 1860s. The Reverend Robert Creyke administered to the remote areas of the large parish. A centre for worship was established at Indooroopilly in 1887 and the Church of Saint Andrew was formally opened by Bishop Webber, Bishop of Brisbane, on the 25th of August 1889. It is possible that Hedley Allen Dunn was the architect of this church. On the 9th of January 1890, the Parish of Toowong was divided and the boundaries of the Indooroopilly Parish were fixed, making Brookfield a remote part of the Indooroopilly Parish. Even with a change in Parish boundaries, the Anglican parishioners of Brookfield were still required to travel some distance to church. During one of his visits to Brookfield for services the Reverend AR Rivers encouraged the local people to construct a church, and consequently, a Building Committee was established.
The land that was acquired for the building of a church, on the corner of Brookfield and Boscombe Streets, had been surveyed for sale in 1859. It was originally part of a land grant farmed by John McGrath, who obtained the Deed of Grant in January 1861. It was in October 1892 that the Building Committee purchased the land, for £20, from the owner, William Thomas Gee. On the 21st of November 1892, the solicitors, Wilson, Newman-Wilson and Hemming, forwarded to the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane the Certificate of Title for the land on which the Church of the Good Shepherd was to be built. The church cost £220 to build and was consecrated on Easter Monday the 2nd of April 1893. The architect of the church is unknown, though, it is likely that it was not designed directly by JH Buckeridge, the Diocesan Architect. There were, however, plans drawn by Buckeridge which Bishop Webber made available to some Building Committees. These plans were intended to assist in costing and assessing sizes, and the Church of the Good Shepherd may have been based on one of these plans.
To reduce costs the interior was originally unlined, revealing the studwork, and the timber was oiled rather than stained or painted. The gable roofs of the church were originally clad with 'stringy-bark' shingles. The north vestry appears to have been added after the building was opened and may account for the presence of chamfer boards on the internal south wall of the vestry. The later addition of vestries was not uncommon was usually related to funding availability. Sometime in the 1930s, the shingle roof was replaced by iron sheeting and in the early 1950s, the interior walls were lined and painted. The chancel interior was clad with 'masonite' and louvre windows were installed on either side of the altar.
During the 1960s, further maintenance work was carried out and the church was repainted and rewired. The sanctuary was relined with clear-finished, horizontal pine boards and the floor around the vestry and pulpit was repaired. During this time the church floor was sanded and varnished.
In 1968, the Parish of Kenmore, Brookfield, and Moggill was formed. During the 1980s, stained glass was installed and the church was repaired once more. The adjacent parish hall was built in 1985 to the designs of architect Philip Gough. The church bell, originally located outside the vestry, was moved to a position north of the west porch.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register.
