Old Bourke church bell is new addition at Dundullimal
ANOTHER piece to the puzzle of regional NSW history has recently been installed at Dundullimal Homestead. The bell that used to hang from a pipe crossbar, sitting atop a wooden post on one side and a tree branch on the other, at the front of the Presbyterian Church in Bourke has come to rest after a journey spaning more than 40 years.
It now hangs outside the old Timbrebongie/buddah Church from Narromine (built in 1870), which has also been relocated to the Dundullimal National Trust site just out of Dubbo.
The bell itself was made by John Danks and Son, a major manufacturing company in Melbourne. It is 16 inches across the base of the bowl and weighs exactly 50 kilograms.
In the days of yesteryear when the church bell hung outside the Bourke Presbyterian Church, it was only rung by special people – ministers and elders – at special times such as Sunday before service, weddings or New Year’s Day. And, apparently, it was also rung by naughty children in the dead of night.
“We lived in the vicinity of the Church, so if you were coming home Friday or Saturday night after the movies we’d ring it and then the police would come after you,” Brian Brown told Dubbo Photo News of his memories of a childhood spent in the Bourke Presbyterian community.
“It was like a temptation. You weren’t supposed to do it, but you always wanted to.
"When church was on you weren’t game because there were so many people around. If we were allowed to we were told when to ring it and how many times.
"Halfway through the church service the children would leave for Sunday School to learn bible stories, and then you’d meet up with your parents afterwards. We all lined up on the veranda after Sunday School and we used to say our goodbye: ‘Our Sunday School is over and we are going home. Goodbye, goodbye, you be kind and true.’
"One of the priests was a keen horseman and he started up the original Pony Club at Bourke. They had stalls built around the church. In those days they had the race course out of town, so we’d congregate in the morning and then ride down (to the race course), do activities and then ride back, put the horses in the stalls and feed them,” Mr Brown added.
Nancy Seale also attended the Bourke Presbyterian Church and Sunday School as a child.
“The minister of the time was Mr Faulkner, the Reverend Sydney Faulkner I think his name was. He had an old model car and he used to go gather up the children for Sunday School. Don’t ask me how they all fitted!
"He’d carry in his pockets some little texts and they had a little flower on them. He’d throw them out to the children and we would run and pick them up,” Ms Seale told Dubbo Photo News.
“Then the Presbyterian Church became the Uniting. After a time, it wasn’t used and eventually they dismantled the church (in the 1970s), so the pieces from the church were all disposed of and I was asked if I would be the carer of the bell.
"I had it for several years and then I moved from Bourke. It went into the hands of my daughter because I didn’t have enough room to store it. My daughter, Sally Cronberger, lives in Tamworth and it ended up there,” Ms Seale said.
However, in more recent times, the family thought the bell deserved a more fitting home. It was decided that the bell should gracefully retire, in great company, within the peaceful surrounds of Dundullimal. Back, Venn, Keith and Cliff Williams, front, Maida Williams, all ready for Sunday School