South Arm steps up fight for its church

SOUTH Arm residents are hoping a private acquisition or a community-funded purchase will save their local church, which has been earmarked for sale in the upcoming Anglican Church sell-off.

A small working group of parish members and concerned locals are rallying to save St Barnabas church, which was built by the community in the 1860s.

“There are people associated with the First Fleet buried up there,” South Arm pharmacy owner Kim Fitzmorris said.

“There are returned servicemen and there are local Aboriginals buried up there.

“The community very much feels connected with the church. People are really concerned about the cemetery and losing the history.”

Since the announcement this month of the impending sale, the working group has been putting together a case for saving the building and associated graveyard.

But it feels uncertain how to proceed, as the church does not meet the requirements for an exemption for sale, which stipulates at least 20 local families must be attending regularly, with regularly being once a week.

They also feel the timeline for opposition to the sale is confusing.

“I think the timeline has been intentionally made to be tricky,” Ms Fitzmorris said. “The general feeling in the community is anger towards the church.”

The group hopes two public meetings will resolve the issue, with either enough people in the community putting their hand in their pocket to raise the funds to buy the church or for a private sale to one of the interested local families.

The meetings will be held at the South Arm RSL tomorrow at 7pm and Saturday at 2pm.