Hawthorn: 115-year-old church transformed into a family home
Melbourne-based Studio Doherty director Mardi Doherty spent about 18 months on a project to restore and convert a 1910s Hawthorn church for her clients, a family of five.
And they're not the only ones as the converting religious hubs into homes has been growing in popularity as an increasing number of churches hit the market across Victoria.
Ms Doherty said that a previous residential conversion, dating to the late 1990s or early 2000s, had left the space feeling 'dark, overly partitioned and lacked sensitivity to the building's original spirit'.
'There was a heritage overlay on the exterior of the building, so we approached the project with a strong focus on retention and respect,' she said.
'Key heritage elements like the timber trusses, parquetry flooring and original stained-glass windows were preserved and celebrated.'
Ms Doherty said that her clients were deeply engaged in the design process and had an appreciation for the building's original character.
'They added some of their own layers too, like introducing personal religious artefacts, including a decorative crucifix in the outdoor bathroom that they had found and repurposed,' she said.
A particularly special moment in the design process was the creation of an outdoor bath, located in a second-floor courtyard just off the main bedroom.
'The client had always loved the idea of bathing outdoors, but with a sense of enclosure and privacy,' Ms Doherty said.
'From this space, you can look up to the sky and across to the stained-glass windows and glass void below.'
However, lighting the three-storey interior stairwell proved a complex feat.
'We commissioned a custom chandelier by Christopher Boots, designed to work with the scale of the space and complement the stained-glass windows,' Ms Doherty said.
'Installing it was no small task – it required full scaffolding, a careful choreography of hands, and a lot of patience to safely suspend the fitting across the full height of the void.'
An important tip for house hunters keen to renovate a church is to keep thermal performance top of mind.
'Churches aren't built for modern standards of insulation, so you'll need to plan carefully around heating, cooling, and glazing,' Ms Doherty said.
'But if you're drawn to buildings with history and soul, there's something really powerful about repurposing a structure with a previous life.
'It requires sensitivity – but the results can be incredibly special.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SBS Australia
20 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
News bulletin: 19 August 2025
Independent news and stories connecting you to life in Australia and Assyrian-speaking Australians. SBS World News Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service Watch now
Daily Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Daily Telegraph
High School breathes new life into near-extinct ancient Indigenous language
Don't miss out on the headlines from Bush Summit. Followed categories will be added to My News. It was only 20 years ago that the Gamilaraay language was on the cusp of extinction – simply another one of some 600 Indigenous dialects destined for oblivion through waning numbers of proficient speakers. Back then, only a handful of those who remembered the Gamilaraay tongue were keeping it alive – in 2006 it was recorded there were just 35 speakers – but fast forward to 2025 and the year 7 class at Coonabarabran High School are breathing life into an ancient language that once dominated the local airwaves. Craig Ashby is the school's Indigenous language teacher – a linguistic expert who originally hailed from Walgett some 230km away – a big man with an even bigger heart whose passion and enthusiasm has captured the attention and imagination of the school's students. RELATED: What you need to know ahead of Bush Summit 2025 Ashby has taught languages at some of Sydney's most prestigious schools before deciding to leave the big smoke to return to the bush and impart his knowledge of the traditional, local language with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students here at Coonabarabran High. The high school has also seen a record number of Indigenous students completing their HSC thanks to various programs like dance and compulsory Gamillaroi language studies. Picture: Toby Zerna Media. It's his approach to teach through traditional linguistics methods that has brought to life an almost forgotten and surprisingly complex language, and the students are tackling the challenge as though they are on an adventure to decode an ancient mystery. While the language is still technically regarded as endangered, it is astonishing to learn just how many Gamilaraay words have crept into everyday Australian English. Bindii-eye, galah, budgerigar, brolga – all come from this ancient, northwestern New South Wales Aboriginal dialect. As with any language, understanding the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of Gamilaraay is not easy, and two students grapple with grammar and syntax on the interactive whiteboard under their teacher's watchful eye. 'Ah!' Ashby exclaims, 'I've picked up on a mistake – We've attached the future-tense verb straight away – and we don't need to do that … the word 'burama' becomes 'burama ngau'.' School principal Duncan Graham is standing at the back of the classroom beaming at the students' raw enthusiasm and engagement. 'It's magic,' he says of Ashby's dynamic teaching style, dumbing nothing down and instead elevating the lesson. Coonabarabran High School students Lakiah Chatfield (Yr11), Tyler Rogers (Yr11), Britany Andrews (Yr11) and Sharmyra Gall (Yr12). Picture: Toby Zerna Media. 'You pitch high and they'll meet you. What they're learning is university stuff.' And this is what the school principal is aiming for – Indigenous students excelling academically to achieve the completion of their Higher School Certificate, a qualification one year 11 student tells me she will be the first in her family to have ever done so. But academic achievement will not be at the expense of these students losing their cultural identity, as the school's Aboriginal education teacher Alison Stanton tells me. Like so many locals, Alison can trace her ancestry back to the Indigenous folkloric hero Mary Jane Cain (1844-1929), an Aboriginal woman who single-handedly secured a parcel of land in Coonabarabran granted by Queen Victoria, becoming the much-loved matriarch of the Aboriginal community and earning the title 'Queenie Cain'. Coonabarabran High School has a strong Indigenous girls program including dance and compulsory Gamillaroi language studies for all students to take part in. Picture: Toby Zerna Media. In her later years, Queenie Cain recorded her life history and included a list of Gamilaraay words which has served to preserve what was until then oral history. Alison is more than proud of her connection making it clear to me so I can understand and appreciate her history: 'Queenie Cain was my grandmother's grandmother.'
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Elder and artist Uncle Rex Greeno remembered as 'universally loved'
A Tasmanian Aboriginal elder known for artworks depicting pre-colonial scenes of Indigenous people and of early contact has died at age 83. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of people who have died. Pictures have been used with the family's permission. Uncle Rex Greeno is also known for his extensive research on Tasmanian Aboriginal bark and reed canoes — the making of which was interrupted by British invasion — and constructed several canoes himself during his lifetime. In 2024 he became the first Tasmanian Aboriginal man to have a solo exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG). Uncle Rex is remembered as an artist and cultural knowledge holder who was universally loved, respected and admired. Uncle Rex was born on Flinders Island in the Furneaux Group of Islands in 1942. He spent his childhood living between Lady Barron, a fishing village at the southern end of Flinders Island, and mutton birding islands within the Furneaux Group. From an early age Uncle Rex was immersed in a seafaring life. He had a connection to the sea on both sides of his family and on his mother Aunty Dulcie Greeno's side, he was raised by Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural practitioners. Aunty Dulcie was a renowned shell necklace maker who learned the Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural tradition from generations of women in her family, and was one of the core people to carry the practice forward. His grandfather, Silas "Daa" Mansell, taught him skills such as mutton birding, building shelters and sea knowledge. Uncle Rex spoke of his first experience of commercial mutton birding in recordings for his TMAG exhibition, Rex Greeno: Memories through Sea Stories. "Good lord, I was only about seven, I suppose," Uncle Rex said. After leaving school he worked as a deckhand on his father Joe's boat. He worked with his father for about a decade and learned the skills, alongside his brother Bruce, to become a skipper. He then purchased his own boats and began working as a commercial fisherman. After four decades on the sea — cray fishing, scallop fishing, shark netting and gar fishing — he retired in 2018. A long career on the sea and a keen interest in his Aboriginal heritage led Uncle Rex to building Tasmanian Aboriginal bark and reed canoes, known as tuylini, ninga and pyerre. He read observations of Tasmanian Aboriginal watercraft in the journals of controversial 19th-century figure George Augustus Robinson, and accounts by French explorers of the 18th century. His research extended to papers written on the topic and observation of X-rays of model canoes. With decades of experience as a shipwright and an innate connection to the sea, he decided to try and build traditional bark and reed canoes. As a man with "boats in his blood", Uncle Rex's canoes were not just things of cultural significance but of beauty, according to Greg Lehman, a descendant of the Trawulwuy people of north-east Tasmania and University of Tasmania professorial fellow in Indigenous research. Professor Lehman said Uncle Rex's "natural" understanding of boats and merging of cultural understandings produced unique vessels. "He [merged] European traditions of carpentry and boat building with those old practices of working with stringybark and reeds," he said. "He brought them together in the most beautiful way. "He didn't just see a drawing on a page, he saw something that in his mind he could understand. "The buoyancy, the stability, how it would move in different weather conditions. "I don't know if anyone had ever really brought that eye, that practice, to Tasmania Aboriginal canoe building." A major injury in 2010 led to a new interpretation of Tasmanian Aboriginal history and culture by Uncle Rex, who returned to his lifelong passion for drawing with renewed focus. He began drawing pre-colonial and early contact interpretations of Tasmanian Aboriginal stories. Many of his works also depict contemporary seaside scenes of visits to mutton birding islands, or stories told to him by his father and grandfather of whaling, shipwrecks and what happened at sea. In an ABC Radio interview in 2024, he said he hoped that through his drawings people might learn the truth of what Tasmanian Aboriginal people were like. His works, including bark and reed canoes, can be found in institutions across Australia and in France, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia and TMAG. Tasmanian Aboriginal elder Uncle Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta said Uncle Rex would be remembered for his determination, skill as a canoe maker and as a carrier of "old traditional knowledge." "He will always be remembered, especially by those at the north end of the island." Uncle Jim said. "He's part of a family of national treasures, that family is very respected." Professor Lehman said that aside from a legacy of resilience and continuity of Tasmania Aboriginal culture, Uncle Rex left the world as a man who was "universally loved, respected, and admired." "He brought a gentleness and generosity to every relationship that he had, that left a trail of happiness and warmth in his wake." Professor Lehman said.
