The first Wesleyan Chapel in Australia was built in Castlereagh by John Lees in 1817, and when that got too small, another one was built in 1819, and as the congregation grew further, a third and final chapel was built in 1847.
Now, Castlereagh Chapel has been refurbished thanks to a heritage grant from Penrith City Council, as well as generous donations from Nepean Archaeology and descendants with connections to the church.
“We recently did a fundraiser, and we went out to all the descendants of John Lees, and the other people who are buried in the cemetery with descendants out here, and we asked them for donations to help fix up the church and the cemetery,” Centre Manager Michael McKertich said.
The refurbishment took a lot of elbow grease, and heritage-listed items like the pulpit, plaques on the wall, and box seating had to be treated with care.
“We managed to get the church painted, we had holes in the roof that had to be fixed, there was water damage, there were buckets in the pews when it rained – it was a really big job,” McKertich explained.
Now, he hopes to see more local residents travel to the end of Old Castlereagh Road to discover a piece of history, starting with John Lees and the land grant he was bestowed by Governor Philip Gidley King upon leaving the Rum Corp.
“Castlereagh was basically the breadbasket of the early settlement, all the lands out here were farmlands, and he had a 90-acre land grant,” McKertich said.
“He one day had a conversion to Christianity and decided to build the first Wesleyan Methodist Church in Australia out here.”
Not only is the site’s history relevant to Penrith, but also statewide as Castlereagh was one of Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s ‘Five Macquarie Towns’.
“Just the other day I was talking to a couple of history teachers from Blacktown, and I was telling them about Castlereagh and how it’s quite a unique heritage site and we’ve had archaeological digs out here, and they were just blown away, they had no idea,” McKertich said.
“There’s so much early settler history here, from First Fleet onwards, and people don’t realise. We’re happy for people to come visit, it’s right on your doorstep.”
The site now runs as a conference and retreat centre, and Penrith Uniting visits the church on the first and fourth Sunday of every month to provide services.
Pay the chapel a visit to put yourself in the shoes of an 19th-century churchgoer, see the artefacts found during the archaeological dig, hear the bell tower chime every 15 minutes, and see if you can find one of your ancestors in the cemetery.
Ally Hall
Ally Hall joined the Weekender in 2024, and focuses on entertainment and community stories. She is a graduate of the University of South Australia.