How St Mary's church came to be by the sea
By Isaac Egan and Phil Staley
One of the most iconic buildings in Port Douglas is the little church by the sea, but it wasn't always in its current location. Torn apart by cyclones, left to rot, almost demolished and cut in half to transport, this is the story of how St Mary's on the hill became St Mary's by the sea.
St Mary's was originally built on the hill in Port Douglas and this week marks 25 years since it was saved and reopened by a group of local volunteers, one of whom was Ginni Donovan.
Ms Donovan said it all started when another church of historical significance was demolished without warning.
"The sleepy little village of Port Douglas was changing extremely rapidly and a lot of developers were moving in," she said.
She said local residents became concerned about the fate of St Mary's on the hill, and when they looked into it they found that the St Mary's site had been sold to a developer and the church was up for demolition.
"We, a group of ladies, turned around and said 'you can't take 100 years of history to the dump'," Ms Donovan said.
"This being the last remaining little historical church, it was imperative that we keep it."
Ms Donovan and a group of volunteers approached the Catholic diocese in Cairns to ask if they could have the building.
"[The bishop] said 'well you better get yourselves organised and become a proper society'," said Ms Donovan.
"So we became the Port Douglas Restoration Society and began the long task of fundraising to restore and remove the extremely dilapidated building."
They organised cake stalls, resort balls and jazz nights to raise money to save the church.
"We became known in the local paper as 'those ladies'," she laughed.
They got approval to use council land on the condition that council would have no responsibility for the upkeep of the church.
"We actually went down the next morning with our tape measures to measure up how much room it would take," Ms Donovan said.
"On this particular morning, it was a clear blue sky and the hills were cut like glass across the back of the sky and we said 'oh what a beautiful view, let's put it that way'.
"One of the original volunteers said 'why don't we put a window in the back wall and have the window lined up across the Coral Sea to the middle of Mount Thornton?'
"It was a stroke of genius."
But the church still had to be uprooted and transported down the hill to the new site, so they enquired to the electricity board about raising a section of powerlines to allow the church to be moved.
"They said 'yes, we can do that, but it is going to cost $10,000'," Ms Donovan said.
"We were horrified, because that was all we had in the kitty for the whole moving and restoration project."
They were lucky to stumble across a builder who said he could cut the roof off and move the church in two pieces.
"I said 'who could do that and how much is that going to cost?'"
"He casually replied 'I think my boys and I would be able to do it for a carton of beer'."
Ms Donovan said a retired stained glass maker from Kuranda named Jim Francis contacted her and offered his services.
"He said 'my wife and I were married in that church many years ago and our son was christened in that church, and I'd be happy to put stained glass windows in for the cost of the materials'," she said.
The whole town became aware of what they were doing and everyone contributed in one way or another.
"People donated unbelievably, the local people were very much in favour," she said.
"So many people wanted to help; it was a real community effort."
The church was renovated and reopened on the new site as St Mary's by the Sea in 1989.
Today the church is used as a venue for events and is one of Australia's most popular wedding ceremony venues.
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