Baptist Chapel, Harrington Street, Hobart

This chapel was opened on 21 March 1841 at the corner of Harrington and Goulburn Streets, by Rev. Henry Dowling, who arrived in Hobart in 1835 from Colchester, England. He established a Baptist congregation with chapels in Launceston (1840) and Hobart and was pastor at Launceston until his death in 1869. Ministers in Hobart were: Samuel Hewlett (until 1849), William R. Wade (c 1849-52), Kerr Johnston (c 1853 -1857), Dixon Davis (c 1858-60), Evan Jones (c 1874-1879), A. W. Grant (1879), Isaac H. Palfreyman (1883), Edwin Tucker (1884). The later ministers stayed only short periods and many were elderly. Dixon Davis died in 1861 attended by Dr. Crowther, and the accounts record the erection of a headstone on Evan Jones' grave (d. 1879). There were many periods without a minister, especially after 1860, when services were taken by members of the congregation, with occasional visits by Rev. Henry Dowling from Launceston, or later W. Clark from Perth. It is noticeable that the collection increased when Mr Dowling visited. About 1883 I. H. Palfreyman acted as minister for a short time but he later built an independent chapel in King Street, described as "non-denominational". Edwin Tucker served in 1885 but there was little money to support him. In 1884 Rev. R. McCullough, from Longford, had come to Hobart and established a new congregation, fIrst in the Exhibition Building, then in a temporary chapel in Elizabeth Street until the big new Tabernacle in Elizabeth Street was completed in 1887.