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2009
9 June 2009
Stones gather no moss at Cooyal
A $5000 Keep Australia Beautiful grant and several hardworking volunteers have restored the cemetery at St Andrew’s Church, Cooyal.
The cemetery had fallen into disrepair, with the headstones eroded and broken off around 20 years ago, possibly by passing cattle.
Joyce Purtle, whose family have lived in Linburn since the 1850s, returned to the area after inheriting the family property.
She and the rest of the Cooyal congregation decided to restore the cemetery, which was the resting place of her great-great grandparents and great-great-great grandparents.
The project began in 2007 with the removal of seven truck loads of rubbish from the grave sites, at a working bee attended by June and Lance Benson, Matthew, Pauline and Joyce Purtle, Bruce and Malcolm Kurtz and Jo Fahey.
The Keep Australia Beautiful Foundation granted the project $5000, allowing significant improvements to be constructed.
Greg Miller from Macquarie Valley Funerals restored the headstones, reattaching the broken pieces with steel rods, and John Kaus arranged a small cement block with a brass plaque bearing the names of those buried there without headstones.
Finally, in September 2008, Steve Lawrence erected a decorative heritage front fence with a gate and Matthew and Joyce Purtle erected and painted two side fences.
The writing eroded from the ageing headstones was also salvaged, thanks to a record of the texts made by David and Sandra Bales in 1981, which Jo Fahey retrieved from the Methodist Church Archives.
The wording on the headstones and the names of the people buried there at various times between 1884 and 1923 have now been compiled by Ms Purtle into a booklet, along with a map of each grave’s position in the cemetery. Copies of the booklet are kept in the church vestry, and with the shire and the local historical society.
The grave sites have recently been tidied, and Ms Purtle said she hoped the historic cemetery would now be kept in a condition worthy of the Cooyal residents’ forebears.
The Anglican Church at Cooyal was constructed in the 1920s on a site previously inhabited by a Primitive Methodist slab church built in the 1880s, and the church’s organ dates from the nineteenth century.
An Anglican service is held at St Andrew’s Church in Cooyal at 11.30am on the first Sunday of each month at 11.30am.
“Everyone is welcome to attend,” Ms Purtle said.
“Although our congregation is small in numbers, it is very sincere in enthusiasm and desire to keep our little church functioning1 .”
2014
6 August 2014
St Andrew's celebrates 100th birthday at Cooyal
St Andrew's Anglican Church at Cooyal celebrated its centenary on Sunday with an outdoor service and bonfire.
Bishop of Bathurst Ian Palmer joined Father David Craig and Father Bruce Kurtz to present the service on a portable altar made by Father David, with music from Bruce Kurtz and David Miles.
Around 70 adults and a number of children attended, including past and present Cooyal locals, Mudgee residents and visitors.
Memorabilia was on display inside the church, such as wedding and christening photos, including the wedding at St Andrew's of Father Bruce.
While the day started out windy, the weather was pleasant and everyone enjoyed the afternoon barbecue and bonfire.
The fire was lit by the youngest and oldest guests - Adam Kurtz and 92-year-old Marge Curran, who now lives in Mudgee but was a long-term Cooyal resident and is still one of the best sources for the area's stories.
St Andrew's was constructed in 1914 as a Methodist Church, later being acquired and consecrated by the Anglican Church in 1935.
The Cooyal congregation maintains the church with the aid of neighbours such as Tony and James Riley, who slash the church grounds.
In recent years, the church's cemetery has been restored thanks to the work of volunteers and a grant of $5000 from the Keep Australia Beautiful Foundation.
The congregation is considering as its next project - the restoration of the church's 36-key Geo. Woods & Co organ2 .