'Battle of Reedy Creek': can a historic bush church save its new memorial wall?

A small Hunter Valley congregation is standing their ground after a Newcastle Anglican Diocese order to relocate a new columbarium, in a dispute pitting a handful of rural parishioners against the church hierarchy.

The columbarium, a structure for storing cremated remains, was erected earlier this year at the rear of St John the Baptist Church at Reedy Creek, on Mirannie Road east of Singleton, after the congregation raised funds for the project.

But the diocese has told the Parish of Singleton the structure was built without the required sign-off from the Newcastle Anglican Corporation Board and the bishop, and did not comply with the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2013, which governed where and how such structures could be built.

The diocese has directed that the columbarium instead be moved to an old graveyard site further up Mirannie Mountain, several kilometres from the church

However, parishioners say the site is difficult to access, with roads that become waterlogged and impassable to normal vehicles.

The 1908 church, which replaced an earlier building destroyed by bushfire around 1870, celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2024, and remains an active place of worship for the small rural community.

Former Cessnock MP Bob Roberts, whose family has been connected to the church for more than a century, is among those leading the push to keep the columbarium where it is.

"Rural communities sometimes rise up and fight over different things, like wind turbines or powerlines," he said.

"The battle of Reedy Creek is completely different, it is over a new columbarium at the local church.

"A lot of families have supported this little church, and it took some time to fundraise to build this columbarium for the people of this church.

"We haven't been able to get up to the cemetery for six months because of how wet it has been, and if someone was to be buried up there, the coffin would need to be packed onto a Land Rover to get up there."

Mr Roberts and other members of the congregation have written to the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and the Anglican Primate of Australia, asking them to intervene.

"The decision was made without consultation, we were just told,' he said.

"Local church elders are miffed, to say the least, about the heavy hand from the Newcastle boys, led by the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle.

"It was decided that correspondence be entered into with the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and the Anglican Primate of Australia to assist in this matter," Mr Roberts said.

"Meanwhile, the Reedy Creek gang is digging in and waiting for reinforcements to arrive."

Parishioners argue the majority of the congregation do not want the columbarium moved, and say the decision was made without adequate consultation with the community that funded and built it.

A Newcastle Anglican spokesperson said the diocese was obliged to ensure the structure complied with relevant legislation.

"The Diocese of Newcastle takes its responsibilities under the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2013 very seriously," the spokesperson said.

"A columbarium has been erected at St John's Reedy Creek without the required approval of the Newcastle Anglican Corporation Board and the bishop.

"The Parish Council of the Parish of Singleton is working with the diocese to ensure that the columbarium for Reedy Creek conforms with the relevant rules."

The spokesperson said the parish had been invited to make further submissions on the matter by mid-July

Mr Roberts said the parishioners were unaware they had been invited to make further submissions.

No ashes at this time have been interred within the columbarium.