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Situated on a four-acre site, on a hill surrounded by splendid evergreen trees, the Tarras Church is a facility the community is proud of. It was shortly after the First World War that a move was made amongst the people of the district to have a permanent place of worship erected.
This was to be an inter-denominational church, and donations for the building were freely forthcoming from all sections of the community. Construction work commenced in 1920, and the Opening was celebrated with an inter-denominational service on 13th March 1921.
In 1958, a joint Presbyterian and Anglican Committee was formed to oversee and care for the maintenance of the church and grounds.
In 2019, following community fundraising, grants and a generous donation, the church was transferred into the ownership of the Tarras Community Church Charitable Trust with the aim to preserve it as a church and also make it a community facility.
Tarras Community Church
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St Columba's Church
On Sunday 5th October 1902, St. Columba's Church, although still without chancel, vestry, or porch, was dedicated for use. The church, built in wood, was to be completed according to the plan drawn up by Mr. Burnside, architect of Dunedin. St. Columba's Church building has been the centre of the life of Anglican Christian worship in Wanaka from 1902 to the present.When the Presbyterian congregation decided to erect a new church, their old St. Andrew's building was available for purchase. A suggestion was put forward that St. Andrew's be purchased and joined to St. Columba's to give the space needed for larger congregations at Christmas, Easter, weddings, and funerals, and to supply a lounge for meetings and social events. There would also be space for kitchen and toilet facilities.This proposal was accepted and acted upon. St Andrew's was duly transported and added to St Columba's so that two of the earliest buildings in the Wanaka area are now preserved, early roots of the community's spiritual and social heritage. Bishop Peter Mann dedicated the extensions on Saturday 21st January 1989. Services continue to be held here.
St Andrew's Church
The oldest church building in historic Cromwell, St. Andrews Anglican Church, was first planned with the coming of the Rt. Revd. Samuel Neville, Bishop of N.Z. on his pastoral visit to the area in 1873. A committee, headed by Vincent Pike, the Otago Goldfields Secretary, chose the site and began the project, which was supported by one of Cromwell's pioneers, John Marsh, who donated the land on which the Church was built. This was contracted to James Taylor, at a cost of 700 pounds, raised by the local community beginning with a parish fair run by a group of Anglican women.
The church was dedicated to its Patron, Saint Andrew, on 29th November 1874.The church hall was built in 1932 by Dave Betts at a cost of 300 pounds, providing a suitable venue for the Sunday school, which first met there in that same year.St. Andrews Church was for many years a part of the Parish of Dunstan, until the process of separation began in 1959, eventually culminating in the building of a vicarage in Cromwell in 1962, when the first Vicar of the Cromwell Parochial District, the Revd. Roger Taylor was appointed. In 1990, Cromwell was joined to Wanaka as part of the newly-formed Parish of Upper Clutha, which encompassed oversight also, of Anglicans who live in Tarras and Makarora.
St Columba's Church
On Sunday 5th October 1902, St. Columba's Church, although still without chancel, vestry, or porch, was dedicated for use. The church, built in wood, was to be completed according to the plan drawn up by Mr. Burnside, architect of Dunedin. St. Columba's Church building has been the centre of the life of Anglican Christian worship in Wanaka from 1902 to the present.When the Presbyterian congregation decided to erect a new church, their old St. Andrew's building was available for purchase. A suggestion was put forward that St. Andrew's be purchased and joined to St. Columba's to give the space needed for larger congregations at Christmas, Easter, weddings, and funerals, and to supply a lounge for meetings and social events. There would also be space for kitchen and toilet facilities.This proposal was accepted and acted upon. St Andrew's was duly transported and added to St Columba's so that two of the earliest buildings in the Wanaka area are now preserved, early roots of the community's spiritual and social heritage. Bishop Peter Mann dedicated the extensions on Saturday 21st January 1989. Services continue to be held here.