Anglican Church of St Michael, Mitcham: Mainly Music

Letters From Mitcham

By Pamual Oborn

TO DESCRIBE this book as “just a parish history” would be an understatement! The author has used the Anglican Church of St Michael at Mitcham as a ‘canvas’ on which to paint a multitude of scenes depicting the life and times of the parishioners and residents of the Village of Mitcham and the surrounding districts.

The device of quoting extracts from ‘letters’ written by a lady living in Mitcham Village to her ‘cousin’ in Mitcham, Surrey (after which the Village was named) is used to describe everyday events affecting the residents over a period of 150 years. These are not fictional characters: they were all associated with the area at the times described. The information has been based on contemporary press reports, Parish records, letters and diaries and official records.

These ‘letters’ provide a medium for pen-portraits of prominent clergy and laymen, of politicians and publicans, shopkeepers and teachers, widows and school children. They record the gradual changes taking place within the Parish and the Diocese of Adelaide in matters of liturgy and worship, and also the development of other local Christian groups within the community and of the Ecumenical Movement.

The book is divided into two parts. The first contains the ‘Letters from Mitcham’ telling the chronological story and detailing how major events such as Federation, the First and Second World Wars, the Great Depression, floods and droughts affected the lives of ordinary people; how the arrival of the railway, cars, electricity and television brought great changes and how society’s moral values and expectations have altered.

The second part of the book is a reference section where the chapters have been arranged by subject matter enabling ready access to specific information.

Also included is a short history of the daughter Church of St Wilfrid.