David ShearerPrint Page

The monument,erected by public subscription over the grave, commemorates Presbyterian Minister and teacher, David Shearer (1832 - 1891). A memorial tablet erected by the congregation was also unveiled in the Perth Presbyterian church on the 7th September 1892.

This monument was moved from the East Perth Cemetery in October 1937 and placed at St Andrew`s Church. This church has been closed and the monument, after restoration, has been placed back atop his grave and was rededicated on the 27th of November 2016. 

David Shearer was commissioned to establish the Presbyterian Church in Western Australia. He sailed from Gravesend with his wife and family in the Charlotte Padbury, arriving at Fremantle on 1 October 1879. His initial services were held in St George`s Hall, Perth, and later in the Working Men`s Institute. For the first four years his stipend was met by the colonial committees, enabling him to concentrate his efforts on acquiring land and building a church, opened in August 1882. That year he visited Sydney to attend the Third General Conference of the Presbyterian Churches of Australasia and collected nearly £600 for the Church in Western Australia. He brought Rev. Robert Hanlin from Scotland to establish Scots Church at Fremantle and pioneered Albany, Jarrahdale and Geraldton.

As was to be expected, a large gathering assembled in the Perth Presbyterian Church, on Wednesday night last, to witness the ceremony of unveiling the tablet to the memory of the late Rev. David Shearer, and to testify by their presence their affectionate appreciation of the life and work of their late pastor. While this tablet is intended to serve as a lasting memento of the esteem and regard in which the late Mr. Shearer was held by the members of his own congregation, among whom he laboured for twelve years, and in whose service he died, and also in token of his labours as pioneer minister of the Presbyterian Church in this colony, it is also pleasing to note that other memorials to his memory, of a public character, and to suitably set forth his sterling qualities as a good citizen and colonist are to follow.

A monument, raised by public subscription, has already been indented from Italy by the same firm who executed the tablet, and it is hoped it will be ready for its position in the Perth Presbyterian Cemetery in another three months. The Shearer Memorial Hall, in Beaufort Street, now rapidly approaching completion also designated to perpetuate the memory of the late Mr. Shearer in a useful memory of the late Mr. Shearer in a useful and lasting way, and when completed should be of great service in that rapidly growing part of the city.
The West Australian (Perth), 9th September 1892.

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