John & Mary LeesPrint Page 
The white marble tablet, erected in 1921, commemorates the centenary of the conveyance of the property and is in honour of John and Mary Lees, the pioneer methodists of Castlereagh who opened their home for services in 1815 and in 1817 erected the first Wesleyan Chapel in the southern hemisphere.
A commemorative service was held in 1997 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of John Lees in Australia in 1797.
Rum Corps soldier turned pastoralist, John Lees, donated the land on which the first Wesleyan Church in Australia was built in 1817. He is buried in the Cemetery which dates from 1836. The adjoining weatherboard Hall (1864) housed the Wesleyan school which was established by 1840 and operated until the Upper Castlereagh school opened opposite in 1887.
Methodists from various parts of the State assembled in the Castlereagh Methodist Cemetery, Penrith, on Saturday afternoon to witness the reinterment of the bodies of John Lees and his wife, Mary Lees, which had been exhumed in the old Lower Castlereagh Church of England cemetery on the 7th instant. John Lees is described as the "Pioneer of Methodism in Australia," he having given the first acre of ground owned by the Church in Australia, and having built thereon the first Wesleyan chapel in the Southern Hemisphere. That chapel has long since been pulled down, but on the adjoining site, and within the "consecrated acre" given by John Lees, stands the Methodist Church built in 1847. Therein the service prior to the reinterment took place and was presided over by the president of the conference (the Rev. W. Henry Howard). Mrs. Wright, a granddaughter of John Lees, unveiled inside the church a tablet of Italian marble, on a block Australian marble black, commemorating the centenary of the conveyance of this property (the church grounds) by free gift to the Methodist Church, and in honour of John and Mary Lees, who opened their home for services and gave this consecrated acre in the year 1815, and in the year 1817 erected thereon the first Wesleyan chapel in the Southern Hemisphere.
Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW), 17 October 1921.
Location
| Address: | 297 - 305 Old Castlereagh Road, Uniting Church, Castlereagh, 2749 |
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| State: | NSW |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -33.720267 Long: 150.666903 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Plaque |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Religion |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Saturday 15th October, 1921 |
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In grateful memory
In the year of Our Lord 1921 the centenary of the conveyance of this splendid property by free gift to the Methodist Church the Trustees and Methodists of Castlereagh with the help of friends from all Australia, place this tablet in this Church
In honor of John Less and his wife and helpmeet , Mary Lees the pioneer Methodists of Castlereagh who opened their home for services in the year 1815 and gave this consecrated acre in the Year 1817
Erected hereon the first Wesleyan Chapel in the Southern Hemisphere.
"They shall obtain joy and gladness , and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
