Patrick LesliePrint Page

The church commemorates Patrick Leslie, a pioneer of Warwick. The church was originally erected at Pratten (west of Warwick) in 1905 and moved to Warwick on the 11th September 1955. 

The Warwick area was first settled by the Leslie brothers (Patrick and George) who established the Canning Downs run in 1840 and built a home in 1846. Inevitably the station became an important centre for the region with a blacksmith, a store and accommodation and eating facilities.

In 1847 the New South Wales government gave Patrick Leslie permission to select a site for a town on his Canning Downs station. It was to be known as Canningtown, the local Aborigines knew the area as Gooragooby, but the name Warwick was chosen. The town was duly surveyed in 1849 and land was first sold in 1850. This was to be the site of modern day Warwick and it grew to become a municipality in 1861 and to become a city (the second largest on the Darling Downs) in 1936.

Patrick Leslie was one of the pioneer explorers of the Darling Downs, but no enduring memorial of his work existed until a few weeks ago when the Patrick Leslie Memorial Presbyterian Church was completed at Pratten, near Warwick, the centre of his sphere of operations. The church, which was opened on Sunday, the 10th instant, by the Rev. R. Kerr, bears on its porch a handsome marble tablet inscribed—"Patrick Leslie Memorial Presbyterian Church. A.D. 1905." Of the £240 raised for the building fund £110 was donated by Major Davidson, of Scotland, a kinsman of Leslie. Admirers of the explorer will be pleased to learn of the establishment of this tribute to his memory. 
Queenslander (Brisbane), 30 September 1905. 

Note : The church was listed for sale in 2017 and is believed to have been sold. 

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