Ebenezer, New South Wales

Ebenezer is a historic town in New South Wales, Australia, in the local government area of the City of Hawkesbury. Ebenezer is located 69 kilometres north-west of Sydney and about 5 kilometres from the larger centre of Wilberforce. It sits on the banks of the Hawkesbury River and like typical early 19th century villages in NSW, it straggles along the roads rather than compactly around a village centre.

History
The town was named after Eben-Ezer in the Bible, 1 Samuel 7:12, where it says that Samuel set up a stone between Mizpah and Shen and gave the name to Ebenezer.

Church
Ebenezer Uniting Church was originally a Presbyterian chapel. It is the oldest standing church in Australia.

The area was settled in 1803 by a number of free settler families who sailed to Australia on the Coromandel in 1802. These settlers worshipped under a local gum tree, which is still in existence on the opposite side of the road from the church. James Mein, an elder of Galashiels Kirk started holding informal services in his house at Portland. From these meetings grew a desire to build the church at Ebenezer.

Built in 1808-09 by Scots, who had emigrated from London, it looks more like a crofter's cottage than a church. One of the important families in the area was the Grono family. They were early boat builders, building boats up to 200 tons on the Hawkesbury. They and other local families assisted in building a simple sandstone church, which was cut from sandstone along the banks of the river.

The church was not finally fitted out until 1817. Its restoration has been done with recognition of the church's importance. It is still used, with Sunday services at 8.30 a.m. It’s location on the banks of the Hawkesbury is particularly beautiful.

The stone entrance porch was added in 1929 and the eastern vestry in 1966. The cedar bookcase in the porch belonged to the first minister, Dr John McGarvie, who lived in Ebenezer from 1826-1831.

The first burial in 1812 was in the churchyard cemetery. Coffins were brought to the church by the river, with boatloads of mourners joining the funeral procession as it was rowed along the Hawkesbury. The cemetery is one of the most important in Australia with six generations buried in its grounds, including some of the first free settlers in the colony.

Schools
The school at Ebenezer was opened in 1810 under the headmastership of John Youl, a layman of the Anglican Church. It operated out of the church until the 1880s when a public school was built. When this burnt down shortly afterwards, the school returned to the church. The building was a school during the week and a chapel on Sunday until the present public school opened in 1902. A schoolmaster's residence was built in 1817. It is now the oldest existing school building in Australia. The former schoolmaster's residence is used to serve Devonshire teas and has a small ‘museum’ of photos and furniture, with records of the settlers from the Coomandel.

Ebenezer Public School built in 1902 is now a Primary school with enrolments about 120.

John Turnbull's House
Near Ebenezer Church and Schoolhouse, on Tizzana Road, this house is behind new houses opposite the golf course. Dating from about 1820, it was built on an 1804 land grant by John Turnbull, an enthusiastic supporter of the church at Ebenezer. Famous Presbyterian minister, John Dunmore Lang, used the house when he preached at Ebenezer in 1823-24. It is a gracious and impressive house and has been sympathetically restored. It is not open to the public.

Tizzana Winery
Further along Tizzana Road is Tizzana Winery. The winery is open for tastings and local wines, as well as wines from other small vineyards. Dr Thomas Henry Fiaschi built the large stone winery in 1887. He immigrated to Australia from Florence in 1875. He was a distinguished doctor who is remembered by the huge bronze boar outside Sydney Hospital. He was a strong advocate of the judicious use of wine. He told a meeting of the Australian Trained Nurses Association in 1906: “I consider the temperate use of wine a valuable support to healthy man in this thorny path of life, and that the judicious use of it has proved itself to me of incalculable benefit in the treatment of the sick and convalescent.”

Population
It has a population of 1041 (Census 2001).