A history of the church will be included in the service along with a choral presentation.

Visitors are warmly welcomed, and an afternoon tea will follow the service.

St Georges church is a beautiful building built in 1915, never being altered in its lifetime, simply being loved and maintained.  

After Edward S. Wyndham found the easier access to the mountain we now know as Mt Wilson via the Darling Causeway and the ridge along which is the current access to Mt Wilson, we know that Mt Wilson was officially named by the now Surveyor – General Phillip Francis Adams, appointed on March 17, 1868 at Nutman’s Camp occupied by Surveyor Edward Wyndham.

In spite of the many physical difficulties Wyndham encountered, the survey was completed in September 1868, 62 portions from seven to 45 acres in size confined to the basalt soil areas.

In 1870 at Windsor the portions were auctioned but oddly little or no interest was displayed in the auction.

It was not until 1875-6 that 62 portions were taken up by 33 purchasers. Was it the distance of Mt Wilson from the Railway; now well on its way to Bowenfels and beyond?

Edward Wyndham had drawn the attention of the Surveyor-General in October 1868 that there was no provision for a level crossing over the railway at the junction of “the Bells Road and Darling’s Causeway.

Rails are now laid and the road is rendered totally impassable for Vehicles” C.H. Currey.

“It appears to me to be very desirable that a level crossing should be provided at this point before the land, lately surveyed by me at Mt Wilson is offered for sale as, otherwise ,there will be scarcely any way of access there to,” (P30 C.H.Currey).

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This letter was sent to John Whitton Engineer-in-chief of the Railways who had recently created the famous Zig Zag to Bowenfels.

John Whitton replied, “If a bridge were built over the railway at 69m 64 chains would this answer the purpose intended by Mr Surveyor Wyndham?”

On February 23, 1869 Surveyor Finley writing from Bowenfels advised the Surveyor-General “the site proposed by the Engineer-in-Chief will answer all requirements suggested by Mr Surveyor Wyndham and otherwise suit the public convenience.”

The Surveyor-General invited John Whitton to consider “ the desirability of a platform in the vicinity of the proposed bridge in case the traffic should at any time warrant it.”

“A platform near the bridge” replied the Engineer-in-Chief on March 23, 1869, “can be erected if considered necessary.” (P 30 C.H.Currey).

Six years later the message must have eventually had the necessary impact. For on May 5, 1875 a platform had been constructed and was opened on that date, being named Mt Wilson Platform.

The presence of the platform appears to have carried considerable weight.

When studying the Land Titles in 2004-5, many Portions of the 62 surveyed were granted from June to August 1875 and into 1876. There seems little doubt that the Railway Platform was significant in those far off days.

(It is noteworthy to know that in 1889 the Mt Wilson Railway Platform was re-named Bell at the suggestion of Henry George Cox of ‘ Beowang’ after Archibald Bell, the explorer who with Indigenous help found a way through from Kurrajong to Hartley in 1823.)

Bell Railway Station was moved to its present position in 1910.

Who were the grantees in 1875-6?

Research revealed that some were linked with the NSW Lands Department including the Surveyor-General; others with the NSW Treasury; members of the NSW Parliament; The Chief Justice of NSW Alfred Stephen along with his three sons; pastoralists; merchants; and academics including Charles Badham from Sydney University. Curiously only eight of the 33, paying one pound to two pounds per acre, built homes in the first decade.