Mount Alford

Mount Alford is a rural town and locality in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia.

Mount Alford is a rural town and locality in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census the locality of Mount Alford had a population of 268 people.

Mount Alford was previously known as Reckumpilla. It was renamed after Thomas Alford who managed Coochin Coochin station from 1868 onwards.A general store opened in the town in c1888 by August Anders.The building was rebuilt in 1913upon sale by the Anders family.

Mount Alford Provisional School opened on 4 April 1888. On 1 January 1901 it became Mount Alford State School.

From 1898, Anglican church services were held at the school, led by A.J.C. Rivett. In April 1914, Mrs Gertude Augusta Bell of Coochin Coochin donated £30 to commence a building fund for an Anglican church in Mount Alford. On 16 November 1918, Bishop Henry Le Fanu laid the foundation stone for the Anglican church on the northeastern corner of Reckumpilla Street and Cavanagah Street (28.0655°S 152.5952°E? / -28.0655; 152.5952? (St Peter's Anglican Church, Mount Alfred)).Tenders were called for a builder in January 1919; it was built by Mr Kelleher.

The first Lutheran services in Mount Alford were held in the School of Arts by Pastor Christian Wilhelm Seybold. On 23 October 1908, a meeting was held that decided to build a church. Mr Wissemann offered an acre of land. By December 1908, local Lutherans had raised £120 towards a church building. The church was built by the Behrendorff family (Ambrosius Victor, Wilhelm Carl Johann, and Carl) using sawn timber for the Behrendorff sawmill. The finished church was 30 feet long and 24 feet wide and cost £155 (including the fence). The Lutheran church in Mount Alford was opened and dedicated on 7 May 1909. The original trust for the church stipulated that only married men and widowers could be trustees (but not bachelors). An English Sunday School commenced on 26 August 1911 (most Lutheran churches conducted their activities entirely in German until World War I at which time many switched to the use of English to avoid suspicion about their loyalties). The first baptism in the church was W. Behrendorff. The first couple to be married in the church were Wilhelm Labuschewski and Mary Louisa Kaden on 27 September 1911. The church building was lined in 1936 for its 25th anniversary. A bible was presented by Mr and Mrs J. Gesler in 1943. In 1956 Charles Behrendorff made a baptismal font and a new altar was built in 1959. The pastors of the church (until 1988) were Christian Wilhelm Seybold, Rudolf Monz, Anton Hiller, Martin Frederick Prenzler, Alfred Hugo Schubert, Gerald David Dahlenberg, David Frederick Siegle, J. Perkins, R. Goldhardt, and K.D. Kotzur. The church subsequently closed and is in use as a private residence, but a notice over its doorway says "St John's Lutheran Church – Estd 1909".A monument to those who served and who were killed in World War I was unveiled at Mount Alford State School on Saturday 25 May 1918 by John Douglas Story, (Undersecretary for Education in Queensland). It is the smallest "digger" statue on a war memorial in Queensland.St Peter's Anglican church was dedicated on Saturday 25 November 1919 by the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane St Clair Donaldson. The church was made from wood with a shingle roof and all its furnishings were made from silky oak. It was 46 feet long and 26 feet wide with a chancel of 12 feet by 8 feet. The cost of the church was about £900 of which £150 remained unpaid when the church was opened. An Anglican cemetery was established with its first burial (Gertrude Augusta Bell) on Sunday 11 August 1946. The church held its last service on 25 December 1969. On 11 December 1973 it was decided to sell the church building for removal. In 2017, Bowman Park occupies the site of the church and cemetery. A plaque commemorates the church and a memorial commemorates the Bell family members who were buried there.

The Methodist church opened in December 1921.In the 2016 census the locality of Mount Alford had a population of 268 people.