In 1839 the first European settlers at Encounter Bay were a group of Congregational adherents from Staffordshire under the Rev. Ridgeway Newland. One of the settlers' first tasks was to build a church from wattle boughs, with a canvas roof, in the midst of the tents which were said to have been the settlers homes for two years. A few years later a more substantial building of limestone with a shingle roof, measuring 28 feet by 19 feet, was built. This was named the 'Tabernacle' after the church the group had left in England. Robert Higgins, who was a child at the time, recorded that it was his task to ring the bell:

The bell rope used to chafe through near the roof; as I was the bell-ringer the bell had to ring, rope or no rope. When the rope broke it was my pleasing duty to climb up to the ridge of the building, sit astride there, and pull the clapper of the bell, quite satisfied that I filled a high office in Church life. Although things were crude, the little building sheltered as brave and noble manhood and womanhood as ever graced a young and vigorous colony. (Hodge, p. 101)

Higgins, Robert

Newland, Ridgway William, (1790-1864)

Tabernacle (Encounter Bay, S. Aust.)