Our Story

STONE

Some things take time.

The Chapel’s sandstone was shaped by hand using traditional methods, with some individual blocks taking more than five hours to complete.

At the entrance, two great basalt steps were carved from stone sourced from the Glass House Mountains.

And hidden amongst the Chapel’s stonework are six much older pieces.

In 1972, long before the Chapel existed, the owner was travelling through Europe when he came across a cathedral being demolished. He emptied his suitcase and carried six of its bricks home to Australia.

For forty-three years, he kept them, knowing that one day they would belong somewhere special.

In 2015, that place finally began to take shape.

The bricks were part of the Chapel’s story before the Chapel even existed.

LIGHT

Never quite the same twice.

Light moves through the Chapel throughout the day.

It passes through traditional stained glass, casting little pieces of colour across the stone and polished onyx floor.

Then there is the great window, made from rippled Champagne Glass. Look through it and the landscape begins to soften. Trees blur, the mountains shift, and the Hinterland beyond takes on the appearance of a watercolour.

As the sun moves, so does the Chapel.

Sometimes, a rainbow finds its way inside.

You never quite know where it will land.

TIMBER

Look a little closer.

Queensland red cedar was carved by hand throughout the Chapel, including the great entrance doors, individually detailed pews and whale-tail altar.

Look closely and you’ll begin to find the Chapel’s little residents.

Frogs. Mice. Owls. Geckos.

Above the entrance, a frill-necked lizard quietly watches everyone arrive. Overhead, eucalyptus branches stretch into the ceiling. At the front, the whale tail is surrounded by barnacles, shells and tiny seahorses.

Each detail brings the natural world a little further inside.

You can walk through the Chapel without noticing half of them.

That’s rather the point.

LEGACY

Built to endure.

The Chapel was never intended to be simply another building.

Some of its materials came from the surrounding landscape. Others travelled across the world. Some were shaped over hours by hand, while six little bricks waited more than forty years to find their place.

Its copper roof, cathedral-inspired proportions and traditional craftsmanship were created to endure, but the Chapel’s story didn’t end when the final stone was laid.

Since then, it has become the place where couples have walked through the red cedar doors, stood together in front of the whale-tail altar and made promises of their own.

Every couple who marries here becomes part of what comes next.