Two Jens reinvigorate old Newlyn church

SCRUB Hill 1869, a bluestone Presbyterian church in a past life, sits on the Ballarat Daylesford Road in Newlyn surrounded by not much more than potato farms.

The church built in 1869 was deconsecrated about four years ago when the farmer’s wife across the road was the only parishioner.

Six months later Jennie Wilmoth and Jenni Draper, self-described as two chicks who blew in from the city, bought the church.

“We were afraid that we wouldn’t be high on the list with the locals,” Ms Wilmoth said.

“We put our heads down and worked really hard on the place and it turns out we are the flavour of the month because we saved their church,” she said.

“All the farmers on their tractors now, when going past, toot their horns and wave to us.”

Ms Draper was a financial controller for a large private company in Melbourne and Ms Wilmoth was in graphic design before they bought and renovated the building.

“We both like a project and applied all of our skills to the church and found more that we didn’t know we had and with the help of the tradies learnt a lot,” Ms Wilmoth said.

Every tradie who came to work with them over the four months of refurbishment had a story about the church.

Ms Wilmoth said it was amazing that everyone had a connection.

“One would say my Nan was married here, another had gone to Sunday school here and someone said my best mate got married here,” she said. “Jen would make a cake every day, we’d have a list of things to do, we’d make it fun and work with them and we paid them at the end of each day.”

That was their formula for the first four months of ownership and renovations, putting in gas, storm water drains and pipes, electricity and NBN and getting rid of the bats and the mice.

Ms Draper had the vision of what they wanted to end up with as the church had always been the central hub of the community.

“It was an exercise to re-invent it in a way, but with a commercial viability,” she said. “We were very keen, because it was part of the community, we wanted it to stay part of the community.”

In the past three years they’ve hosted concerts, art exhibitions, the longest lunch, weddings and funerals.

A couple from the area will celebrate their joint 90th birthdays at Scrub Hall later this year.

“They have both booked in to have their funerals here as well,” Ms Wilmoth said.

“They’ve done a viewing with all the family and they agreed that yep, this is where they want to hold their funerals.”

Both women consider themselves the custodians of a magical piece of history.

“We are very happy with the result, its been hard work but very rewarding,” Ms Draper said.