When Peter Jensen left Moore College in 2001 as Principal to become the Archbishop of the Sydney Diocese he left clear instructions to Neil Ferguson who was the Property Manager at the time and my boss to ‘Look after the Cash Chapel’.
In the ensuing 20 years we have done that as we repaired the roof and box gutters, restained the timber seats damaged by water ingress, rewired the power in the building, reglazed windows, repaired the organ, interred the next generation of ashes from the Cash family and the list goes on.
Neil retired in Jan 2021 and as I took over his role as Property Manager his parting words to me were to ‘Look after the Cash Chapel’.
I’ve been watching the 75 year old building age gracefully over my 27 yrs and this year, 2025, have acted on the need for a full tuck pointing repair job which involves first repairing the mortar joints and then adding a fine contrasting colour line of mortar to create a clean sharp visual effect.
At the same time, a height safety system has been installed on the roof which ensures a safe, unobtrusive way of letting contractors harness around the building to do the tuck works and window sealing without the need for an expensive scaffold as well as allowing my team to safely do maintenance works on the roof into the future.
The rusting protective wire covering the stained-glass windows to the front and rear of the building were removed and repaired before being sand blasted, powder coated and finally reinstalled at the end of the tuckpointing and window sealing.
When the original exterior decorative glass lights to the front and side entry were removed they literally fell apart. Taken to our workshop in pieces the Property Team carefully put them back together, painted and rewired them to live long another day.
At the completion of the job the contractor presented us with a new way of cleaning the sandstone that uses a product which when sprayed on works slowly with the natural rain periods to clean the black spots from the sandstone. This contrasts with the harsh pressure washer with chemicals method usually adopted for this job.
We are thankful for the way the contractors worked with us to complete the job as we were able to see their own love for the building in the way they carefully did their work which resulted in the building looking sharp and fresh and ready for the next 75 years.
The completion of the job coincided with a service of thanksgiving attended by the Moore College Staff and Faculty, a great celebration of the College community coming together. As we admired the building we were in with all its finery and architecture we were reminded that ‘church’ is not bricks and mortar, rather church is the fellowship of his people as they sit under the authority of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. So, we read from God’s word, prayed and sang with gusto as we gave thanks to God for His Son who died as a ransom for us and His church.
Jon Telfer
Property Manager, 2025
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