Changing times bring changing situations. Over the years there has been a fluctuating “ebb and flow” in the changing fortunes of the two major parish centres of Boonah and Harrisville. Harrisville was the much earlier settlement, being part of the Ipswich Agricultural Reserve, land resumed for free settlers from the old Normanby Station Run in the 1860s. St. John’s in Harrisville was the original Mother Church of the parish. Christ Church in Boonah was not established until 1890, when the parish was known as Harrisville-cum-Boonah. Later, Boonah became a parish in its own right.
The present-day Anglican Parish of Boonah-Harrisville was formed in 1946/47 by the amalgamation of the former parishes of Harrisville and Boonah. This amalgamation took place as a result of the post-war economic situation, and a change in population density.
Today, Boonah is the larger centre, and Christ Church in Boonah is now the Mother Church. The Rectory and the attached Parish Office are situated in the grounds of Christ Church. A new brick church was built in Boonah in 1960, and the original church is now used as a parish hall. The Rectory was built in 1984.
The original church at Harrisville, which had seen over a century of worship, was destroyed in a terrible storm in 1985. Completely undaunted, the loyal parishioners took up the challenge, and a new church was built the following year. Harrisville also has the facility of a church hall.
To meet the needs of the farming communities, small churches were erected in local centres. In times past, there were Anglican churches at Harrisville, Maroon, Mt. Alford, Boonah, Roadvale, Kalbar, Cannon Creek, Mutdapilly, and Aratula. Of necessity, some of these small faith centres have closed, and today three churches remain in the parish, these being: Christ Church at BOONAH, St. John’s HARRISVILLE, and St. Stephen’s ARATULA. These churches are ideally situated in the north, east and west of the parish. Services of worship are also held at the local Fassifern Retirement Village.
In 2019, the parish transitioned the parish hall in Boonah permanently to become an Op Shop for the parish which not only provides the parish with much needed income, but offers much needed goods and support to the local community and the many who drop in when visiting the area.