St George's Trentham

The first Church of England worshippers met in Trentham in 1864, under the auspices of the Parish of Kyneton. The first wooden church was built in Albert Street Trentham in 1882, along with a rectory and a hall. The most prosperous period for the town was in the early 1890s when leading businessmen made a serious attempt to form the Shire of Trentham. In 1891 Trentham Church of England had responsibility for six other district churches. St George’s was bursting at the seams with a growing Sunday School and over 150 at evening worship. John Wolff, Guardian and Treasurer, asked that St George’s be put under the direction of the Archdeacon of Sandhurst (Bendigo) because the vicar of Kyneton would not allow St George’s to hold more services!
The present brick building facing High Street was opened in November 1927. In 1952 St George’s became a branch church of St Mary’s Woodend, though Trentham town and church retained its doggedly independent character. The land around St George’s Anglican Church was given to the Trentham Bush Nursing Hospital in 1983 and five single units for elderly residents were built in 1985.
After two World Wars and general rural decline, church attendance had also suffered, though Trentham township has seen a resurgence of growth in the 21st century. In 2022 there was a break with Woodend and in 2024 St George’s was placed back within the parish of St Paul’s Kyneton after a 160 year break!