In 1858, Rev Octavius Mathias was the proud owner of 200 acres along the beginning of Yaldhurst Road. When he purchased the land, only survey pegs marked where Yaldhurst Road was to be. Curletts Road didn’t exist.
The 20 acre eastern end of his property was gifted for the building of St Peter’s Anglican Church. On this land there was to be the church, the parsonage, a graveyard, a school house and a Glebe.
A Glebe is a slice of land that the parsonage priest could use for additional income. They could use it as a garden or maybe build on it, collecting rent from the tenants using it.
The Glebe at St Peter’s was farmed until 1939. It remained unused until a law change in 1981 permitted the church to change the land’s purpose. The Anglican church decided to open the area to housing in 1985. 16 houses were built. In 1996, the remaining land was made into a reserve – a pleasant, woodland walk way leading from the Main South Road to Cephas Close. The word ‘Cephas’ and ‘Peter’ both mean ‘rock’.
*photo taken by Annette Bulovic*
