Beloved and historical community site in Cookernup listed for sale

A beloved historical church in Cookernup has been put on the market, despite the community battling to retain the site.

The Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 145 Salisbury Road Cookernup has been listed by Summit Realty South West and is open for expressions of interest until 5pm August 10.

Cookernup Community Association member Jac Taylor said seeing the site officially listed for sale marked a full stop to the community’s fight to keep the church.

“We’ve given it a really good, red hot crack,” she said.

“Tried to do everything right but at the end of the day, we lost the battle.”

Built in 1907, the church was officially opened on February 2, 1908 and was a community site which hosted countless baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Set on a 4015sqm block, the single-storey timber-framed church is described by the real estate agency as “one of the most character-filled small buildings left in the Shire of Harvey.”

The property was listed on the Shire of Harvey’s local heritage survey, but the Heritage Council of Western Australia previously determined the church did not warrant assessment for inclusion on the State Register of Heritage Places.

Ms Taylor said the church meant a lot to the Cookernup community because history was always important.

“It’s your grassroots of what built your community and without grassroots you don’t have a firm foundation,” she said.

“We like to think that the strong history in this community flows through into the types of people, the people that do live here and will continue to want to live here.”

Ms Taylor said while the Cookernup Community Association had previously been told it could make an offer on the site, it was not a financial reality for the non-profit group.

“I can only hope that, as I say, God has a plan and it’s going to end up in the hands of the right person that’s going to do right by the community and will do the community proud,” she said.

The Shire of Harvey and the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage were contacted for comment.