Канберра қаласындағы Әулие Жан Креститель шіркеуінің тарихы

St John the Baptist Church is an Australian Anglican church in the Canberra suburb of Reid in the Australian Capital Territory. The church is located at the corner of Anzac Parade and Constitution Avenue, adjacent to the Parliamentary Triangle, and is the oldest surviving public building within Canberra's inner city and the oldest church in the Australian Capital Territory. It has been described as a "sanctuary in the city", and has hosted royalty on numerous occasions. The church remains an active place of worship and a Canberra landmark, although it has now been surrounded by offices and residential buildings. The bells of St John's, cast from the same foundry as the National Carillon, are audible from Lake Burley Griffin. St John's Care, a local charity, emergency relief and community organisation affiliated with Anglicare, is based in the church precinct, as is the parish's musical group, the St John's Choir. An annual community fair has been held in the church grounds since the 1930s, with participation from local schools, bands and arts organisations. In March 2020, the church celebrated its 175th anniversary since its consecration in 1845.

Memorial plaques to parishioners cover the interior of the nave, from earlier pastoral families to eminent Australians after Australia's federation. Extensive use of stained glass is evident in the chancel, the nave and within the tower. The chancel's east window was added between 1872 and 1874, The east window was designed by William Macleod and made by the Sydney firm of John Falconer. It is one of the earliest Australian stained glass windows and was a prize winning window at the Sydney Exhibition in 1973 before its installation at the church. It serves as a memorial to Sister May Hayman, a staff member at the Canberra Hospital and a parishioner at St John's. Sister Hayman was killed by Japanese soldiers in New Guinea whilst serving as a missionary and nurse during the war. In September 2014, the Bishop of Kobe (Andrew Yatuka Nakamura) attended a service at St John's in memory of Sister Hayman and to celebrate the modern Australia Japan relationship. Sharp built many other significant Australian pipe organs including the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall organ and organs at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, the Canberra School of Music, the Perth Concert Hall and Knox Grammar School. In the mid 1970s, the work was undertaken to extend and strengthen the gallery in order to accommodate the new organ. St John's first organ was an English built, single manual tracker, installed around 1862. It is now located at St Luke's Anglican Church, Deakin. A second instrument was built in 1933 by Hill, Norman & Beard had five extended ranks with electro pneumatic action. It was sold in 1979 to a private owner. The mortal remains of many pioneers of the Canberra district are interred at St John's. They include the church's long serving 19th century rector, the Revd Pierce Galliard Smith, and Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes, who occupied Yarralumla homestead from 1859 until his death 14 years later. Gibbes was reputed to be the illegitimate son of a royal duke. Coincidentally, lying close to Gibbes' grave is the final resting place of another person with a link to the British throne, albeit one greatly separated in time and circumstance from that of the colonel. That person is Viscount Dunrossil, a former Governor General of Australia, who died in office in 1961.

Canberra's first school opened in 1845, the same year that St John's was consecrated. It was sponsored by the Campbells. The schoolroom was surrounded by five other rooms and served as the schoolmaster's residence. The schoolhouse's rubble and bluestone were quarried locally, with a shingle roof and thick walls to shelter against the harsh Canberra climate. The first students arrived in 1845 and it was the only school on the Limestone Plains until 1880 when the first public school was opened. It was built to educate local settlers children,

The rectory, the residence of the rector of Canberra, lies in the southeastern corner of the church precinct, opening onto Anzac Parade. It was completed in 1923. The survivors and descendants of those trees remain in today's Glebe Park. From 1926 to early 1928 the old rectory was leased from the government by an Anglican religious order, the Community of the Sisters of the Church, or the Kilburn Sisters, to found St Gabriel's school which later became the Canberra Girls' Grammar School.

Today, St John's holds both traditional and contemporary worship services. Traditional Book of Common Prayer (17th century language) services are held at 7:00 am, 8:00 am and 11:15 am on Sundays. Contemporary services are held at 9:30 am and 6:00 pm. Once a month, a choral Evensong service is held at 5:00 pm. There are also weekday services held from Tuesday to Friday at 8:30 am, along with a meditation service on Wednesdays at 5:00 pm. The building is open every day for private prayer, visitors and tourists. During the visit of the Queen of Australia in October 2011, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attended St John's for the 11:15 am service on 23 October 2011. She was welcomed by the rector, the Revd Canon Paul Black, and the Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, the Rt Revd Stuart Robinson. Kevin Rudd and Thérèse Rein were among the 120 guests at the service. The visit was Queen Elizabeth II's sixth to St John's; her first was in 1954. On 15 March 2020, St John's celebrated its 175th anniversary since its 1845 consecration. A special 10:00 am choral service was held, attended by the Governor General, David Hurley, and the Ambassador of the United States, Arthur Culvahouse. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, the Rt Revd Mark Short. St John's was described as "an English village church and through a quirk of history they literally put the national capital around us". The service was the last to be held before the church closed temporarily as a result of the 2020 worldwide coronavirus pandemic, with services being recorded and distributed online.