Take a look inside Victoria's oldest active timber church turning 170

Tarraville's Christ Church, a Victorian timber church built in 1856, is marking its 170th anniversary as one of Victoria's oldest active places of worship. The Anglican church stands as a significant monument to the once-thriving frontier seaport town of Tarraville. Its distinctive architectural style, a rectangular timber Victorian gothic revival design, showcases a rare surviving example of drop-slab construction. The congregation is celebrating the anniversary and the ongoing efforts to preserve this historic structure. Original designs by J.H.W. Pettit and George Hastings reveal its decorative, evangelical character. The church's enduring structure is a testament to the builders' skill, employing a Scottish design that, remarkably, did not initially use nails. Upright beams are slotted with crossbeams, allowing yellow bark timber to be fitted without fasteners. Nails became necessary only when the original shingle roof was replaced with galvanized iron in the early 1900s; the original mountain ash shingles remain visible beneath the eaves. Fred Wright, a member of the Yarram Anglican parish involved in maintenance, highlighted the building's importance to Australia's cultural history and traditions, noting that many early settlers in the region hailed from the United Kingdom. Tarraville, located in South Gippsland, was settled by Europeans long before Victoria became a state. Named after Charley Tarra, an Aboriginal guide, the area was historically home to the Brataualung clan of the Kurnai people. By 1844, Tarraville had grown into Gippsland's largest town, boasting 50 buildings, including hotels and stores, serving as a vital supply depot for Port Albert, which was then the primary sea access point to the region due to the challenging swamps separating it from Melbourne.

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It's stated as not having any nails in it, which is partly true.