St James' Old Cathedral

St James Old Cathedral, an Anglican church, is the oldest church in Melbourne, Australia, albeit not on its original site. It is one of the relatively few buildings in the central city which predate the Victorian gold rush of 1851.

The building was demolished and relocated in 1914 to a corner site of King Street and Batman Street. The parish is led by the Reverend Canon Matthew Williams. The Senior Associate Minister is the Reverend Mike Raiter, who is also director of the Centre for Biblical Preaching. The Assistant Curate is The Reverend Jessica Naylor-Tatterson. The parish is served each Sunday by The Old Cathedral Voices, a semi-professional all-scholar consort choir which sings music from the Renaissance era to contemporary anthems, including regular new commissions and premieres. The organist is David Brown. More recently, the church has begun serving as the chapel for Haileybury College's City Campus. The building is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Melbourne's first substantial church was the 'Pioneer Church', a simple wooden structure used for both Anglican and Presbyterian services and as a school, which stood on the corner of William and Little Collins streets.The foundation stone for St James was laid on 9 November 1839 by Charles La Trobe, the superintendent of the Port Phillip District (now the state of Victoria), in what was then still part of New South Wales. Melbourne was then only four years old and the church was one of the first substantial buildings to be built in the town. The church was designed by the town surveyor, Robert Russell, and built by George Beaver. One of the founders of Melbourne, John Batman, was among the subscribers who paid for the church's construction. The unfinished building was opened for worship on 2 October 1842, and it was finally completed in 1847. In 1848 Melbourne became an Anglican diocese and St James' became the cathedral church of the first Bishop of Melbourne, Charles Perry who appointed Hussey Burgh Macartney as the inaugural Dean. Macartney's wife, Jane Macartney (Hardman) and Frances Perry, wife of the Bishop, established and managed various charitable institutions in Melbourne. St James served as Melbourne's Anglican cathedral until St Paul's Cathedral was consecrated in 1891.