The Chapel of Saint Mary and the Angels (usually known as the Children's Chapel) is a chapel in one of the bays of the crypt of St James' Church, Sydney, created as a place for younger children to receive an adapted form of the Eucharist on Sundays. In the 21st century, the chapel is used for the children's Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month. The walls and ceiling of the chapel are painted with scenes inspired by the Christmas carol "As I Sat Under A Sycamore Tree" with the setting transferred to Sydney Harbour.
The murals were designed by Ethel Anderson and painted as a collaborative project by the Turramurra Wall Painters Union—a group of modernist painters founded by Anderson in 1927—among whom were Ethel Anderson, Bethia Anderson, sisters Gwen and Jean Ramsey, Roy de Maistre and Roland Wakelin.[1] Friends of the artists also helped on small parts of the painting. Some parts of the mural are attributable to individual artists and some are signed. The rector of St James' at the time, Philip Micklem, was a friend of Anderson and had invited the Turramurra Wall Painters Union to decorate the chapel.[2] The work was carried out between October and December 1929[3] and completed in time for Christmas; the first service being held on 22 December 1929.
As I Sat Under A Sycamore Tree
As I sat under a sycamore tree,
A sycamore tree, a sycamore tree,
I looked me out upon the sea,
On Christ's Sunday morn.
I saw three ships a sailing there,
A sailing there, a sailing there;
Jesu, Mary and Joseph they bare,
On Christ's Sunday at morn.
Jesu did whistle and Mary did sing,
Mary did sing, Mary did sing,
And all the bells on earth did ring,
For joy, our Lord was born.
O they sail'd in to Bethlehem,
To Bethlehem to Bethlehem;
St Michael was the steersman
Saint John sate in the horn.
And all the bells on earth did ring,
On earth did ring, on earth did ring;
Welcome be Thou, Heaven's King,
On Christ's Sunday at morn.[4]
- ^ Diakowska-Czarnota, p. 3
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ChurchwebsiteChildrensChapelwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Duggan, Laurie (2001). Ghost Nation: Imagined Space and Australian Visual Culture, 1901–1939. St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press. pp. 114–116. ISBN 0-7022-3189-4.
- ^ Text of As I Sat Under A Sycamore Tree Rickert, Edith (1914). "Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700". London: Chatto & Windus. p. 255. Archived from the original on 16 November 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2011.