Church clergyman, 1882–1893, was John Young Wai. New church (1929–present) A complex series of real estate transactions, land swaps and compensation agreements enabled the Presbyterian Church to reconstruct their church and offices on the original but enlarged site, facing both Lang Park and Wynyard Park, with frontages to Jamieson, York, and Margaret Streets. An architectural competition was held in 1927 for designs for a new Presbyterian Assembly Hall and associated offices. The brief called for a building which would be a monument appropriate to the universal character and inherent nobility of Presbyterianism; a material consummation of the church's pioneer efforts in this new world of Australia, and an appreciation of the substance and vitality which actuate the church towards problems of the future. Twenty-seven designs were submitted in the first stage of the competition and were judged by Norman Weekes. The winning design was selected in May 1928 but it was not until April 1929 that tenders were called and work commenced on the site in July 1929. On completion the Church and Assembly Hall became a popular venue for both ecclesiastic and secular activities. The new church could accommodate 1,350 people, and tablets and monuments from the old church were incorporated in the new building. However, the decision to co-locate the church administration in the same building as the new church would cause numerous issues in the decades to come. By the 1930s, the church had suffered a period of declining congregations, during which it had, according to the church's interim moderator, "almost passed out of existence". In response, it instituted a policy of not having a permanent minister, but instead engaging ministers from Scotland for six-month terms. This was reported to have been successful in driving interest in the church, which in 1935 was described as having "the largest [collection], possibly, of any Presbyterian church in Australia". In 1956, Malcolm Mackay became the first Australian-born minister at the church. Throughout the decades following the construction of the new church, the church struggled with tensions relating to the fact that it did not control its own building. The original congregation trustees of the church had transferred control of the new building to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church on the provision that suitable arrangements would be made for carrying on the operations of the congregation. However, the result of the agreement was that the church had a limited