 In 1902 Church's first volume of verse, "The West Wind", was published at Sydney, this was followed by "Poems" (1904), published at Wellington, New Zealand, and "Egmont", at Melbourne in 1908.In 1911 he retired from the New Zealand public service, and in 1912 went to Melbourne.There he collected the best of his poems from his earlier volumes and published them with 10 additional pieces under the title of "Poems".