The church, which will turn 150 years old next year, has long been a meeting point for those living in surrounding towns. 

Besides the charm of the church itself, with its leadlight windows and original baltic pine floors secured with horseshoe nails, the site also features another interesting aspect of history.

The quaint little building, originally Dean church (c1879), was picked up and re-located to the site behind Scrub Hill church to be used as a building for the Sunday School in 1961.

Jennie Wilmoth and Jenni Draper purchased the church two and half years ago. Since then, with a lot of love and elbow grease, the pair have restored the church.

And they say it has been an extraordinary ride. 

One day, as they were tending to the gardens, Ms Wilmoth said a man arrived and announced he was from Manly, Sydney and wished to pay homage to their dead tree. 

“He said he had bought a beautiful guitar in Melbourne that was made from part of our 150 year old tree.

“We always thought it was a Himalayan Cedar but now we are being told it could be the very rare Cedar of Lebanon, planted by Ferdinand von Mueller, who was the designer of the Melbourne and Castlemaine Botanic Gardens. If he did plant it, that would be huge.”

She said the wood from the tree was sold to a local wood merchant before it was sold to a guitar maker in Melbourne. The women are currently having the tree’s DNA tested by a botanist. 

Ms Wilmoth said their mantra after purchasing the Scrub Hill site was to restore it to be a place where the community could gather, and most importantly, where locals could feel comfortable enough to just pop in. 

The church is now primarily used as a private venue and plays host to a number of events for artists to perform. All profits made from these events go back into the artist’s pockets. 

Upcoming performers include Sale of the Century’s Alyce Platt and RRR’S comedian Geraldine Hickey.