The following history of the progress of the Presbyterian Church in Albury should at the present juncture be of interest.

On November 11, 1842, the Presbytery of Melbourne met and resolved on missionary visits being undertaken to the settlers who had pushed their way far out into the bush. The Rev. Peter Gunn, of the Gaelic Church, Melbourne, was chosen, because of his peculiar fitness, he being able to preach and converse in both Gaelic and English, to proceed by way of Kilmore and Seymour to Albury.

On March 4, 1843, Mr. Gunn reported that he had visited and baptised at Kilmore, Seymour, Longwood, Benalla, Wangaratta, and Albury. He followed the course of the Hume River for 100 miles and returned to Melbourne by a different route. The journey occupied 28 days and extended over 600 miles.

Mr. Gunn reported highly of the general character of the settlers, commending them for their observance of family worship and for their warm hospitality. For many years thereafter, Mr. Gunn made annual visits of a missionary character to these places, and he had the honor of laying the foundation stones of some 28 churches.

In 1851 it was resolved by the Presbytery to appoint an ordained minister to the charge of Albury and district, and the Rev. David Hunter Ballantyne was set apart to undertake this important work. His parish extended from Wangaratta on the south to about 40 miles north of Albury and from Corowa on the west right up to Mount Kosciusko on the east, and regular services, at stated intervals, were held at convenient centres throughout that widely extended parish.

The church in Albury first met in a building in Townsend Street adjacent to the site on which the Federal Hotel now stands; that site and building was sold in 1856 and the manse and church buildings recently vacated by the congregation in Smollett Street were built, the school hall attached to the old church building having been added in 1885.

The church has been ministered to by a succession of Godly and cultured men, namely the Revs. David Hunter Ballantyne, Alexander Robb, Henry B. Giles, James Henry, David Smith, M.A., and James Jackson. During these years as population increased new parishes have been formed out of the district originally assigned to Mr. Ballantyne, so that there are now within that district eleven important parishes, viz: Wangaratta, Chiltern, Wodonga, Rutherglen, Corowa, Howlong, Culcairn, Germanton, Tumbarumba, Corryong, Tallangatta and Albury.

In Albury itself the church has been distinguished not only for zeal in church extension, but for the devotion and loyalty of her people, who through times of prosperity and adversity alike have stood staunchly by her.

Methodists and Independents worshipped for many years in St. David's Church, but as their numbers increased they left to found congregations of their own order.