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authorisation to celebrate marriages. He remained at St. Matthew's, Sherwood until 30 June 1899. The original church of St Matthew was a brick and stone building built in 1868 in. the English fashion with a churchyard. It was consecrated on 13 Januargy 1868 by Bishop Tufnell. As time went by the original St Matthew's Church was deteriorated and was replaced by a wooden structure in 1893, the same year as the major the flood which affected the cemetary and covered the floor of the church to a depth of three feet. The wooden church lasted until 27 September 1921 when it was destroyed by fire and all the church records were lost.

During his period as minister at Sherwood the Marriage Register showed that he attended to the needs of people in a very far flung parish which extended as far as Woogaroo, Yeerongpilly, Coopers Plains, Eight Mile Plains, Brown Plains, Rocky Water Holes, Woolston and across the river to Moggill and Kenmore. James Hassall and his wife and daughters subscribes to a fund to buy a bell, communion service and large harmonium for St Matthew's. His 1881 Diary shows that he attended services in St John's Cathedral fairly regularly and also often conduction services at Oxley in the morning and Sherwood in the evening. At other times he was at Oxley in the morning and Browns Plains in the evening or Sherwood in the morning and Eight Mile Plains in the evening. A visit to Moggill in May 1881 with Reverend James Stanley was to look at land which had been promised for a church. He conducted funeral services at various churches in his far flung district and very often his wife accompanied him to those services. There was at least one instance of his falling foul of the Deputy Registrar of the Church when he was fined one shilling in 1886 for interring a body without obtaining a certificate - but Hassall justified himself by arguing that the Deputy Registrar had always been oppressive.

Throughout his long ministry James Hassall wrote many letters complaining about his poor stipend and the reluctance of his parishioners to contribute to give him an adequate income. Perhaps in Sherwood there was some reason to expect a better deal when in 1888 his son, James Charles Hassall and two of his sons-in-law. Sidney Tooth and Frank Pratten, were three of the six members of the Stipend Committee.

James Hassall remained at Sherwood for twenty one years until he retired in 1899 and was given a large send-off attended by churchdignitaries and his appreciative congregation. This was held in the Corinda School of Arts and was attended by the Bishop of Brisbane. Right Reverend Dr Webber. Most Corinda families were represented and, after pianoforte duets and vocal items, he was presented with a purse of sovereigns.