SINCE taking over Parish of Sutton Forest about 18 months ago, the Reverend Jeremy Tonks has often wondered what it would be like to have the NSW Governor attend services at All Saint’s Anglican Church, as in the days when nearby Hillview was an official vice-regal residence.

“I can die happy now,” Mr Tonks told NSW Governor Marie Bashir when she joined his congregation on Sunday, becoming the 18th Governor to worship at All Saints.

Horsemen from the 1st/21st NSW Lancers re-enactment group escorted Professor Bashir and her husband Sir Nicholas Shehadie from the gates of Hillview to All Saints Church, where their vehicle passed through the “Governor’s gates” which were moved to the church from Hillview in 1959.

Professor Bashir unveiled a plaque marking the completion of repairs to the 148-year-old church, made possible by a bequest from former Berrima District Historical Society archivist Janet Cosh.

After the service, she also unveiled a plaque marking the grave of former Sutton Forest rector, the Reverend Dr David Rutledge,

Dr Rutledge was in the first intake of six students to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney.

Since he was the only one of the group to complete the course he was notionally the faculty’s first graduate.

He served as rector of St Stephen’s Mittagong from 1896 and became the Rector of Sutton Forest in 1904.

“As a medical graduate and now Chancellor of the University of Sydney, I’m deeply touched to join you on this occasion,” Professor Bashir said.

Professor Bashir said her All Saints’ Day visit to the church was a “joy and a privilege”.

Built in Australia’s colonial days, All Saints Church was a legacy to all Australians through its association with Bishop Broughton, the Reverend Thomas Hassall and its architect, Edmund Blacket, who also designed the quadrangle and Great Hall at the University of Sydney, she said.

University of Sydney Medical Alumni Association president Paul Lancaster and Dr Rutledge’s great-granddaughters Glenda Sherwin-Lane and Vivien Dunkerley joined Professor Bashir at the service.

Professor Bashir also visited the grave of James Park, head coachman to Governor Harry Rawson.

Mr Park drowned at Fitzroy Falls on January 20, 1903. Governor and Lady Rawson erected the headstone as a mark of esteem, but over the years it was damaged and lay in the ground in a number of pieces until All Saints cemetery trustees had it restored in 2003.