Their presence in Otford was observed with favour by some onlookers. "The gentlemen who have been lately holding religious service, will, it is thought, soon reduce things into some order amongst us." They obviously had some impact for by 1887 the locals had build a new "English" church at Otford. It was called St. Hallows, was build of brick with a seating capacity of 200. The church was to disappear without a mark, and even today no one can explain way. Mrs. Vardy (nee Lucas), once a longtime resident of Otford, can remember her family home a few doors down from the school. It had one brick wall with windows in the shape of a church window. Her father told her it was the remains of the old church. The wall was always damp and so it was demolished when she was a young girl. The church was probably constructed by the railway tunnel bricklayers who left the district in 1889. There is no recorded use of the building by Anglican clergy appointed to Helensburgh. The assumption is it was destroyed at some time prior to 1891.

Rev. H. Walker Taylor ministered to an area South of Bulli and North to Sutherland. Sylvania was visited by the Rector of St. Paul's Kogarah, the Rev. W.K. Bowers. At Helensburgh, Rev. Taylor conducted the first church service under a gum tree on a clear moonlight night. It was held in the Colliery Paddock, opposite the present Roman Catholic School. Later, as railway ganger camps became more established, services were conducted in a rough demountable building called St. Anne's. Such buildings were moved from camp to camp. The building illustrated was erected at Baker's Camp near Helensburgh in 1914 when the new double railway track ("the deviation") was being constructed. By 1887 records show that serious discussion was underway for the establishment of a permanent home for the Anglican community in Helensburgh.

By 1890 the railway camps had moved on and services were being held in the new School of Arts hall (later to become the RSL hall - the Community Center is now on this site). Private homes were also used, namely Mr. & Mrs. Miller's home. Oral tradition has it that a more permanent home for the Anglican congregation with the transporting of a disused hall from Otford to the existing Anglican church site. This building was used for services and later became the "School Hall" (the present church hall) minus the present stage and kitchen.

Rev. Taylor was 25 years old when he began his ministry in the Bulli Parish. His first purchase on leaving the ship at Port Wollongong, was a horse for his visits up and down the coast. Miss Annie Turnbull, the young daughter of the Bulli postmaster at the time, once recalled a day spent with the vicar when he visited various home in his horse and sulky. She remembered seeing Lawrence Hargraves, covered with bandages from head to foot. "What have you been doing?" the vicar asked him with a smile on his face. ("He knew", she said). Annie looked with pity at the foolish man who really thought it was possible to fly. That night, when she arrived home, her mother questioned her about the day. She was excited about her adventures and volunteered the information that the vicar drank 29 cups of tea. About fifty years later, when she visited him in hospital in Sydney shortly before he died, they both laughed together as he said, "I've never quite forgiven you for telling your mother about those 29 cups of tea."

Life was hard and industrial troubles rife throughout the Parish. Rev. Taylor played a decisive role as a mediator between the workers and management, especially during "the great strike". When the strike ended he took a years leave of absence in order to further his studies in Europe. He was just embarking when news reached him of an enormous Bulli mine disaster. Cancelling his immediate plans, he returned to his parish to officiate at the funerals and comfort the bereaved. Eventually he did set sail for England, but returned to continue his eventful 15 year incumbency. until he finished his work in the Illawarra, he put marriage out of his mind. At his funeral service many years later, an old Welsh miner who remembered him from the early day, jumped to the side of the grave and gave and impromptu oration for "God's man in the Illawarra."