HISTORIC church furniture will return to the former Anglican church in Kingower.
Loddon Shire councillors on Tuesday agreed to waive planning and building permit fees of almost $1100 for Kingower Development and Tourism Committee to build a storage shed next to the church.
Committee member Mark Gilmore said pews and other furniture had been privately stored off-site while the community raised funds for a storage shed.
“We have martial arts classes twice a week, monthly committee meetings and a quarterly community function in the church,” he said. “When it is used for a funeral or wedding, the pews have been put back into the church.”
The former St Mary’s church is owned by Murray Plains MP Peter Walsh, bought in 2012 to preserve the history of both his family and the district. 
Mr Walsh’s great-great-grandfather, the Reverend William Hall, founded the church in 1871. The granite and sandstone church, which remains in solid order today, has been described as the ‘’biggest and grandest’’ of seven country churches designed and founded by Reverend Hall in the 1860s and 1870s.
The community continues to have use of the old church.
After buying the church, Mr Walsh said he remembered as a child ‘’being dragged along” for family reunions.
‘’When you get older, you appreciate the history,’’ he said. ‘’It is 150 years of history. It doesn’t happen very often that you actually have the opportunity to preserve it.’’