It began with the arrival of a new curate, Reverend James Dodwell, to assist the ageing Rev. Dixon at the Holy Trinity Anglican church in Weld St.

Dodwell proved popular initially, but was nursing a grievance against his new parish. He'd been promised a salary, and accommodation in a new manse in Margaret Street.

Unfortunately the manse wasn't ready, and the congregation didn't have the funds to pay his full stipend.

Instead, he had to stay at a hotel in George Town and row across each day. In an appalling lapse, he wasn't reimbursed for these unexpected and considerable expenses.

When he was later accused of dipping into the donations, he exploded.

He called a public meeting to deliver a lecture entitled "The true history of the C of E in Beaconsfield".

It was a misleadingly mild title to say the least!

He began by accusing his boss Rev. Dixon of an obsession over reorienting the church from its original position parallel to the street, to an east-west orientation.

Then, he said, church trustee Henry Sands, owner of the Club Hotel, had corruptly paid himself and Rev. Dixon's son to do this unnecessary work at an exorbitant rate.

In performing this work they proved incompetent, and when removing a wall, left the balance of the building so insecure it blew down.

He then revealed the juiciest part of the proceedings.

It seemed that Mr Sands had accused him of visiting a brothel in Launceston, and foolishly paying by cheque.

The town divided, with half supporting the trustees and half Rev. Dodwell.

The Launceston Examiner was full of claims and counter-claims.

Threats were thrown like confetti.

Mr Dodwell accused another trustee, Tom Cooper, of being interviewed by police over fraudulent mining accounts.

Mr Cooper hotly denied it, saying that at least he'd never had to "submit to the disgrace of being shunned by the butcher or sued by the baker, nor has my name ever appeared in the newspaper as a debtor in the Court of Requests."

Cooper had made enquiries at Goulburn, Dodwell's last parish.

There was enormous interest in the case and every issue of The Launceston Examiner was eagerly awaited.

Eventually the Bishop reluctantly stepped in and, without taking sides, asked Rev. Dodwell to resign.

He did, but instead of returning to Goulburn as the Bishop suggested, he went to New Zealand.

Two years later a little article appeared in our paper, revealing that Rev. Dodwell had been sacked by the Bishop of New Zealand.

Now he was suing his Bishop in the Supreme Court, demanding reinstatement.

The court declined to rule in the matter, declaring it had no jurisdiction over the church, and Dodwell went on to NSW, where he died in 1902, aged 47.