Marble Bar church fire - Australia's hottest town loses icon

A fire has destroyed Marble Bar's iconic Church of Christ the King.

The news was broken by the local police on Twitter.

East Pilbara Shire President, and Marble Bar Councillor, Lynne Craigie said it was a big loss for the town.

"It's very sad. Even though it wasn't in a great state of repair it was still an icon for the town. Lots of visitors make a point of photographing the church or having photos taken at the church," she said.

The poor state of the building had been at the centre of recent negotiations between the shire and the Catholic Church.

The church had offered to hand over the building to the shire. However at their last council meeting the shire rejected the offer.

"It would have taken a lot of money to repair the old building before the fire," said the Shire President who was speaking from Queensland.

"When I get back we'll have a good look at the building and see what can be salvaged from it."

It is not known what caused the fire.

According to the Heritage Council Marble Bar's Church of Christ the King is built on land which was acquired by the Catholic Church in 1909, although the church itself was not built until 1941.

It is a timber frame building clad in corrugated iron and with a corrugated iron roof.

"Ravages of cyclones over the years saw the dainty glass panelled French door on the front and both sides replaced by heavy, ugly but functional doors. The two side sacristies and eventually the altar alcove were also lost to storm," say the notes.

In the always controversial debate about which town is Australia's hottest Marble Bar is always a contender. In January 2015 WAtoday reported that the temperature in the town was nudging 50 degrees. 

Presumably it would have been even hotter inside the corrugated iron church.

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