[4] Pre-1780s the local Aboriginal people in the area used the site for fishing and cultural activities; rock engravings, grinding grooves and middens remain in evidence.

[7] By the mid nineteenth century the traditional owners of this land had typically either moved inland in search of food and shelter, or had died as the result of European disease or confrontation with British colonisers.

[8][4] One of the earliest land grants in this area was made in 1824 to Captain Francis Marsh, who received 12 acres bounded by the present Botany and High Streets, Alison and Belmore Roads.

The village was isolated from Sydney by swamps and sandhills, and although a horse-bus was operated by a man named Grice from the late 1850s, the journey was more a test of nerves than a pleasure jaunt.

The wealthy lived elegantly in large houses built when Pearce promoted Randwick and Coogee as a fashionable area.

An even poorer group were the immigrants who existed on the periphery of Randwick in a place called Irishtown, in the area now known as The Spot, around the junction of St.Paul's Street and Perouse Road.

Many European migrants have made their homes in the area, along with students and workers at the nearby University of NSW and the Prince of Wales Hospital.

[4][10]: 218–9 The site was originally a portion of a grant issued to Captain Francis Marsh, an officer of Her Majesty's 80th Regiment of Foot, on 21 September 1847,[9]: 20  being a portion of 4.9 hectares (12 acres) (bounded by the present day Botany & High Streets, Alison & Belmore Roads) offered "as part liquidation of a remission of A£200 allowed to him as a Captain in the regiment."

Hooper also possessed extensive holdings adjoining what is now Queen's Park and had erected a stone house which stands in Gilderthorpe Avenue.

It was the express wish of three trustees to the land grant, Simeon Pearce, S. Hebblewhite and W. B. Holdsworthy that a larger and more imposing church be erected when funds became available and the population justified it.

Public agitation against the possible pollution of Sydney's water supply caused the closure of the other sections in the 1860s, however St. Jude's remained.

At least eight religious ministers are memorialised, including Archdeadon William Cowper (d.1858) whose remains were reinterred from the Devonshire Street Anglican Cemetery.

[14]: 37–39  Other prominent citizens and families of the 19th century buried here include pastoralist, politician, son of John Busby of 'Busby's Bore' fame, William Busby (1813–87); Benjamin Darley, The Reverend Cowper, Sir Frederick Pottinger and merchant, pastoralist and namesake of the suburb of Mosman, whaler Archibald Mosman (1799-1863).

[13][4][14]: 37–39  Other notable internees include the judge, politician and chancellor of Sydney University, William Montagu Manning, who was buried at St Jude's in 1895; and colonial administrator, Edward Deas Thomson.

[4] In 1888 the architect Henry M Robinson was asked to add two transepts to blend with the existing building and the original chancel was extended to form a new chancel/sanctuary and provision for an organ chamber.

Immediately north of the church is the original Randwick Borough Chambers, a two-storey sandstone building designed by Thomas Rowe.

The tower is divided by decorative string courses and the transept and chancel ends are gabled with continuous stone copings.

The traceried windows are one of the most magnificent aspects of the church and are in memory of such people as Bishop Barker, Archbishop Saumarez Smith, Simeon Pearce, George Kiss, Lady Charlotte Mary See, Canon Cakebread, Rev O.V.

A delicate cast iron verandahed porch marks the entrance and is enclosed at the north by a single storey wing of similar style but apparently built later.

The east elevation has a somewhat Byzantine appearance with semi-circular windows and openings, stone pilasters and string courses and a heavy wrought iron grille to the front entry.

The dominant vegetation is mature Moreton Bay and Port Jackson figs, but there are numerous other trees, including eucalypts and camphor laurels.

Works over time have included repairs to the stonework of the church, rectory and parish hall, and conservation of walls, pillars, window mouldings, slate roofing, bells, clock tower, organ, timber, tiling, pressed metal, flooring, paths, stone paving, ceilings, fencing and stained glass windows.

Major works planned over the next three years include re-doing the church lighting, repointing the child care centre building (parish school hall) and stonework restoration of the upper section of the bell and clock tower.

The precinct is one of the best maintained and clearly visible examples of the early colonial concept, further romanticised in the work of Edmund Blacket, of transposing a typically soft English churchyard scene to the harsh Australian environment.

[11]: 31  St Jude's Church and precinct is a witness to the whole of the history of Randwick, its emergence as a suburb and its growth into a community.

[4][11]: 32–33 St Jude's Church, Randwick, was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

The precinct is one of the best maintained and clearly visible examples of the early colonial concept, further romanticised in the work of Edmund Blacket, of transposing a typically soft English churchyard scene to the harsh Australian environment.

[4][11]: 31, 33 The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

St Jude's Church and precinct is a witness to the whole of the history of Randwick, its emergence as a suburb and its growth into a community.

[4][11]: 31, 33 This Wikipedia article contains material from St. Jude's Anglican Church, Cemetery, Rectory, Vergers Residence, entry number 00012 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 1 June 2018.