Dr. Robert Menzies, a young Scottish naval doctor, and his wife Margaret, took up residence at Jamberoo on 6 May 1839, in a small cottage on their recently purchased property.

The importance they attached to their faith is illustrated by the fact that within a few months of their arrival Presbyterian services of worship were being conducted in Dr. Menzies' barn by the Rev.

Until their minister arrived the congregation received strong leadership from Mr. Robert Taylor, a divinity student of the Free Church of Scotland.

George Mackie, having arrived from Scotland, was inducted on 24 October 1849, at Jamberoo as Free Church minister of Leawarra and Shoalhaven, with Kiama as its centre.

As the population grew, portions to the north and south were separated until the charge embraced only the districts centred upon Kiama and Jamberoo.

John Kinross never severed his link with the area, for, even after his translation to the office of the first Principal of St. Andrew's College, University of Sydney, in 1875, he spent the long vacations in his cottage overlooking the Jamberoo township and its people whom he loved.

John Colley, a member of one of the district's foremost pioneering families and a devout servant of the Church, drew up the plans and together with Messrs. John Marks, James Marks, D. L. Dymock, and W. Stewart superintended the construction of the present St. Stephen's which was opened and dedicated in the presence of over 1,500 people on Australia Day, 26 January 1876.

[1][3][4][5] Local residents initially hoped to buy the building to serve as a dairy museum; however, they were unsuccessful in obtaining government funding.

It construction employed coursed sandstone rubble with dressed quoining and weathering to buttresses and the tower's battlemented parapet.

The building's substantial trussed gable-ended roof with elegant barge decoration has undergone replacement of its original shingle cladding with Marseilles tiles.

[12] The area to the rear of the 1876 church contains a small toilet block, the remains of an early cemetery on the site and a tree line which is set out as an indicative eastern boundary to the burials.

The evident cemetery monuments are restricted to the western side of the rear allotment with both marble and sandstone stelae represented.

Historical evidence from the 1860 cemetery regulations suggests that they were purposefully set out from the south and along the western boundary from an early period.

This area also shows evidence of substantial disturbance from sewer lines associated with the toilet block and septic tank.

[13][1] Situated at the western end of Jamberoo and enclosed by a timber picket fence to its Allowrie Street frontage and enclosed by a timber picket fence to its Allowrie Street frontage, St Stephen's and it grounds, which include mature camphor laurels (Cinnamomum camphora), bunya pine (Araucaria bidwillii) and Norfolk Island pines (Araucaria heterophylla) are a distinctive element of Jamberoo's townscape, prominent in the western approach to the town from Churchill Street.

[1] St Stephen's Presbyterian Church was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

St Stephen's is an important reflection of the settlement, focal point and community development within the Jamberoo Valley area.

[1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.