With soaring spires, an elegant rose window, and the sounds of a choir rehearsal well underway, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in England. That is, if it weren’t also for the screech of passing Rainbow Lorikeets and the sight of an incongruous Ibis flying past.

The sunshine also belies the fact that this is not England’s green and pleasant land but South Australia – the driest state in one of the driest countries on the planet, but one that still provides a home for the English Choral Tradition ‘down under’. St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide, is one of three places in South Australia where the English Choral Tradition continues to thrive with the cathedral choir performing a varied repertoire at a weekly Choral Evensong, as well as performing at special services in the Christian calendar.

St Peter’s Cathedral, built between 1869 and 1878, was designed by English architects, the roof is of Welsh slate and the present organ, built in England in 1929 by William Hill & Son and Norman & Beard, has recently travelled to Harrison & Harrison in Durham during a major programme of restoration. The thoroughly English heritage is there to be seen and heard: the home of cricket in Adelaide, the Oval, is just opposite and so close that matches can be followed during services as the cheers and groans of nearby fans can easily be overheard from within.

With cathedral choirs across the UK on summer recess, a recent trip to South Australia provided the opportunity to attend an Australian Choral Evensong, hear the cathedral choir in full voice, and interview Revd Jenny Wilson, Precentor, about why Choral Evensong is so important to her and the life of St Peter’s: