In 1868 the Archbishop of Sydney purchased from Luke Featherston the land where St Saviour's church and cemetery is located. The district was apparently known at the time as Salt Pan Creek.

A small timber building with shingle roof was erected and the first service was held on Ash Wednesday, 24 February, 1869. The building housed a public school which opened the following July. It was the application for the establishment of the school on 5 January, 1869, (that is, while the church was under construction), which seems to have given the district its name for the next 40 years - Belmore. The Earl of Belmore had become Governor of NSW in 1868, and the local residents borrowed his name for their school.

Reporting on the application in January, 1869, the Inspector said that there were at least 350 people in the locality. With few exceptions, the residents were in poor circumstances, some with small freehold farms and gardens who obtained a living selling their produce in Sydney, and others employed in cutting wood and carting it to Sydney. In 1879, the church ceased to be used for school purposes when replaced by a new public school building at present-day Wiley Park.

The railway from Sydenham to Burwood Road opened in 1895, and the terminus station was named Belmore. When the line was extended to Bankstown in 1909, new stations were named Lakemba and Punchbowl. The name Belmore then contracted to the present-day suburb, and the suburb of Punchbowl developed around the new railway station.

The area has been at various times part of the Parishes of Cooks River, Kogarah, Canterbury and then Belmore. In 1913, Punchbowl and Bankstown were united to form the Parish of Bankstown. In 1955, St Saviour's, St Barnabas and St John's, Padstow, separated from Bankstown Parish and became the Provisional District of Punchbowl with St John's, Padstow. St John's separated in 1949, and St Saviour's and St Barnabas became a Parish. St Barnabas then separated and St Saviour's became Parish in 1952.

In 1917 a new church was erected on the site of the original timber building. This only occurred after a lot of controversy that divided the congregation. It appears that land had been acquired in Rossmore Avenue (opposite Turner Street) and a strong group wanted the new church built there, the chief argument being that it was more central. However, the descendants of the orlginal founders of St Saviour's insisted on the old site, and finally won. Archbishop Mowll consecrated the church in 1936. The Parish Hall dates from 1925, the Kindergarten Hall from 1928, and the Sunday School Hall was moved to the site and dedicated in 1964.

Framed inscription and verse from the church interior.

Source: St Saviour's Church of England, Canterbury Road (opposite Belmore Road) Punchbowl: Burial Records compiled by Joyce Ormsby. [Canterbury, NSW]: Canterbury & District Historical Society, 1989.