-
The first two hundred years of European settlement in Australia were marked by forced removal, spiritual loss, and loss of identity for Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. -
With the arrival of the First Fleet 1788, the first Catholics in Australia arrived. They were largely Irish convicts, with a few royal marines thrown in for good measure. One-tenth of all convicts brought to Australia were catholic, with half of these being born in Ireland and the rest being English born but of Irish ancestry. The rest were mostly English or Scottish. -
They arrived as convicts. James Dixon had conditional freedom to perform mass but lost all privilege after Castle Hill rebellion. -
European settlement extended from the region surrounding Sydney Cove to previously unknown parts of the continent between the early 1830s and the 1860s.
-
The first catholic schools were run by nuns and brothers. Their clients were either wealthy or devout Catholics. -
The Government funded for Catholic schools. It ran from 1833 to the late 1860s
-
The first bishop was John Bede Polding. His priests were mostly Irish, and there was a clash of ideas between Polding's vision and theirs. The Catholic Church in Australia was controlled by Irish clergy. -
With little money to pay the employees, the bishops turned to religious orders in Ireland and other European countries/Nuns/Sisters and Brothers. This lasted until 1893. -
In the nineteenth century, Irish Catholicism ruled Australian Catholicism. The character of Australian Catholicism began to shift in 1884, when Irish Bishop, later Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran, arrived in Australia. -
The first catholic church in 1907 at Coffs Harbour -
The Australian priests outnumber John Bede's Irish priests -
Australian Catholicism was founded by Irish prisoners and working-class people, as well as the Irish priests and bishops who controlled the Australian Catholic Church in the nineteenth century. Despite its evident Irish roots, Australia's Catholic Church had developed its own identity by the mid-twentieth century.
-
Catholics grew during the 1950s. The number of brothers, nuns, and priests increased as well. Catholics were able to improve their socioeconomic standing. -
There was an inflow of non-English speaking immigrants, including one million or more Catholics from Italy, during the 1960s and 1970s. Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, and a slew of other countries are among them. There was a clash of ideas and practices. -
According to the 2016 total population, Catholicism is the country's largest Christian denomination, accounting for 22.6 percent of the population. Despite an increase of roughly 164,900 Catholics since the 2006 total population, the overall percentage of Catholics in the Australian population has fallen.