Catholic Church in Australia

By minhquang.nguyen

  • First Fleet lands Sydney Cove

    First Fleet lands Sydney Cove

  • Fr James Dixon and two other priests arrested as part of the 1798 Irish Rebellion are transported to New South Wales as convicts

  • First official public Mass is held under strict Government supervision and is celebrated by prisoner priest, Fr Dixon

  • Fr John Therry and Fr Philip Conolly, Australia's first official priests, arrive in Sydney. Fr Therry opens the first Catholic school in Parramatta and lobbies Governor Macquarie for land on which to build the settlement's first Catholic church

  • The foundation stone of St Mary's Chapel is laid by Governor Macquarie and blessed by Fr Therry.

    The site is near a barren brickfield and Sydney's convict barracks on land considered undesirable and without value. Father Connolly builds the first Catholic church in Tasmania

  • Fr Therry founds the first Catholic school on Hunter Street, Parramatta

  • Bishop Polding arrives in Hobart and a short time later sails for Sydney. His Vicariate covers the whole of Australia including Tasmania. The newly-completed St Mary's Chapel is consecrated as St Mary's Cathedral.

  • Fire destroys St Mary's Cathedral.

    Although much of the edifice is stone, the flames raze the building to the ground. Archdeacon McEncroe begins fundraising efforts for a new cathedral designed by William Wardell, the architect responsible for St John's College at the University of Sydney and St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne.

  • Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods found the Sisters of St. Joseph. Daniel Murphy appointed second Archbishop of Hobart A temporary St Mary's Cathedral begins construction until a brand new cathedral can be built

  • 1881 First St Vincent de Paul Society established in Sydney. Marist Brothers found St Joseph's College, a boarding school for boys, at Hunter's Hill

  • 1963 Death of Pope John XXIII who is succeeded by Pope Paul VI. The Second Vatican Council commences and appoints Cardinal Gilroy to the Council of Presidency. The Mass changes from Latin to English