Church in Australia

By Weiry01

  • First Fleet lands on Sydney Cove

  • First Irish convicts transported to Botany Bay

  • Catholic settlers in Parramatta petition Governor Phillip for a chaplin

  • 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

  • Castle Hill Rebellion results in Fr Dixon's permit to conduct Mass being withdrawn

  • Fr Jeremiah Flynn arrives to minister to convict Catholics but he does not have the official sanction of the church or state he is arrested and deported despite protests from the colony's Catholics and several Protestant leaders

  • 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

  • Father Conolly leaves for Hobart leaving Fr John Therry the only priest on mainland Australia

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

  • Fr Therry is misquoted in the Sydney Gazette triggering a furore among the Anglican Establishment. An outraged Governor Macquarie, now Earl of Bathurst removes Therry from his role as the colony's official chaplain.

  • Fr Daniel Power lands in Sydney to replace Fr Therry as official chaplain to the growing colony. Hardworking Fr Therry moves to Parramatta and remains a chief influence among Sydney's Catholics

  • St Mary's Chapel finally completed. Fr Therry celebrates the first Mass there. Fr William Ullalthorne arrives in Sydney to take over as the colony's first Vicar General

  • Benedictine priest, John Bede Polding is consecrated (ordained as Bishop) in London and appointed Vicar Apostolic with jurisdiction over what is now the Commonwealth of Australia.

  • The weekly Catholic newspaper, Australasian Chronicle is launched with former schoolteacher turned journalist William as founding editor. The journal champions rights not only of the church but of small farmers, working men and the dispossessed