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The First Fleet
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Catholic settlers in Parramatta petition Governor Phillip for a chaplin
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Fr James Dixon and two other priests arrested as part of the 1798 Irish Rebellion are transported to New South Wales as convicts
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First official public Mass is held under strict Government supervision and is celebrated by prisoner priest, Fr Dixon
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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