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La Perouse enters Botany Bay and his chaplain, Abbe Mones
Jan 23 First Fleet enters Sydney Cove; Jan 25 La Perouse enters Botany Bay; Abbé Mones, his chaplain, celebrates the first Mass within Australian territory
3 Feb 1788 First Anglican service. -
Catholic settlers in Parramatta petition Governor Phillip for a chaplin
Catholic settlers in Parramatta petition Governor Phillip for a chaplin -
Fr James Harold & Fr James Dixon arrive as convicts
Fr James Dixon and two other priests arrested as part of the 1798 Irish Rebellion are transported to New South Wales as convicts -
Dixon says first public Mass.
First official public Mass is held under strict Government supervision and is celebrated by prisoner priest, Fr Dixon -
First Catholic school at Parramatta.
Fr Therry founds the first Catholic school on Hunter Street, Parramatta -
First census of NSW shows 69% of the white population Protestant and 30% Catholic.
Australia's first census is held and reveals a white population of 36,598 which includes both free settlers and convicts. Among these, 25,248 are Protestants and 11,236 Catholics -
WA settlement begins.
Penal laws preventing Catholics holding Government positions ends -
NSW Legislative Council makes grants for the appointment of four new chaplains
the completion of three unfinished churches, and £800 a year for schools and schoolteachers. -
Catholic newspaper Australasian Chronicle founded.
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 -
Mary MacKillop becomes the first Sister
She also becomes Mother Superior of the Sisters of St Joseph -
NSW Catholic Bishops issue a Joint Pastoral Letter
stating that Catholics must send their children to Catholic schools unless given special dispensation by their parish priest -
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 -
Death of Mother Mary MacKillop
Mary suffered a stroke in 1902 and was an invalid until her death on August 8, 1909. The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Moran, visited Mary just before she died to give her the last rites of the church -
World War I declared
Catholics become influential in the Australian Labor Party with the rise of figures such as Ben Chiffley and James Scullin. St Patrick's College seminary at Manly celebrates its Silver Jubilee. An Act of Parliament permits the subdivision of 21 acres of land above Shelly Beach and Fairy Bower to help meet the cost of the college's upkeep -
Formation of the Catholic Teachers' Federation
This was a turning point for Catholic schools and, indeed, for the Catholic community in Australia. Bishops and people decided to persevere with the Catholic system. With no money to pay teachers, the bishops appealed to religious orders in Ireland and other European countries, and soon religious sisters and brothers were responding to the crisis.