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La Perouse enters Botany Bay and his chaplain, Abbe Mones, celebrates the first Mass within Australian territory
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First Irish convicts transported to Botany Bay
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The first priests arrived in the colony as convicts.
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A total of 2086 Irish convicts, nearly all of whom were Catholic, had been transported to Botany Bay
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The Castle Hill rebellion alarmed Governor King so he withdrew Dixon’s privileges.
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Dixon soon after returned to Ireland. Fathers John Joseph Therry and Philip Connolly, chaplains appointed by the Government in London, arrived in 1820. The arrival can be regarded as the formal establishment of the Catholic Church in Australia.
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There were about ten Catholic schools in the country.
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Catholic schools received some government assistance under a variety of schemes, but campaigns for 'free, secular and compulsory' education had begun in the 1850s
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Good Samaritan Sisters founded by Polding
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Sisters of St Joseph founded by Fr Julian Tension Woods and Mary MacKillop.
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These Josephites were running 35 schools in the Adelaide diocese.
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Every state passed an education act removing state aid to church schools.
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The number of catholic schools exceeded 5000
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A boom time for Australian catholics. Numbers grew rapidly increasing the proportion of catholics in the Australian population.