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1875 BCE
Mary Mackillop
In 1866 MacKillop and Woods founded Australia's first order of nuns, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, and also established St. Joseph's School in a converted stable in Penola, providing a free education to children from the area. -
Mary Reiby
Mary Reibey is one of the most famous early convict women in the colony of New South Wales. A convicted horsethief, Mary went on to run an extensive importing and mercantile business and there are numerous references to her business dealings, liquor licences, land grants and purchases throughout the State archives. -
St John’s (Tasmania)
St Johns Church, is an Anglican church in Launceston, Tasmania and the oldest church in the city having started construction in 1824. Though the church is one of the oldest surviving churches in Australia, it has received numerous extensions and modifications with only the tower and first window pair of the nave being original. -
Church Acts
The Church Act reduced tensions between the competing strands of Christianity present in the colony of New South Wales. The Act established equitable funding for Catholic and Protestant denominations, and removed many of the privileges that the Church of England had enjoyed in the colony to date. -
Caroline Chisholm
Caroline Chisholm worked on improving conditions on the ships and arranged for the families of convicts to be transported free to Australia so they could be reunited with their loved ones. -
Sisters of Mercy
Together with Julian Tenison-Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites), a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor. -
Sisters of Charity
In 1838, five nuns from the Sisters of Charity endured a four-month sea voyage from Ireland to an unknown land called Australia. They were compelled by the original vision of their founder, Mary Aikenhead, to care for the poor and vulnerable in the newly established colony. -
Christian Brothers
The Christian Brothers ran the children's homes Bindoon, Castledare Special School, Castledare, Clontarf, Subiaco Boys' Orphanage and Tardun Farm School in Western Australia. -
St John’s Pro Cathedral (West Aust)
Saint John‘s pro Cathedral was the principal place of worship for the Roman catholic community in Perth from 1844 - 1865 upon its completion in 1860 5D Gothic style Saint Mary‘s Cathedral replace St John’s as Perth catholic cathedral -
St Francis’ Church (Victoria)
St Francis’ church in Victoria is the oldest church in Victoria it was the very first church built there. -
Old St Stephen’s Church (Queensland)
The chapel is made of locally quarried sandstone and originally had a shingled roof, now slate. It conforms to a standard English type of small church with a simple rectangular nave with a square chancel attached via an arch. A little square sacristy is attached to the north side of the chancel and a square porch gives onto the south-west end of the nave. -
Gold rush
On February 12, 1851, a prospector discovered flecks of gold in a waterhole near Bathurst, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Soon, even more gold was discovered in what would become the neighboring state of Victoria. This began the Australian Gold Rush, which had a profound impact on the country's national identity. -
Society of St Vincent de Paul
The St. Vincent De Paul in Australia has more than 60,000 members and volunteers, who work hard to assist people in need and combat social injustice across Australia. Internationally, the Society operates in 153 countries and has over 800,000 members. -
Fr Julian Tension Woods
Julian was a gifted missionary priest, scientist, writer, musician and popular lecturer. As a lifelong student of geology, palaeontology and zoology, Julian shared Mary's commitment to education for the poor. London-born Julian arrived in Tasmania in 1855, aged 23. -
Good Samaritan Sisters
The Sisters of the Good Samaritan hold a unique place in history being the first women's religious congregation to be founded in Australia. Established in 1857 by the Archbishop of Sydney, John Bede Polding, the Good Samaritan Sisters began to care for the poor and destitute of the early colony. -
Establishment of the Sisters of St Joseph
The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart are a religious order of women, originally founded in South Australia in 1866, by Sister Mary MacKillop. They ran a number of children's homes in New South Wales as well as Catholic schools, throughout New South Wales. -
Presentation Sisters
The Presentation Sisters soon established and supported primary and secondary schools across Melbourne and country Victoria, including Presentation College Windsor, and Star of the Sea College, Gardenvale. They responded to needs as they emerged. One such need was in the growing community of Dandenong in 1912. -
Sectarian violence at Duke of Edinburgh visit
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St Patrick’s (South Aust)
St Patrick's Church is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic church on Grote Street, Adelaide, South Australia. Opened in 1914, St Patrick's was built as a replacement for the original St. Patrick's church that is considered the first Catholic Church in Adelaide.[1] Today the Church is used for services in languages other than English, including Portuguese and Croatian.
