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the first public mass was said by Fr. dixon on may 15, 1803, after the governor signed the orders. this meant that the colony of 1700 were free to practice their faith.
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In 1820, Frs. therry and connoly, are the first official priest to arrive in australia. This opened the door for other priest to follow.
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In 1821, the first Catholic Church was built in Richmond Tasmania. This was the start of the construction of many other churches across Australia.
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John Bede Polding arrived in Australia in 1835 as the first Catholic bishop. He travelled throughout the vast, untamed continent bringing Christ’s healing, compassion and neighbourly love.
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She arrived in Australia in 1838 and set up a home for other women who had come to live here. She worked to improve life on the ships bringing people to Australia to start a new life and started a loans plan to bring poor children and families to Australia.
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Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan was born in Dublin, Ireland, his education was furthered at the Irish College at Lisbon, Portugal and the Franciscan Order at Coimbra, Portugal. Patrick volunteered for seven years work in Australia. Fr. Geoghegan arrived at Sydney, New South Wales on 31 December 1838. He spent some months in New South Wales before being transferred to Melbourne in May 1839 by Bishop John Bede Polding.
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In October 1851 he journeyed to Ballarat on horseback, celebrated the first Mass on that goldfield and performed many baptisms in the lower Wimmera.
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Frederic Ozanam had to walk through the poorer suburbs on his way to university lectures each day and he became deeply moved at the hopeless state of families. He gathered a few friends around him and on 23 April 1833, they met to decide what they could do to assist the poor. They decided to adopt the name The Society of St Vincent de Paul . not long after, other good citizens of Paris took note of the charitable works of the students. Within a year membership had expanded to 100.
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On the night of 29 June 1865 St. mary cathedral got destroyed when fire destroyed the cathedral, leaving only the Pugin façade and bell tower and part of the north-east transept.
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In 1866 Mackillop and Fr. Julian tension woods found sisters of St. Joseph. Through the sisters, a school for poor/disadvantaged children was established.
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The Christian Brothers arrived in Victoria from Ireland in 1868 and in 1874 they were appointed to manage what became known as St Vincent de Paul's Boys' Orphanage in South Melbourne.
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"In 1889, five Sisters of Charity arrived in Melbourne with the dream of establishing a hospital. The dream was realised on 6 November 1893, with the opening of a small 'cottage hospital' in converted terraces on Victoria Parade." https://svhm.org.au/home/about-us/our-heritage
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MacKillop died on 8 August 1909 in the Josephite convent in North Sydney. The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Moran, said that: "I consider this day to have assisted at the deathbed of a Saint." She was laid to rest at the Gore Hill cemetery, a few kilometres up the Pacific Highway from North Sydney.
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In 1936 Gsell was appointed O.B.E. Two years later he left Bathurst Island to be consecrated bishop of Darwin.
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Pope John Paul II visited Australia in 1986, who becomes only the second Pope to visit Australia after Pope Paul VI's 1970 tour. On that time, he was 66 years old and had visited every state and territory of Australia from 24 November to 1 December.
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Initial construction began in 1851 and there have been various phases of activity leading to the installation of the tower in 1996.
The building of the Cathedral began in 1851, making it the oldest cathedral in Australia. The tower was not completed until 1996 – 145 years.
