Goulburn 1870s

This carte de visite photograph from the early 1870s is part of the collections of the State Library of NSW.  An helpful reader of Archbishop John Bede Polding OSB Facebook page helped us to identify where the photograph was taken.

This is the residence of the Bishop of Goulburn, the Right Reverend William Lanigan and his clergy.  It is thought that the double-storeyed section was erected in the 1850s, but that the building was enlarged after the arrival of Dr Lanigan as the second bishop in December 1866.

The limitations of detail in the original photograph do not allow us to identify with any certainty the four clergyman depicted outside the presbytery.  Just possibly, the Bishop is depicted as farthest on the right.  

One of the curiosities of this photograph is the dress of the clergymen.  Each is wearing a clerical frockcoat. Presumably the day was a cold one, since three appear also to be wearing an overcoat.  None of that is unusual in terms of the dress of Catholic clergymen in the 19th century.  But each is wearing a biretta, the clerical cap worn with the cassock, but not with street dress.

Greatly enlarged later in the nineteenth century, this building still serves as the Presbytery of Old Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is adjacent.  It ceased to be the Episcopal residence in 1962, when the Archbishop moved his Seat to the city of Canberra.

AMDG.

1868 Epilogue : The Kiama Ghost

Archbishop Polding photographed in 1869.
Image : The State Library of Victoria.

The last few posts on our Blog have coincided with the sesqui-centenary of the foundation of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral in December 1868.  In researching these posts, the edition of the Sydney Catholic newspaper, The Freeman's Journal of 12th December 1868, which reported the founding of the Cathedral, contained many allusions to anti-Catholic sentiment prevalent at the time.

Perhaps the most striking is this extract from Archbishop Polding's address to the large crowd assembled to witness the Foundation of the Cathedral :

And now we have begun a new history, and I agree with you in desiring to inscribe on its very first page the most generous sympathy and help, offered to us and accepted, when we first gathered together after our disaster, from many who are not sharers in our Catholic responsibilities. May God reward them as He best knows how. You say that thoughts of that kindness enabled you to endure much that you have since been called upon to endure. No doubt, and righteously so. What should give us confidence in our fellow men if kindness, spontaneous kindness in the very hour of need does not give it? You were right in trusting that the minds and hearts of our noblest fellow citizens, then shown to you in word and deed, would never accept or if for a moment they accepted, would speedily reject and repel the shamefully foul and cunning calumnies that at one unhappy moment were cast into the air, like a deadly miasma, by ignorant hate, and unscrupulous political scheming. Nothing has made me more thankful than the steady, manly, forbearance of so many of my dear simple children in the faith, under the most painful provocation. Their generous souls understood the motive that you have given expression to, and they accepted the counsel of the Archbishop and their bishops and their other clergy frankly and dutifully. I am proud of them. For you who are men with greater opportunities of intelligence and cultivation - why, I commend you, and sympathise with you in your annoyance and self-command; but you have been only what I had a right to expect you would be. The event has justified, you see, our counsel and your behaviour. Men are already beginning to wonder what the fuss of anger and suspicious hate has all been about; and very obviously the outcrop of poisonous plants, that threatened to mar our thirty years' harvest of brotherly harmony and good-will, has begun to wither away.

What were these forthright remarks about?  

HRH Prince Alfred
Duke of Edinburgh and
4th child of Queen Victoria.
Image : State Archives of NSW.

Earlier in 1868, a notorious event occurred which, one hundred and fifty years later, has largely been forgotten.  It concerned the first visit of a member of the British Royal Family to Australia, HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and fourth child of Queen Victoria.  Prince Alfred, then only 23, over a period of several months, visited Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane (briefly) and finally Sydney during this Royal Tour.  

On 12th March, 1868, during a visit to a public picnic at Clontarf beach in Sydney, the Prince was shot at point-blank range by a deranged fanatic, one Henry James O'Farrell.  Only for the very sturdy pair of leather braces that he was wearing which happened - by sheer good fortune - to have deflected the bullet, the Prince would surely have been killed.  The assassin O'Farrell barely escaped with his life as an angry crowd turned on him in attempt to carry out summary justice.

It is not hard to imagine, even a century-and-a-half later, the public outrage that broke forth at that time.  What a disgrace that a member of the Royal Family had been murderously attacked!  Consider the horror had the child of the Monarch been killed on Australian soil?  To the dismay of Catholics, the assassin Henry O'Farrell, an opponent of British Rule in Ireland, was revealed to be a Catholic, and at one time, a student for the priesthood.

A contemporary engraving of the scene at Clontarf beach 12th March 1868
depicting the attempted assassination of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Image : State Library of NSW

Henry James O'Farrell
Image : State Library of NSW

An ugly wave of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment broke out around Australia and there were those who took advantage of this for their own ends.  Chief amongst these was the politician Henry Parkes, known as The Father of Federation but less well known to us now as an anti-Catholic bigot.  Although Prince Alfred, recovering well from his wound, urged calm and leniency, the assassin was quickly tried and put to death.  Only then, with the perpetrator removed, did Parkes recklessly declare that Henry O'Farrell had not acted alone, but his attempt on the Prince's life was part of a conspiracy by Irish Catholic revolutionaries.  In every age, revolutionaries have a different moniker. The Irish radicals of the 19th century were known as Fenians.

Parkes launched this campaign during a visit to his electorate in Kiama on the NSW south coast and thus was born what became known as "The Kiama Ghost".  Unhappily for Parkes, the Catholic priest attending O'Farrell before his execution received two handwritten statements from the convicted man, declaring that he had acted alone and was not part of any type of revolutionary conspiracy.

Henry Parkes
Premier of NSW on five occasions.
"Unscrupulous political scheming".

For a time, the scurrilous agitation of Henry Parkes and his allies gripped the mind of the public - after all, Parkes had his own newspaper called The Empire in order to propagate his views.  Were Catholic colonists about to rise up and attempt to seize power through revolution?  Would the Pope of Rome control Australia?  Would respectable protestant colonists be murdered in their beds by Irish rebels?  No Popery!

It was only a matter of months, however, before Henry Parkes, unable to produce any evidence of his claims, was revealed as having played the "conspiracy" card, in order to discredit Irish Catholics of the colony, some of whom were his political opponents.  In September 1868, when the more hysterical debate had died away, and with public opinion against him, Henry Parkes resigned his seat in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales and remained under a cloud for three years.  Ever afterwards his political opponents would taunt him with reference to "The Kiama Ghost".

But much damage had been done to the harmony that existed in Australia between Catholics and non-Catholics which - arguably - was never fully healed. Nor had the Catholics of New South Wales experienced the last of the bigotry of Henry Parkes.  That is a story for another time.

FURTHER READING :

A broader description of this story :

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-irishman-who-shot-queen-victoria-s-son-and-heir-1.3179202

https://dictionaryofsydney.org/person/ofarrell_henry_james

More details on the life of O'Farrell :

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ofarrell-henry-james-4322

On the career of Henry Parkes :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Parkes

Concerning the Fenians :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_Brotherhood

http://www.theirishstory.com/2017/03/07/the-fenians-an-overview/#.XBdFQM8zai4


AMDG

Editorial : December 1868

One of the posts of the Domain gates, Sydney.
This rare 1870 photograph was taken not much
more than a year after the foundation of
the present Saint Mary's Cathedral.
Image : State Library of NSW.

The same edition of The Freeman's Journal, which described in detail the ceremony of the Founding of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (8th December, 1868), also published a major editorial suggesting the importance of the occasion for the Australian Catholic Community.  Parts of this editorial might have been written a few days ago, and are well worth pondering.  We produce the editorial, except for one or two paragraphs.

On Tuesday last, the holy feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the foundation stone of the new St Mary’s Cathedral was laid by His Grace the Archbishop. Our readers are aware that in this instance the ceremony did not take place at the very inception of the undertaking. Already a vast amount of work has been performed and perhaps the most difficult portion of the entire building has been disposed of. What has been done up to this time is not of a kind to catch the eye, or to make any outward show for itself; but every inch that the building progresses henceforth will be apparent to every observer and give visible promise of the completing of the whole edifice. It can be no wonder, then, that the ceremony of last Tuesday must have given joy to the hearts of all present, as it must prove a consolation to every Catholic in Australia. It is now something more then three years since the great affliction of the destruction by fire of the old Cathedral befell the Sydney people, and the progress made in the endeavour to replace that loved Temple of God has been in the highest degree creditable to the Catholics of the diocese. Of course, they were only carrying out grand mission which God has appointed for the Irish people, to build temples to His holy Name wherever on the habitable globe the English language is spoken; and it would have been a sad reproach to all concerned if they had proved laggards in the good work. But the zeal with which they hastened to repair the ravages of the unsparing flames testified that their attachment to Holy Faith is as intense now as it has been for the last fourteen centuries; and the munificence with which they contributed money towards the erection of the new church showed that the long-famed Celtic generosity was as warm and enthusiastic here as it has been as in the olden land. Australian Catholics may then well be proud of their efforts to replace the beautiful church which 29th day of June, 1865 saw burnt to the ground.

The walls of New St Mary’s, as they rise should teach Catholics very important lessons which it would be profitable for colonists of other creeds also to bear in mind. They should preach to us the grand lesson of Christian love and toleration. Catholics never will, and never can forget the ready sympathy experienced from prominent members of other denominations when the old Cathedral was destroyed and the practical way in which that sympathy was expressed. The open-handed generosity with which so many of our Protestant fellow-colonists contributed to the erection of the magnificent temple - an important epoch in whose completion was marked triumphantly on Tuesday - has earned the liveliest gratitude of the children of the old faith …

Another good lesson which we might learn from our rising Cathedral, is internal harmony and unity of purpose. Unless we all combine heartily to carry out the great work before us, it must assuredly languish. We have a great many secret and open enemies to contend with. The tone of the press, and the current of modern philosophy all through the civilized nations are, undoubtedly, hostile to Catholicity. We hear uttered every day the most confident prophecies of the approaching downfall of our Faith. The rapid strides made by infidelity and the mis-named “liberalism”, which are alienating so many from the bosom of the Church, ought to prove to us that Catholics cannot be idle, but that it is incumbent on them in all times, and in every lawful way, to oppose the spread of pernicious opinions by clinging more closely to the Holy See, and making open profession of the Faith that is in us. 

And what more glorious outward semblance of our attachment to the true Church can there possibly be than a magnificent temple in which its priests shall minister, and its doctrines shall be preached to many generations yet unborn? A building, like what our future Cathedral is destined to be, will remain for long years a memorial to the faith and piety of the present people of Sydney.  The emblem of salvation, with which it is to be surmounted, will be a standing invitation to those who do not belong to the only safe fold, to seek shelter and security within its walls. In a mere worldly point of view, what greater proof can we give of our attachment to the Faith of the Apostles than to subscribe out of our poverty the enormous sums of money necessary to bring to completion a building of the magnitude contemplated for the new St Mary’s? 

Moreover, it is by no means the only enterprise we have got on [our] hands. All over the country, churches, convents and schools, proportionate to the wants of people are springing up and these all costs cost large sums. There is no compulsion used, or indeed possible; the people, rich and poor alike, give freely and abundantly according to their means; their only inducements are the desire for the glory of God and their hereditary love for their creed. We might challenge the world to produce members of any Church so devoted to their faith, and so ready to make these sacrifices - which worldlings most shrink from - for its advantage. 

There is yet one more lesson to be derived from the walls of the new Cathedral, one of hope and confidence in the future. If Catholicity in Australia only progress for the next century as it has during the past half century, it will be a great and powerful branch of the Church of Peter.  There are men in Sydney at this moment who can recollect the humble building in which the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was first offered up in the capital of New South Wales. They can call to mind the slow degrees by which religion was emancipated from state supervision and the marvellous advances made as soon as its freedom was secured. The Venerable Prelate, who laid the foundation stone on Tuesday, could himself tell of times when the Church was fettered and impeded in the exercise of her sacred ministrations, he could describe the accelerating swiftness with which the flock of the Shepherd multiplied and grew strong when the obstacles in their path were removed by wise and liberal governments. The retrospect on his career in Australia, which the ceremony of Tuesday must have caused His Grace to make, cannot but have been abounding in joy and consolation to him as a high dignitary of the Catholic Church.   

The presence of the Right Reverend Bishops of Bathurst, Goulburn and Maitland, with His Lordship Bishop Bataillon, the veteran and energetic missionary of the South Sea Islands, gave additional splendour to the scene and additional proof of the strength of the Church in the southern hemisphere. And not the least significant or imposing feature in the assemblage round the foundation stone was the large body of clergy from the diocese of Sydney and also from the interior [namely, the country areas] who were present to testify their interest in the ceremony. It was pleasant, moreover, to see that many of the foremost citizens who differ from us in religious belief, exhibited their esteem of their Catholic neighbours by attending the laying of the foundation stone of our Metropolitan Church … Harmony existing among the different Christian sects of which our population is composed, is an absolute necessity for prosperity and progress of the colony, and we cannot repeat too often that the men who strive to disturb our peaceful relations with each other, ought be regarded as public enemies. 

We are convinced that magnificent spirit of unity presented at the late ceremony will do much to exorcise the demon of bigotry from among us, and tend to maintain in its pristine force, the spirit of toleration and mutual charity, on which we have always, and most justly, prided ourselves. The future of our cathedral cannot longer be in doubt after the fresh impetus its direction has received from the munificent donations received on last Tuesday. Within comparatively speaking a few years, a portion of the building large enough for actual requirements will be completed so that the Catholic inhabitants of St Mary’s district will be able to worship once again in a suitable church. Of course, it would be very hard to say when the entire building, as planned by the architect, will be finished. Possibly the rising generation of Australians may have happiness of witnessing its completion, or it may be that it will be reserved for a very distant time; but of one thing we may rest thoroughly satisfied, the Catholics of this beautiful always maintain the religious edifices of the country on a scale at least commence your with the requirements of the population.

NOTES

This expansive editorial also included references to some political events of 1868, which were not quite pertinent to this post.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Editor assumes that all Catholics in NSW at that time were Irish, whereas there were English, German and most probably other Europeans as a minority of the Catholic population.

The old Cathedral of Saint Mary was not "burned to the ground" as is claimed in this editorial and elsewhere.  The fire completely gutted the building, but most of its walls were still left standing and reasonably sound the following morning.

A reference is made to "the humble building" in which the first Mass was offered in Sydney town.  This most likely refers to Mass offered by the convict priest Father James Dixon or to the later brief ministry in the colony of Father Jeremiah O'Flynn.  These priests will be the subject of posts on this blog.

Concerning the image, this is one of a number of views around Sydney city taken in 1870.  Through the right-hand gate can just be glimpsed the masonry of the massive plinth of the present Cathedral's northern gable. Above that, the pyramid-shaped cap is the bell-tower, being a surviving section of old Saint Mary's Cathedral.  Through the left gate can be seen the old Cathedral presbytery, built shortly before this photograph was taken.

Foundation Day 1868

The Honourable John Hubert Plunkett
Image : State Library of NSW

Previous posts have described the occasion of the blessing and laying of the Foundation stone of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral and presented a translation of the foundation stone, now hidden beneath tonnes of masonry.

In this post, we include parts of two of a number of addresses which were made on that 8th December, 1868, one hundred and fifty years ago.  One thing very clear from both addresses was the still-present sorrow felt at the destruction of their first cathedral by fire in 1865.

The first address was made to Archbishop Polding by the Honourable John Hubert Plunkett  QC on behalf of the Catholics of the Archdiocese.  Mr Plunkett, an Irish Catholic, arrived in Sydney in 1832 as the colony's Solicitor General.  He subsequently was appointed Attorney-General (a position he held on-and-off over thirty years), as well as being elected to Parliament on several occasions.  Mr Plunkett was an highly significant figure in the early history of Australia and arguably the most important Catholic layman of that period. In 1835, he presented an address of welcome to Bishop Polding when he arrived in Sydney as the colony's first bishop. Here is part of Mr Plunkett's address on Foundation day :

To the Most Reverend John Bede Polding, Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan.

May it please Your Grace.

On this most solemn and eventful occasion, we, the Catholics of the diocese of Sydney, big to offer to Your Grace the expression of our hearty congratulations on the auspicious undertaking of today.

The sorrow arising from the calamity by which, in a few hours we were deprived of the sacred edifice, which for upwards of 30 years had been the mother Church of Australia, was to us the more difficult to bear, because we knew how bitter and how deep would be the suffering of your Grace for that great loss. With that edifice then destroyed, all the dearest and holiest associations of your ecclesiastical Government of this portion of Christendom were intertwined …

It was, however, our great consolation that your Grace was upheld in the midst of your affliction by the generous and noble sympathies of the people of this country … You had then the happiness of discovering that your tolerance, your charity, your thirty years of blameless and exemplary life amongst our fellow colonists, who do not recognise your spiritual authority, had borne fruit in the universal expression of sympathy with your Grace’s sorrow and with ours.

And now the moment has arrived when, assisted by the generosity of many of those separated from us in religious opinions, we have commenced the erection of a building, the proportions and magnificence of which will be the noblest monument of Your Grace’s rule and the most enduring testimony of our faith and love.

We owe much to those who have so aided us in our efforts towards the erection and completion of a structure, which, while it will be to us the House of God, will only be to them a great architectural adornment of this city …

 With our prayers that Almighty God make preserve you in the enjoyment of health and of all blessings, till the great object of Your Grace’s life shall be attained.

We have the honour to subscribe to ourselves Your Grace’s faithful servants.

JOHN HUBERT PLUNKETT

President of the Committee

for the Catholics of the Diocese.

The Archbishop, in part, replied to Mr Plunkett, as follows :

Dear friends,

Your congratulations are a comfort and happiness to me. I am thankful, first of all to our good God, who has wrapped me round with such kind sympathy in my sorrows and joy; and next, to you who, with such true instinct of filial friendship, have ever chosen the most opportune moment to cheer and strengthen my heart, by showing me what was in your own. May God bless you with every form of temporal and spiritual recompense! 

This is, indeed, as you say, a solemn and eventful occasion; and it is to me peculiarly an occasion of consolation and happiness. It proves to me that I am building in my people’s love, and that their love for me is for God’s sake. This is the right order, this is as it should be. We sorrowed together with a sorrow that had its chief source in what seemed a sweeping away of dear and holy memories, and an injury to the service and work of God among us; we have now our common gladness in the renewal of those memories, the near prospect of more than restoration to that sacred service and work. After the night of our misfortune the bright day has dawned on us and with thankful joy we are exulting in its light “This is God’s doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes.” We realise that ancient, oft-repeated mercy of the “God of patience and comfort” : “I will turn the mourning into joy, and will comfort them and make them joyful after their sorrow.”

My dear friends, you have most justly styled our old Saint Mary’s 'a great historical fact', and you are right. No one knows so well as I what sorrows, what hopes, what faith, had glorified those old walls. Yes, it was to the world a great historic fact, but it had around it an inner history of facts more real than its stones; a history legible only to the eyes of God and His angels, until the last great day of revealing shall come; histories of penitence, and hope, and confidence, and radical conversion of life: all these sacred forms of the manifold grace of God in men’s hearts. And now we have begun a new history and I agree with you in desiring to inscribe on its very first page the most generous sympathy and help, offered to us and accepted, when we first gathered together after disaster, from many who do not share in our Catholic responsibilities. May God reward them as He best knows how…

And now, dear friends and children, once more receive my own hearty thanks; once more let us resolve together at the work we have so happily begun this day, shall henceforward, please God, never suffer let or stop as far as we can help it, until its completion.

When the ceremonies had concluded, the Official Party walked down to the building now known as the Chapter House, where a formal luncheon was held. Guests of the Archbishop included Bishops Bataillon, Murray, Quinn and Lanigan, in addition to the Consuls of Spain and France. To conclude a long day, a concert was held in the evening, which was open to the public.

AMDG

Newspaper Report : 1868

A contemporary illustration of the ceremony of the Foundation of Saint Mary's Cathedral, 
8th December 1868.
Image : The Saint Bede Studio.

In a Saturday morning edition of the Catholic newspaper The Freeman's Journal, a lengthy report was given of the ceremony in which the Foundation Stone of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral was laid.  This took place on 8th December, 1868.  In addition to a number of invited guests, a large group of people, resident in and around the city, gathered to witness the historic occasion.

Part of the report in The Freeman's Journal is reproduced below :

On Tuesday last, the imposing ceremony of blessing and laying the foundation stone of St Mary’s Cathedral, was performed by His Grace the Archbishop. That day was chosen, being the festival of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because the future Cathedral will be erected in her honour and in her name.

The Cathedral will face from North to South, this deviation from the usual custom being rendered necessary by the form of the ground. The altar will face north and be near St Mary’s Road looking into the Domain, and the sides continue along College Street as far as Woolloomooloo Street, giving a clear length when fully completed, of 350 feet.

It will be many years before the whole design is carried out; but, when completed, Saint Mary’s will bear favourable comparison with many of those churches, which before the Reformation, were the pride of the Church, and are still monuments of the piety of our ancestors. 

Notification of the ceremony of Tuesday was given in all the churches of Sunday last, and His Grace the Archbishop issued a pastoral letter which was read on the same occasion.

Early on Tuesday morning, the merry peels from the towers of our churches announced that something unusual was going to happen that day, and long before the appointed hour at which the ceremony was to take place, a crowd was making for Saint Mary's. Preparations had been made for a large gathering, but the crowds were even more numerous than was anticipated. On the north-western portion of the enclosure was a large tent in which those that were invited were accommodated, and facing them, and a few feet from the spot where the future High Altar will stand (upon which was erected a large wooden Cross) and at a distance of some 30 feet, was a platform for His Grace and the clergy where the greater part of the ceremony was performed. 

Shortly after 11 o’clock a procession was formed in the temporary cathedral and headed by the cross bearer and two acolytes with lighted candles, proceeded to the platform erected for the clergy. The following was the order : His Grace the Archbishop vested in Cope and mitre ... their Lordships the Bishops of Bathurst and Goulburn ... their Lordships the Bishops of Maitland and Enos ... and the Very Reverend the Vicar General.  

The cantors were the Reverends Dr Quirk and Father Dwyer, who were assisted by Mr WJ Cordner, the organist of the Cathedral. 

The ceremony commenced with the blessing of water and salt to be used in the service of blessing stone ... The sermon being concluded, Mr Robert Coveny and Mr James Mullins, two of the treasurers of the Cathedral Fund, approached the Archbishop and, on behalf of the finance committee, presented His Grace with a splendid gold trowel manufactured for the occasion by Mr Delarue of George Street.  

The ceremony of blessing and laying the foundation stone was then proceeded with, and as it differs in no way from similar services often described in this journal, it is unnecessary on the present occasion to go through the various prayers and ceremonies. We may mention that, in a cavity beneath the foundation stone, were deposited one of each of the coins of the Realm, and copies of The Freeman's Journal, The [Sydney Morning] Herald, The Empire, and The Evening News. These were covered with a brass plate, upon which an inscription had been made ...

A collection was then made and the result showed that the magnificent sum of £1400 had been contributed, not in large sums by a few wealthy individuals, but by hundreds who came generously to give their mite in the good work of erecting the Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese. 

NOTES :

Before the days of journalistic photography, a sketcher would often be present on notable occasions which were intended to be reported in newspapers.  From what was sketched, an artistic engraving would be reproduced for the newspaper or magazine.  This frequently occurred in 19th century Sydney publications.  We are very fortunate to have a contemporary image of the Foundation Stone ceremony, which shows the scene much as it was described in the newspaper report. The huge crowd of people present is evident. In the background on the left, a spire is visible.  This is Saint James' Anglican Church, King Street.  

NEXT POST : Addresses given at the Foundation Stone Ceremony.

AMDG

Inscription on Foundation Stone : 1868

In previous posts on this Blog, we have presented some historic images of the old Cathedral of Saint Mary, commenced in 1821 by Father John Joseph Therry, and which became Archbishop Polding's Cathedral in 1835.  Thirty years later, in 1865, that building was destroyed in a spectacular night time fire, which horrified Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Only three years later, in 1868, through the generosity of ordinary Catholics and many non-Catholic well-wishers, it was possible to lay the Foundation stone of a new and larger Cathedral.  We celebrate the sesqui-centenary of that Foundation at this time.

The report of that occasion, which appeared in the The Freeman's Journal of 12th December 1868, gave the text - in Latin - of what had been inscribed upon a brass plate, enclosed within the Foundation Stone.  That plate, of course, remains invisible, but we are pleased to present this translation of an inscription unseen for 150 years :

In nomine Jesu Christi. 

So to begin anew on a grander scale, 

with a building more beautiful for the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary, 

this, the First Stone, 

was blessed and laid in a solemn rite, 

near to the location of the previous building, 

wholly destroyed in a conflagration on the 

29th day of June AD 1865. 

The stone was placed by 

The Most Illustrious and Most Reverend John Bede Polding 

of the Order of Saint Benedict, 

Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of Australia, 

standing among his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend 

Bishops-Suffragan of the dioceses of 

Melbourne, Brisbane, Bathurst, Maitland and Goulburn, 

and next to whom was standing the Most Reverend and Most Illustrious 

Bishop of Enos, of the Society of Mary. 

On the most joyful Feast of the Immaculate Conception 

of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 

in the year of Salvation, 1868, 

with a great assembly of priests assisting 

and a vast number of the lay-faithful gathered, 

Prayers and Thanksgiving were given to God, 

the Three-in-One, and Giver of all things, 

with an outpouring of most loving and heartfelt devotion. 

This took place during 

the happy reign of Pius IX, Supreme Pontiff, 

whilst Victoria was Queen of Britannia 

and ruling as her Vice-Regent in this Colony, 

The Right Honourable, the Earl of Belmore. 

The Very Reverend S J Sheehy, OSB, being the Vicar General; 

and the Reverend Fathers 

M J Dwyer, P F O’Farrell, M P Fitzpatrick, T J Garvey and P J Healey, 

being assigned to the priestly ministry of the Cathedral Parish. 

William W Wardell, being the architect, 

and John Young, the Clerke of Works. 

SOLI DEO GLORIA.

NOTES :

The brass plate upon which was inscribed the text translated above, was made, of course, in advance of the Foundation Stone ceremony.  The stone refers to the Bishops who were present, but on the day itself, not all the bishops listed as being present, actually were.  Bishops Matthew Quinn and William Lanigan (of Bathurst and Goulburn, respectively) together with Bishop James Murray (of Maitland) and Bishop Pierre Bataillon SM (former Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceania) were the bishops present on the day.

This translation was prepared by Michael Sternbeck, in consultation with Dr David Birch and Father Justin McDonnell. We probably will never know who prepared this piece of Latin prose for the plaque, but he took great care over it. It is replete with abbreviations reminiscent of classical Latin epigraphy and employs a poetic vocabulary.  Nevertheless, it is distinctly ecclesiastical and not untypical of such commemorative plaques. In preparing a translation, rendering the Latin into elegant English prose took precedence over strict grammatical accuracy. 

The image above gives the Latin of the inscription precisely as it was laid out in the column of The Freeman's Journal.  It is not an attempt to replicate the appearance of a brass plate.

Next Post : The Freeman's Journal report on the Foundation Stone ceremony, 1868.

AMDG

Pastoral Letter of 1868

Archbishop John Bede Polding OSB circa 1860
Image : The Saint Bede Studio

On 3rd December 1868 -150 years ago - Archbishop John Bede Polding OSB issued a pastoral letter to the Faithful of the Archdiocese of Sydney, calling them to attend the laying of the first stone of their Cathedral.  We are pleased to give a lengthy extract from this Pastoral Letter, as follows : 

The work of Faith is a nobler thing than the work of sight and, therefore, now that the foundations of dear Cathedral are once more laid, and laid in such magnificent measure and mass, I have a great confidence and joy, as if the whole grand structure were well-nigh half complete.  We have buried a mountain of stone, at a cost of more than a year of time, and thousands of pounds in money.  Yes, indeed, and we have only just risen above the surface; the edifice as it will, by and by, live in men’s eyes, and as it will raise their hearts, is only now - it may be said -beginning.  Is only now beginning: quite true.  But then, dear children, it is the foundation, the work of Faith, that is finished and secure … 

We must wait yet two or three years until we shall have completed enough to enable us, by the good blessing God, to celebrate the Holy Mysteries on that broad, strong sanctuary, that, even now, risen from the living rock on which reposes below, suggests thoughts of the grandeur and stability of our most holy Faith ... 

When our dear old Cathedral, that was so full of many happy, sad, sacred memories - of the times in which it was first planned, of the ornamentations and enlargements that came from time to time; of the faithful, bountiful men of simple, manly hearts that worshipped in it so many years, and are now passed away; of the devoted missionary priests, the Therrys and McEncroes and many others that laboured within it – when that Cathedral had been burnt down to the ground, and lay before your eyes a heap of ruin, then, at that moment, God kindled a flame of zeal in your hearts, and you made an effort that was never surpassed.  

Thank God for it, and to thanks to those many kind hearts, who are not with us in visible communion, but who sympathised with us in our distress, and helped us well in word and deed.  Now, dearly beloved, it is to revive that flame of zeal, if God Grant me such grace, that I am now addressing you.  We have still a noble sum left of the contributions, that on that occasion, amid tears and prayers, you poured into God’s Treasury for the rebuilding of his house; and we have spent too, a noble sum in those grand foundations, which I have specially called the work of Faith.

On Tuesday next, 8th December, the day ever gloriously memorable in the annals of the Church for the Definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the patroness of our Cathedral, we invite you to be present at the ceremony of laying what is technically called the foundation stone.  In truth it will be a foundation stone, a cornerstone of the portion of which begins the new era when the beauty and magnificence of the edifice will be visible and comprehensible to all eyes.  On that day when we shall begin to realise something of the entire work, I must ask you also to begin a new your contributions to renew them according to your zeal and strength; to renew them in a measure befitting the occasion, and still to renew them as men prepared to continue them year by year after the old temper and fashion of our Catholic Faith …

A note on the image :

Carte-de-visite photographs of Archbishop Polding, vested in a Puginesque cope presented to him during a visit to England and a mitre in the Gothic Revival style, were used as a basis for this sketch of the Archbishop, published around the year 1860. It has been enhanced digitally for presentation on this blog.


AMDG 

Notice

There will be a small interruption in our articles tracing the origins of the Church in Australia, in order to commemorate with a small collection of articles, the Sesqui-centenary of the Foundation of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral Sydney, 8th December, 1868.

A Priest's Plea

Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney
Engraving of a contemporary portrait.
Image : National Library of Australia.

In 1786, the Government of British Prime Minister William Pitt ("The Younger") gave into the hands of the Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, the Baron Sydney of Chislehurst, responsibility for arranging the establishment of a Penal Colony in Botany Bay (also referred to as New South Wales).  This has been described in the previous post.  It was Lord Sydney who chose Captain Arthur Phillip of the Royal Navy to be the first Governor of the colony. When Governor Phillip made his settlement, he named the place Sydney Cove, in honour of Lord Sydney. 

In 1787, whilst the Fleet was being assembled at Portsmouth to commence its voyage to New South Wales, a Catholic priest wrote a heartfelt letter to Lord Sydney.  We are pleased to reproduce this important document in full.  Further details of the priest, Father Thomas Walsh, have been rather hard to find, but we must assume that he had access to the prisoners intended to be transported and indeed had some form of ministry to them.  Father Walsh had no illusions about the type of persons these convicts were, but his moving letter displays a zeal for their reformation.  He wished to help them to become devout Catholics and, consequently, better citizens.

No precise date or address seems to have been noted on the letter, which is found in Cardinal Moran's History of the Catholic Church in Australasia (1895). 

My Lord,

You have been apprised of the desire which two clergymen of the Catholic perfuasion have to instruct the convicts, who are of their faith and who are destined for Botany Bay. I beg leave to inform your Lordship of my sentiments concerning this requeft.  There are not lefs, probably, than 300 [convicts]; ignorant you may imagine, of every principle of duty to God and man.  The number is great, and consequently constitutes an object of consequence to every man who has the happinefs of his neighbours at heart.  That the Catholics of this country are not only inoffensive of principles, but that they are zealously attached to the constitution of it, I may presume, is well known to your Lordship.  For my part, who am one of those clergymen who wish to take care of the convicts of my perfuasion, I beg to acquaint your Lordship that if I be so happy [sic "fortunate"] as to be permitted to go, I truft [that] my endeavours to bring these unhappy people to a proper sense of their duty as subjects and citizens, may be attended with some salutary consequence. They earnestly desire some Catholic clergyman may go with them, and I truft to the known humanity of the Government that a requeft which seems to promise some hopes of their reformation will be not be denied. It is well known that these people will not pay the attention to other ministers which they will to their own. Perhaps, also, the presence of their priefts may be of great use to make them readily obey every order of their Governors, and I have no doubt our conduct will meet the approbation of them.

I sincerely pity those poor people, not so much for the disagreeable situation into which they have brought themselves, as for the mifdemeanours which have made them deserving of it. They may, I truft, if their ignorance be removed, and their obligations as men and Christians be forcibly inculcated [in]to them, that this may be a means under Providence of their becoming useful to themselves, and perhaps afterwards to their country.

At least, this I sincerely wish. Nor do I think I can ever be as happy elsewhere as in the place of their destination, employed in using my endeavours to bring them out of the wretched state of depravity into which they have fallen. I entreat, therefore, most humbly, that this our request may be granted. These poor people will blefs and thank you. I shall take care they they be not forgetful of their obligations to the Governor and Lord Sydney.

I have the honour of subscribing myself,
Your Lordship’s most humble servant,

THOMAS WALSHE, prieft.

PS My Lord. - We are not so presumptuous as to wish support from the Government; we offer our voluntary services. We hope, however, not to offend in entreating for our pafsage.

Catholics and the First Fleet

The famous painting of 1937 by the artist Algernon Talmage
depicting the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove on
26th January 1788.
Image : The State Library of NSW

Every Australian knows about the First Fleet, but how it came about is a tale both interesting and awful.  White settlement in Australia was not primarily about colonising new lands for immigrants, nor to extend English geo-political influence in the Asia-Pacific region, but rather because of the need for the British government to find a solution to the over-crowding of its gaols.  English historians Alan Brooke and David Brandon help us look beyond that fact :

In order to safeguard wealth and property, [English] governments from the 16th to the 19th centuries produced a penal code which, at first glance, was of fearsome severity.  The classes that dominated Parliament used the criminal law and the creation of more and more capital offences to support a redefining of property and the purposes of government.

Brooke and Brandon Bound for Botany Bay, 2005, p.15

Throughout England but especially in London, crime rates increased when ordinary citizens had to turn to petty theft to alleviate extreme poverty. From the beginning of the 18th century, such theft was dealt with the greatest severity in a succession of new laws.  London was a violent melting-pot, awash with vagabonds, villains and organisers of crime, who readily took advantage of the poor to expand their criminal activity.  New laws pertaining to larceny, increasingly comprehensive, sought to bring expanding waves of crime under control.  Although intended to deter crime by the severity of punishment, Justice was also flexible and even merciful in 18th century England.

Contemporary illustration below deck on an 18th century prison hulk.
The convicts transported in the First Fleet would have been confined
in conditions similar to this, except that the height of these below deck cells
would have been significantly lower.
Image : National Library of Australia.

The prisons of England were unable to contain all the felons sent to them and alternative arrangements had to be found.  The settlement of North America provided the British Government with great opportunities to send its unwelcome convicts, and transportation to the Americans colonies continued, on and off, for a century. This came to an abrupt end in 1776, however, when these Colonies collectively declared their independence from Britain, and with the ensuing American Revolutionary War.  These are the years immediately prior to the First Fleet.


In 1770, Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy, in a voyage of exploration on behalf of the British Government, chartered the East coast of Australia and most of New Zealand. Of especial interest was the discovery of a coastal inlet which became known as Botany Bay, because of the wide variety of native flora found there. The name "Botany Bay" became synonymous with Australia, even though the greater continent had been known as New Holland since Dutch voyages of discovery more than a century before Captain Cook. It was also regularly referred to as New South Wales.


With some reluctance and having rejected alternatives, the Government of Prime Minister William Pitt determined in 1786 that it was expedient to establish a Penal Colony for England's felons on the far-side of the world - in Botany Bay - and ordered the preparation of a transportation Fleet by the British Home Office, the Treasury and the Royal Navy. Eleven ships comprised this First Fleet, transporting 750 convicts (more than 75% being male) to Botany Bay. They ranged from hardened and violent criminals to foolish but otherwise respectable first-offenders; but they all had fallen foul of the law. Life aboard these ships was harsh for convicts, but not significantly worse than they had experienced in English gaols and the prison hulks, the floating penitentiaries, formerly battleships of the Royal Navy. The First Fleet sailed from Portsmouth on 13th May 1787.


The practice of Religion played little part in the lives of those Transportees, except for the formalities of Divine Service required to be carried out by the Government. Aboard were adherents of the Church of England, as well various Protestant Non-Conformists, Jews and - especially of interest to readers of this blog, a significant number of Catholics : perhaps as many as 25% of the Fleet's total. An application in 1787 by Father Thomas Walsh, to provide for the spiritual needs of those Catholics by sailing with the Fleet to Australia was ignored. A young clergyman of the Church of England, the Reverend Richard Johnson, had been appointed in October 1786 to join the expedition as Chaplain. We shall discuss Mr Johnson more in a forthcoming post.

Illustration from Captain Watkin Tench's
Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay (1789)
Image : National Library of Australia.

Historians debate whether there were particular criteria in the selection of those to be transported to Botany Bay.  It seems clear, however, that the British Government took this opportunity to create a system for ridding itself of those deemed undesirable : hardened criminals, the unskilled (as we would understand the term today), the rebellious, anti-Establishment protestants and papists (a Protestant term derogatory of Catholics) etc.

The archivist and historian James Hugh Donohoe has written :

The Catholic Church in Australia began on the River Thames in London in 1787 when some members of the First Fleet were first embarked ...  95 Irish-named convicts came in the First Fleet.  Another five came as family members, 19 as ships’ crew and 29 as marines.  …  Only 170 of the 800 Catholic convicts on the First and Second Fleets had Irish surnames : a total of 20%. … Of those likely Catholics identified by their Irish or generally Catholic surnames, most were convicted in courts located in coastal western or southern England.

JH Donohoe The Catholics of New South Wales 1788 - 1820, 1988, pp.1 - 4

A contemporary illustration of Sydney Cove in the months following the
arrival of the First Fleet.
Image : National Library of Australia.

It is a myth that the first Catholics in Australia were all Irish and convict and transported to Australia as political prisoners. Mr Donohoe's research reveals that the earliest Catholics in Australia - before 1791 - were largely English, or Irish resident in England. Most of these were convicts, but some were not : some were soldiers or civil servants or their spouses.  No provision was made by the British Government for these Catholics.  We can only surmise, in the absence of evidence, that for those earliest Catholics, the practice of their religion was a private matter and some comfort amidst the harsh life of the new penal colony. 

A following post will discuss the practice of Religion in the early years of the NSW colony.

AMDG

Saint Mary's Cathedral Sydney : Old and New

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

After presenting various early drawings depicting the exterior of the old Cathedral of Saint Mary, Sydney and its surroundings, we are pleased to present this rendering, comparing the ground plans of the old and the present Saint Mary's Cathedral.

Shewn in yellow is the floorplan of the old building, as it was when completed in 1833.  Old Saint Mary's is dwarfed by the present structure.  We have attempted to present this floorplan to scale, but there may be a slight inaccuracies, being the result of having to draw the old building from historic plans, rather than actual measurements.

It will be noticed that, although the present Cathedral is aligned North to South, the old building was aligned East to West, facing Hyde Park. Since the old Cathedral was commenced before there were any other buildings in the near vicinity, nor any roads, it is not surprising that it was slightly misaligned from the East to West axis.

A section of a buttress and a masonry wall of the old Cathedral were preserved whilst the new Cathedral was built next to it.  It is indicated on the rendering.  This masonry ruin once formed the north-east corner of the Northern transept of the old Cathedral.  It may be seen and examined to this day.

NEXT POSTS :

In our next series of posts on this Blog, we will outline the beginnings of the Church in the town of Sydney, from 1788 until the arrival of the first bishop, John Bede Polding OSB, in 1835.

Old Saint Mary's : 5

Sketch  of  Saint  Mary's  Cathedral  c. 1835
Image : National Library of Australia.

This rare image, by the artist Robert Russell, was drawn in Hyde Park, looking across to Old Saint Mary's.  It was sketched just at the time that John Bede Polding OSB arrived in Australia as the first Catholic bishop.

This is an eccentric view of the old Cathedral, its squat proportions being presented in a much more "mediaeval" style.  The Australian Dictionary of Biography's essay on Russell reveals that before immigrating to the Colony of NSW in 1833, he had trained and worked as an architect in Edinburgh.  In Australia he worked mainly as a surveyor.

Since the quality of the drawing is quite good, we should assume that the Russell deliberately tried to "improve" the appearance of the building for the purposes of his sketch, by "correcting" the proportions.  In this he succeeded admirably.

In the park, labourers are at work, possibly convicts.

AMDG

Old Saint Mary's Cathedral : 4

Saint Mary's Cathedral in the early 1840sImage : The State Library of NSW.

This watercolour, looking north-east from Hyde Park, shews the Western facade and southern walls of old Saint Mary's Cathedral.  It is the work of an unknown artist, from the early 1840s.  It is not a very sophisticated depiction, but emphasises the plainness of the building and its square proportions.

Beyond the Cathedral can be seen part of the Cathedral residences and Saint Joseph's chapel (a two storey-building), which had been built in the period 1824-1830, before the Cathedral was completed.  In the foreground is the fence separating Hyde Park from the track which would later form College Street.

AMDG.

Hyde Park, Sydney, 1829

Hyde Park, 1829
Image :  Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Sydney Living Museums

This is an engraving of Hyde Park, Sydney, based on a drawing of 1829 by the artist J Carmichael.  The view is looking northwards across Hyde Park and shews in the distance a number of buildings which are still in existence almost two hundred years later.

The Supreme Court and Saint James' Anglican church are shewn at centre left.  To the right is the Rum Hospital (now the Mint Building) and beside it, the Hyde Park Barracks. To assist with identification, names of the buildings have been digitally added.

On the righthand of the engraving is shewn Old Saint Mary's, still under construction and before it began to be used as a place of worship. The walls are in place and the timber members of the roof, but the actual timber shingles were not in place for a few years more, owing to a lack of money to complete work.  At this time, 1829, the roadway we now know as College Street did not exist, but Saint Mary's Road (as it would later be known), seen in the engraving, was part of a roadway leading to Woolloomooloo Bay.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

AMDG