Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook

At this time, when we commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the discovery of the East coast of Australia by Captain James Cook, the following letter, which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1863, is of interest.  It was written by the priest in charge at that time of Saint Patrick's, Church Hill, Father John McEncroe.  Father McEncroe had arrived in the colony of NSW in the year 1832, the year before the incident described in this letter :

St. Patrick's [Church Hill], Sydney, April 24, 1863.

My dear Dr. Douglass,—As you are taking an active and praiseworthy part towards celebrating the
landing of Captain Cook in Botany Bay, the following account of a conversation that myself and the Right Rev. Dr. Ullathorne, now Bishop of Birmingham, had upwards of thirty years ago, with the son of one of the Botany tribe, may be interesting, who witnessed the arrival of the great and successful navigator, Captain James Cook, in 1770.

About the year 1833, one of the Botany tribe was killed by one of the Port Stephen tribe, inside the
Domain wall, just opposite St. Mary's [church]. Dr Ullathorne and myself were the two first to come to the scene of the murder; the body was soon after removed into an outhouse near St. Mary's, and an inquest was there held on the deceased native of the Botany tribe. I had several conversations with one of the aborigines, who said he was a brother to the murdered man; he was intelligent, and spoke English well, and appeared to be then about forty years of age.  I asked him, in the presence of Dr. Ullathorne, if he had any recollection of the landing of 'Cook' in Botany Bay ; he said "No", for he was not then born, but that he recollected well what his father told him about it, and I felt as curious to know his account as he seemed favourably inclined to give.

I then remarked, "What did your father and the Botany tribe think about Cook's ship and its crew?"
He said they thought at first that it was a big bird that came into the bay, and they saw something like
opossums running up and down about the legs and wings of the bird; but on viewing them closer they
thought them to be people something like themselves.  They kept away, however, for a few days, without coming near the people who came from the ship to the land, although these people made several signs to the natives, who were lurking about the bushes, to come near them.  At last it was agreed that two of the tribe would go down and meet the newcomers ; but they were directed by the women particularly, when going down to the water, not to eat or drink anything that the strangers may give them for fear of being poisoned. 

Several of the people from the ship went to meet the two natives, and showed every sign of friendship towards them ; one offered a jacket to the natives, which one of them put on, but when he found himself so cramped in it he threw it off ; another gave them a piece of bread or biscuit, which the native chewed and threw out of his mouth, and said it was like sawdust ; then they showed them a tomahawk and cut down some of the bushes with it ; the two natives were delighted with this, as it would help them very much in cutting down wood to make gunyahs and spears.  One of the sailors then put something into a vessel and drank it off, and wanted the natives to take some of the drink,
but they refused for fear of being poisoned ; he then offered them the tomahawk if they would drink ; they were very anxious to get it, but they were afraid of going against the gins' [native women] advice, to eat or drink nothing the strangers would give them. 

Archdeacon McEncroe

They then consulted what they had best do to get the tomahawk, and they said that, as the drink did not kill the stranger who took it, it was not likely to kill them, and they made signs to the sailor to put more drink into the vessel and drink some of it himself, and they would take the rest ; and then they considered that the drink would not kill them if it did not kill the stranger first. The sailor did as they directed, he took some of the drink, was quite merry, and gave them the tomahawk, upon which one of them took some of the drink out of the vessel, and he had hardly done so, when he thought he was burning alive, and cried out to his companion, in his own language, "fire in eyes, fire in nose, and fire all over," and ran off to throw himself into the water to quench the fire.  I could not help being amused by the expressive and energetic way in which the poor native of Botany conveyed this part of his narrative ; and when I seemed to express any doubt or surprise at his statements, he observed "I don't tell you this from myself, but it is what I heard from my father and others of the Botany tribe about the landing of Cook in this country."

Trusting that this traditionary native account of Cook's landing may be of some little interest in connexion with the proposed commemoration of the 28th April, I submit it to you for your acceptance, and publication if you think fit,

And remain, my dear Dr. Douglass,
Yours faithfully,

J. McENCROE.

To :  H. G. Douglass, Esq., M.D.

P.S. On a future occasion I may give some account of the interment of the native killed in the Domain by one of the Port Stephen blacks, together with a request made to me by the man who gave the above account to beg of the Governor not to hang the man who killed his brother, but to give him up to the Botany tribe to kill him in their own way.
J. McE.

NOTE

Father McEncroe's letter appeared on page 5 of The Sydney Morning Herald of Monday, 27th April 1863.

AMDG

Denied the Sacraments

The present affliction of our world as a result of which millions have no access to the Sacraments of the Church might not seem so grievous when put into the context of such deprivations in our history.

Consider, for example, the situations of those Catholics who came to live in Australia as a part of white settlement after 1788. For thirty years, those Catholics - mainly convicts - lived their lives without having the benefit of the Sacraments, excepting Baptism and Matrimony. For quite brief periods between 1800 and 1820, the limited ministrations of Catholic priests alleviated this deprivation from the lifeblood of the Church.

Sydney Cove (Circular Quay) as sketched following the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.
Image : State Library of NSW.

And even after 1820 until almost 1830, there was but one priest on the mainland tending to the spiritual needs of those Catholics living in the settlements on the East coast of Australia.

Over the next several weeks on this blog, we will outline the beginnings of Catholic life in Australia - to the extent that historical records allow it.  It is a mixed story of piety and laxity, missionary fervour and negligence, wisdom and ignorance, remarkable courage and fallen weakness. Outstanding people emerged which figure in this history, whilst much of the story of those years remains unrecorded and forgotten.

Please continue to follow the story here at In Diebus illis.

Archbishop Polding writes on war

On this Anzac Day, we are pleased to post this letter which Archbishop Polding wrote to the Faithful of the Archdiocese of Sydney in 1856, noting and asking them to give thanks for the conclusion of the Crimean War.  Although few residents of Australia would ever have seen the Crimea, nevertheless a volunteer force of cavalry, artillery and infantry was formed in and around Sydney and travelled to the Crimea to fight as part of the British Army.  The Crimean War would largely be forgotten now, except for two things : the famous Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava; and the heroic work of the English nurse Florence Nightingale "The Lady with the Lamp".  The Archbishop makes reference to the nurses working with Florence Nightingale in the following letter.

Officers and men of Her Majesty's 13th Light Dragoons.
These men were some of the survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Photographed in 1855 at Balaklava by Roger Fenton.

Dearly Beloved Children in Jesus Christ,

A mighty war has ceased! We have to speak to you of these good tidings. You have already heard and welcomed them – the most joyful news of restored peace. Already, from every worthy heart, the spontaneous outburst of gladness and gratitude has gone forth in congratulations to your fellow men, in thanksgiving before the throne of God. A mighty war, unexampled for its costliness in blood and in treasure, has come to an end. May it have accomplished what is the only legitimate end of war : the security of peace! At this distance from Europe, we have been spared the horrid spectacles of murderous contest; few of us have had to don the sad garb of mourning for the loss of friends and dear relations crushed to death in the miserable strife; but yet, in that United Kingdom which is our common fatherland, to which we still attach the endearing name of home and in the fair realm of noble France, how many hearths lie desolate! How many victims have been sacrificed! And with these sufferings, with these bereavements, we have been constrained to sympathy by the ordinary feelings of humanity, by the charity of the common heart of Christendom. 

Florence Nightingale c. 1858

It is most true, that in the midst of great griefs springs up great consolations; this is God’s gift of compensation by which He deduces good from the dreariest evil. If we have witnessed carnage and mortal agony, we have also been called to honour the greatness of self-devotion and the heavenly endurance of charity. Young men – young solders – who may have taken up their profession, it is like enough, with very inadequate thoughts about it, have been ripened by the stern exigencies of their service, into the deliberate martyrs of duty. Death-beds have been painful and sad enough; and yet, have they not been tended and lightened during this war by the assiduity of the priests of God, whose profession of self-sacrifice was gloriously realised? And by the gentle courage of those heroic women who, some of them marked and honoured in their generation (and many more un-noted in their work, and therefore the more like their Lord), passed from sufferer to sufferer in the busy offices of Christian pity and love? Thank God for these bright and grand spectacles, and thank God also that the necessity of them is over. May we be the men of good will from whose hearts and lives in this renewed peace on earth shall ascend glory to God in the highest.

But, Dearly Beloved, these natural emotions, allowable and even laudable, are simply the occasion which, we trust, will awaken graver thoughts in your minds. … War is the teacher which impresses on the minds of nations, faith in the presence of God. The discipline of our individual lives trains us in the conviction that God is the last end of our respective souls and the collective sufferings of warfare prove to nations that their final cause is not to be sought in any temporal object. Let us then now accept this lesson of Providence. If men in truth desire the salvation of their souls and peace upon earth, consider whether unrestrained indulgence in the sensuous comforts of peace, and the hard-hearted insensibility to the sufferings of fellow-men, which is its unfailing attendant; whether security and pride as the fancied architects of their own fortunes; whether their all-absorbing care for the temporal, and their little anxiety for the spiritual; whether their self-glorification in national prospects, and their few thoughts for the Church of Christ throughout the world, may not have been the last drops in that brimming cup of iniquity which the Almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth has been punishing by war. And if the same causes are at work amongst us, may not similar effects follow? 

The Village of Balaklava with the British Fleet at anchor in the harbour.
Photographed in 1855 by Roger Fenton.

But thank God the war is over … It is over and it is well, if we learn His lesson.  Bearing it in mind, rejoice, Dearly Beloved, but rejoice in the Lord always; let your gladness be tempered by a reverential filial fear.  Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts.  He is merciful, but He is also holy, and holiness cannot forever spare the impenitent.  May the blessing of our dearest Lord, the Father of the world to come and the Prince of Peace, abide with you forever. Amen.

+John Bede Polding DD 
Archbishop of Sydney.

NOTES

1. Extracts from Archbishop Polding's Pastoral Letter commemorating the conclusion of the Crimean War as contained in the anthology The Eye of Faith. The Eye of Faith was printed by the Lowden Publishing Co., Kilmore Victoria in 1977.  

2. The Crimean War, which was waged in various theatres between 1853 and 1856, resulted in the deaths of a quarter-of-a-million soldiers. An alliance of British, French and Ottoman forces was arrayed against Russia over its attempt to enlarge its Empire and take control of the Black Sea.  A good summary of this bloody conflict can be read here. 

3. An extraordinary collection of photographs taken in 1855 at the Crimea by the English solicitor-turned-photographer Roger Fenton may be consulted at this website.


AMDG

1820 - 2020 bi - centenary

In the midst of tribulations that have spanned several months here in Australia, in this year of 2020 we commemorate a most important bi-centenary : the arrival of the first Government-appointed Catholic Chaplains to the Colony of New South Wales.  These were Father John Joseph Therry and Father Philip Connolly, both Irishmen.

Father John Joseph Therry, Apostle of Australia
circa 1815.

The name of Father Therry (pronounced Terry) is still known to Australian Catholics.  If any one person could be said to be the Church's first Apostle in Australia, it was Father Therry.  When the settlement of Australia was almost entirely confined to what is now New South Wales, Father Therry travelled to all areas of settlement, ministering to Catholics and others who sought the consolation of Religion.

It was Father Therry also, who founded the first Catholic church in Sydney, which came to be Bishop Polding's Cathedral in 1835.

Over the next several months, we will be outlining the history of the Catholicism in Australia from the founding of the colony in 1788 to the arrival of Bishop Polding in 1835.  There are some interesting tales to be told.

We will describe the construction of our first churches, in particular old Saint Mary's Cathedral, which celebrates its own bi-centenary next year, 2021.

AMDG

NOTES

The miniature watercolour of Father Therry was painted in about the year 1815 and is in the possession of the Archdiocese of Sydney.  Before the clergyman's collar which is more familiar to us, ministers of Religion (and other gentlemen, for that matter) commonly wore an ordinary shirt with an unstarched standing collar.  Around this was wrapped a long white cravat, usually tied in a bow.  This ornament frequently concealed the entire neck of the wearer.  In this miniature, Father Therry is shewn wearing such an ornament.

A prayer written by Archbishop Polding

A prayer of Archbishop John Bede Polding concluding his Lenten Pastoral Letter for the year 1851:

O Saviour of the World! 
Sanctify our fast by infusing into our souls a hatred of sin, 
and a sincere desire to amend our lives.  
Alas, what is our fast when compared with thine - 
what our sufferings when we consider what thou hast suffered, 
what we ought to suffer in atonement for our crimes!  

Be pleased to sanctify our fast by uniting it to thine.  
May we endeavour to supply our immeasurable deficiencies 
by a strict vigilance over our senses, by an abstinence from lawful enjoyments, 
by assiduity and fervour in prayer.  

And if there be those amongst us, to whom thou foreseest, 
this Lent will be the last season of Grace granted in thy goodness to them; 
be pleased to touch their hearts with thy most powerful graces, 
that they may be converted and live.  

Grant that we may also pass this holy time 
that with joyful hearts we may worthily receive, 
in commemoration of thy Glorious Resurrection, 
the Sacrament of thy love and our pledge of life everlasting.

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the love of the Father, 
and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Amen.

Archbishop Polding photographed in Melbourne, 1869.
Image : The State Library of Victoria
Digitally enhanced by the Saint Bede Studio

AMDG

NOTES

The Eye of Faith was printed by the Lowden Publishing Co., Kilmore Victoria in 1977.  The editors were Gregory Haines, Sister Mary Gregory Foster and Frank Brophy.  Special contribution to the volume were made by Professor Timothy Suttor and James Cardinal Freeman.

Looking from the other direction c 1888

Image : State Library of NSW.

This photograph, taken either from the campanile of the Sydney Town Hall (or possibly the adjacent Saint Andrew's Cathedral) shews progress on the construction of Saint Mary's Cathedral in 1888.  It is the view from the opposite direction to the photograph in our previous post.

In the middle ground, is Hyde Park; in the background, Sydney Harbour.

On the right side is depicted the remaining facade of the old Saint Mary's which had been destroyed by fire in 1865.  This structure faced College Street.  The bulk of the present Cathedral is adjacent to it.

By 1888, the construction of the sanctuary, Crossing and two bays of the nave had reached to the height of the aisles : clearly shewn here, punctuated with windows.  The masonry of the two transept Rose Windows had also been completed by this time, although not glazed.  On the left, the newly-completed Northern gable is shewn with timber members extending from it.  This was the beginning work on the line of the roof extending along the full length of the building.  A temporary roof - completed in the early 1880s - is shewn, which also ran along the full length of the building.  As the clerestory and permanent roof were constructed, this temporary roof was removed.  The temporary roof also served as a platform for the builders to continue upper-level construction.

Not visible in this photograph are the completed sacristies.

Since 1882, the interior of Saint Mary's had been in a fit state for the purposes of the Sacred Liturgy, although in an incomplete state.

AMDG