Bicentenary of the Founding of S' Mary's Cathedral Sydney : 1

The silver trowel presented to Governor Macquarie
with which he laid the first stone of Saint Mary's Chapel
29th October 1821.
Image : State Library of NSW.

Adjacent is a facsimile of a news report in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser for Saturday, 3rd November, 1821.  It reports a brief ceremony of great significance in Australian history.  The occasion was the laying of the Foundation Stone of the colony's first Catholic church, Saint Mary's Chapel, on the previous Monday, 29th October.  It was also the first occasion when a leader of Colonial Government had in person supported and participated in the rites of the Catholic Church in Australia.  It is likely that those present saw the occasion in that very light.  The leader in question was Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who has never been portrayed in our history as a friend to Catholicism.  Not much more than three years previously (1818) it was the same Governor Macquarie who had arrested and deported from the Colony, the Catholic priest Father Jeremiah O'Flynn, because that priest lacked authorisation from England to minister to Catholics in Australia.  When two further authorised Catholic chaplains arrived in NSW two years later (1820), they were received coolly by the Governor, who placed strict limitations on their ministry within the Colony.

Yet this man, who had behaved in such an inflexible way towards Catholics and their chaplains altered his attitude and offered public support for the practice of Catholicism in the Colony.  It would have been a remarkable moment for the Colony's Catholic population after more than 20 years of being barely tolerated and unprovided for by Authority.

Amongst the large crowd of Catholics and residents of Sydney present that day was a boy named Columbus Fitzpatrick.  He assisted Father Therry as a server during the Rite in which the Foundation Stone was laid.  Young Master Fitzpatrick recalled the informal remarks made by Governor Macquarie :

The Governor wiped the trowel with his own handkerchief, and put the trowel in his bosom, saying "You must know Mr Therry, that although I never laid the first stone of a Catholic church before, I am a very old Mason; and I shall keep this trowel as long as I live, in remembrance of this day, and I wish you and your flock every success in your pious undertaking. " FN

Major General Lachlan Macquarie
Governor of the Colony of NSW 1810-1821
Image : Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery.

Within a couple of months, Governor Macquarie had left Australia and returned to England.  And he did take that trowel with him.  140 years later, in 1962, his descendants returned the trowel to Australia where it remains preserved in excellent condition in the State Library of NSW.  It is remarkable to consider that an artefact of such an historic occasion has survived.  But the chapel that Father Therry and Governor Macquarie founded that day in 1821 was consumed by fire in 1865 and of that historic building - Australia's first dedicated Catholic church - but one section of a masonry wall has survived.  It is dwarfed by the towering walls of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral.

To be continued.

Part Two at this link.

The Silver Trowel and its maker

The silver trowel described in the report of The Sydney Gazette was made and engraved by Samuel Clayton.  Given that Governor Macquarie had only agreed to lay the Foundation stone for Saint Mary's several days previously, the silver trowel must have been produced and engraved very quickly.

Samuel Clayton was a talented portrait artist, engraver, art teacher and silversmith. Unfortunately, as a young man, his talents were put to ill-use, since he was tried and convicted on charges of forgery in Dublin in 1815 and was sentenced to 7 years transportation. He arrived on 20th December 1816. He came from a reputable Protestant family and his father was also a proficient engraver. Obviously an enterprising man, within a few weeks Samuel Clayton was advertising his services in The Sydney Gazette, offering to take “likenesses” and proposing to give instruction “in ornamental painting and drawing” as well as engraving and miniature painting. He also produced works in silver, such as jewellery, buying old silver to refashion it. Samuel Clayton engraved the plates for banknotes of Bank of New South Wales in April 1817. That he had prospered in the colony is evident by the fact that in 1839 he was one of the proprietors of the Bank of New South Wales. His success might in part have had to do with his Masonic associations. Most of his surviving work is on silver. Attributed to him are two trowels, including the one presented to Governor Macquarie at the laying of the foundation stone of Saint Mary’s. Both incorporate masonic details in the engraving. In 1818 he received a Conditional Pardon and in 1824 an Absolute Pardon from the Colonial Government.

The inscription on the trowel reads :

The Captn. Gen. Governor & Commander in Chief, Vice Admiral, and Commander of the Forces in and over the Territory of New South Wales and its Dependencies. His Excellency Lachlan Macquarie Esq. Major General in the Army &c &c &c. Used this Instrument at the Ceremony of laying the first Stone of the first Catholic Chapel erected in the said Territory on the 29th day of Oct. A.D. 1821.

Engraved on blade are the words "Wisdom, strength & beauty S. Clayton Fecit et Sculp."  The Coat of arms used by Governor Macquarie is engraved above a raised triangle on the blade.  

REFERENCES

FN Quoted from Dean John Kenny's A History of the Commencement and Progress of Catholicity in Australia, Sydney, 1886 p. 41.  In the quoted words of Governor Macquarie, he is making a little joke when addressing those present.  When he said "I am a very old Mason" he is referring to his being a member of long-standing of Freemasonry.

https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110321288

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/clayton/samuel/133082

http://blowering.com/claytonsamuel.html