The Founding of Old Saint Mary's : 1

Readers of The Sydney Gazette would, no doubt, have been surprised to find the following announcement prominently placed on page 2 of the 17th June 1820 edition of the newspaper :  EN 1

This was something quite different for the inhabitants of the Colony of New South Wales, whose experience of Catholicism was that it was circumscribed, private and had even proved subversive.  This was a Penal Colony where the Church of England was the official - although not the established - form of Christianity.  This situation changed, however, when the British Colonial Government appointed two Irish priests to be chaplains to the Catholics of New South Wales.  These were Fathers Philip Conolly and John Joseph Therry.  They had arrived in Sydney after a long sea voyage, on Tuesday 2nd May 1820.  Their appointment was formally recognised by the Governor, Major-General Lachlan Macquarie.  At that time, there were approximately 7400 Catholics resident in the Colony, spread throughout Sydney and neighbouring regions.  EN 2

As we can see from the announcement in The Sydney Gazette, the two priests lost little time in determining that Sydney's Catholics needed a permanent place of worship.  In the meantime, Mass had been celebrated at a premises in Pitt Street which was the property of John Reddington.  This building - most likely of timber construction - is said to have been near to the corner of Pitt and Market Streets, the site of what is now THE SYDNEY TOWER ( formerly Centrepoint ). EN 3

Buildings at the corner of Pitt and Market Streets Sydney in 1870.
In the background can be observed the spire of S' James Anglican Church.
Although this is the approximate location of the first Masses offered in Sydney
by Fathers Therry and Connolly,
all the buildings from the earliest days of the Colony
had by that time been replaced by those shewn in the photograph.
Image : State Library of NSW.

John Reddington had come to Australia as a political convict in 1800 for his part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.  He was only around 21 years when he became involved with the Revolt.  John Reddington is recorded as being the clerk of the Sydney Racecourse (subsequently Hyde Park) and that he owned a premises in Pitt Street, where alcoholic refreshments were served under licence : a public houses ( " pub " ).  But the premises also served as a form of grocery store (as we would describe it).  It would seem that John Reddington never lost his Irish patriotism, since he provocatively named this premises in Pitt Street The Harp without the Crown.  It was most likely an establishment which Irish Catholics frequented.  John Reddington was a prominent man in Sydney town and quite well-off financially, owning a number of properties and much livestock. Although he died aged 39 in October 1816 - four years before the arrival of the priests - the beneficiaries of his Estate still owned the building in Pitt Street.  They were Catholic and willing to offer their property for Church purposes.  EN 4

THE PUBLIC MEETING

The meeting announced in The Sydney Gazette did take place in the Court House (one of the larger rooms of the "Rum Hospital" in Macquarie Street) on 30th June and an extensive report of proceedings (an entire column) was published the following day in the Gazette.  EN 5 It seems that one of those in attendance prepared the article and gave it to the editor of the Gazette for publication. Unfortunately - and probably deliberately - the report does not indicate how many attended the meeting, except to comment that present were "all the respectable Catholics of the Settlement, and also some Protestant Gentlemen of sentiments friendly to the design."  From this, it would be safe to assume that numbers in attendance were relatively low.  

The following were the resolutions adopted by those who were gathered for the meeting :

1st. That it is the indispensable duty of the Catholics of this Colony to unite in their efforts with their Clergy to build a House of Divine Worship in the Town of Sydney. 

2d. That, having assembled for this purpose, we deem it a primary and most pleasing duty not to pass this opportunity to express our esteem, and veneration for his Majesty's Government in England, and our gratitude to the enlightened and benevolent Minister who presides over the Colonial Department ; whose anxious care has afforded us the object of our solicitations in selecting and sending to us Ministers of the Roman Catholic Church, to administer to us the long looked for Rites of our Holy Religion. 

3d. It is also our incumbent duty to express our confidence in, and gratitude to His EXCELLENCY LACHLAN MACQUARIE, Esq. Captain General and Governor in Chief, &c. &c for the polite attention these Reverend Gentlemen have experienced from him, and for the benevolent disposition evinced towards ourselves. 

4th. We should also be wanting in our duty if we did not avow the great estimation in which we hold the Honourable the COMMISSIONER of ENQUIRY, or neglected to express our thanks for his inestimable congratulatory letter to the Catholics of this Colony on the arrival of their Pastors: It is calculated to increase our confidence in Government, and to afford consolation to us at present, and serves to cheer and enliven our future prospects.  EN 6

5th. That a Committee of the Subscribers be immediately chosen for the management, conducting, and selecting a site for the building :—That our Clergymen are requested to be of this number ; and they are empowered to name their President. All contracts for the completion of it shall be confided to the Committee, whose Chairman or President shall ratify the same under his hand; and all receipts and payments of money or otherwise will be in like manner notified by him. That the Committee so named shall have the power of selecting and appointing, in the several districts and settlements of the Colony, Collectors to apply for contributions in money or otherwise; the said contributions to be handed to the Treasurer, with lists of the persons names and their subscriptions. Each Collector shall have his appointment authorised by a printed letter directed by the President of the Committee to the district where he resides. 

6th. That our Protestant fellow Colonists, who have co-operated with us at this Meeting, as well as those who have evinced a disposition to aid us by their contributions, merit our lasting esteem and gratitude. 

7th. That the Reverend Phillip Conolly and the Reverend John Joseph Therry have merited, in an eminent degree, the gratitude of the Catholics in New South Wales, on account of the hazardous enterprize they have undertaken, and the zeal they have manifested since their arrival, in the discharge of their sacerdotal functions. 

8th. That John Piper, Robert Jenkins, and Francis Williams, Esquires, be requested by this Meeting to collect the subscriptions of the Protestant Inhabitants of Sydney ; as the high respectability and extensive influence of these Gentlemen give us the most flattering anticipation of the success that must attend their co-operation : And in order to enable them to exert themselves with as little trouble and as great efficiency as possible, they be, authorised by this Meeting to form themselves into a Select Committee, having a power to add to their number any other Gentlemen in Sydney, or in the Country, whose exertions they may consider useful in facilitating and expediting the collection of the subscriptions in the different districts of the Colony.  EN 7

9th. That being informed that, on the application of the Reverend Mr. Conolly, Mr. Secretary Campbell has kindly consented to become our Treasurer, we feel it our duly to return him our most sincere thanks. 

10th. That the Honourable the Judge Advocate, in kindly and politely granting us the Court House to hold this Meeting, is entitled to our grateful thanks.  EN 8

11th. That the Reverend Mr. Conolly and the Reverend John Joseph Therry, Mr. James Meehan, Mr. William Davis, Mr. James Dempsey, Mr. Edward Redmond, Mr. Patrick Moore, Mr. Michael Hayes, and Mr. Martin Short, do form the Committee. The Reverend Mr. Conolly having left the Chair, and James Meehan, Esq. been called thereto, the thanks of the Meeting were unanimously voted to the Reverend Phillip Conolly, for his very proper conduct as Chairman of the Meeting.  EN 9

The Catholic members of this newly-formed Committee (who were, we might presume, identical with "all the respectable Catholics of the Settlement") were all former convicts.  Excepting one - Patrick Moore  EN 10 - they were all Men of '98.  In their different ways, they had been part of the patriotic uprising on the West Coast of Ireland in 1798 aimed at overthrowing British Rule in Ireland.   James Meehan, William Davis and Michael Davis all arrived in Sydney in 1800 aboard the convict transport ship the Friendship ; Edward Redmond and Martin Short arrived at much the same time on the vessel the Minerva ; whilst James Dempsey arrived in the colony in 1802.  EN 11  Each of these men had been accused of insurrectionary crimes for which they were not properly tried and, in some instances, of which they were innocent.  

After a period of years, each of these men received a conditional pardon by the Colonial Government.  All of them attained a favourable position in the Colony by reason of their becoming successful businessmen, so that by 1820, two decades after their transportation from Ireland, they had become "the respectable Catholics of the Settlement".  These men will be the subject of a future post on this blog.

The Treasurer of this Committee was not a Catholic, nor a former convict, but was from Northern Ireland (Armagh) and a prominent person in the Colonial Government of Lachlan Macquarie.  This was John Thomas Campbell.  Mr Campbell arrived in Sydney with Governor Macquarie's entourage in 1810 and was immediately appointed the Governor's Secretary.   EN 12  For eleven years he was Governor Macquarie's chief assistant in the administration of the colony, his intimate friend and loyal supporter.  It is of the greatest significance that a man as prominent and well-connected as John Thomas Campbell became the Committee's treasurer.  It was obviously strategic - he would be instrumental in attracting support for the project from a broader range of Colonists than Catholics.  That he willingly accepted the nomination is indicative of his personal support for the Chapel project and of his good will.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

The Committee lost little time in encouraging donations to the Chapel building fund.  Mr Campbell placed an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette, on 2nd September 1820, as follows :

The Undersigned, being honoured by a Public Meeting of the Roman Catholics of the Colony - legally convened at Sydney, and attended by a respectable Body of other Religious Persuasions - with the nomination of Treasurer of the fund, expected to be raised by voluntary contributions for the erection of a Roman Catholic Chapel in the Town of Sydney, begs leave to inform the Public, that an account is opened at the Bank for the purpose of receiving subscriptions accordingly ; and he requests that persons of every Religious persuasion, disposed to contribute to this laudable Object, will make their subscriptions there as soon as possible, in order to the Committee being thence enabled to commence on the purposed building.

He also begs to suggest the expediency of those subscriptions being made sufficiently liberal to carry that Object into effect, before others be entered into for similar purposes in the Interior, as such must tend materially to diminish the amount of those which are absolutely necessary for the effecting this primary Object ;

And whilst he considers the manifest superiority of advantage to be derived from such a building being first completed at Sydney, where the principal body of the Roman Catholics reside, before subscriptions for similar purposes elsewhere, be proceeded on, and reflects at the same time on the circumstance of the Roman Catholics of New South Wales being much more numerous than wealthy, he strenuously recommends their confining their contributions for the present to the single Object of erecting a Chapel in the Town of Sydney. 

For further Information on the subject, the Treasurer refers the Public to the Reverend Philip Conolly, Senior Roman Catholic Chaplain who was the Chairman of the meeting at Sydney, and is the Chairman of the Committee for conducting the intended building.

 J T. CAMPBELL

If we move ahead fourteen months, we can see the highly-successful results of the Committee in attracting donations to the Chapel building project.  The following notice filled half a page in The Sydney Gazette of 1st December, 1821 :

The substantial sum of £628 had been donated to the project in the course of almost 18 months.  EN 13  This was in itself remarkable.  But perhaps more interesting than the pounds, shillings and pence are the names that appear in this list.  It is almost a " Who's Who " of the Colony in the late Macquarie period.  Names still well-known to us are there :  Macquarie, Erskine, Jamison, Goulburn, Piper, Wentworth, Druitt, Wollstonecraft, Oxley, Cordeaux.  These were all prominent and respected non-Catholics members of the Colony and they all made generous donations.  From "all the respectable Catholics of the Settlement", to use the phrase noted earlier, there were some extremely generation donations, for example William Davis and his wife Catherine, each of whom gave £50.  It is also obvious, however, that there were many non-convict colonials who had not contributed at that time.  And many more, being convicts, who were in no financial position to do so.

In a further article in this series, we will trace how the land came to be given to the Catholic community upon which the Chapel - later Saint Mary's Cathedral - was built.

AMDG.

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ENDNOTES

EN 1  The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser was the first newspaper printed in Australia, published in Sydney from 1803 until 1842.   "Published by Authority", it was a semi-official organ of the New South Wales Colonial government.

EN 2   The approximate figure of 7400 Catholics or 25% of the population of the Colony in the year 1820 is proposed by James Hugh Donohoe in his interesting study The Catholics of New South Wales, page 11.

EN 3   The historians Archbishop Eris O'Brien and J P McGuanne, both claim this location for the premises of John Reddington.  A more precise address in Pitt Street may be possible to fix with deeper research.

EN 4    The Executors of the Estate of John Reddington were Robert Fitzgerald and James Chisholm, both Catholics of Sydney.  James Chisholm's name appears on the December 1821 subscription list to the Catholic Chapel.  It is not clear whether Ann Cooper, common law wife of John Reddington and co-owner in his Pitt Street premises, was still alive in 1820.

EN 5   The Sydney Hospital, sometimes referred to as The Rum Hospital was built between 1811 and 1816 along Macquarie Street Sydney.  Two wings of it still survive, being the NSW Parliament House (Northern wing) and the NSW Mint Museum (Southern wing).  The Central section, in the same architectural style, was demolished in 1879 and subsequently replaced with the present buildings of the Sydney Hospital.

EN 6   The Commissioner of Enquiry was John Thomas Bigge, who was appointed by the British Colonial Office to investigate the Colony and the administration of Governor Lachlan Macquarie.  His unhappy time in the Colony was from 1819-1821.  Further reading : 

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bigge-john-thomas-1779

EN 7   Further reading on the three non-Catholics gentlemen named in the report

            John Piper, Robert Jenkins and Francis Williams :

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/piper-john-2552

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jenkins-robert-2274

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/williams-francis-2792

EN 8   The Judge Advocate was the Honourable John Wylde, who held this position between 1816 and 1824, after which time he became a Judge of the Supreme Court.  Further reading :

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

EN 9   The Sydney Gazette 1st July 1820.

EN 10   Patrick Moore had been transported to the Colony for political offences in Ireland before the 1798 Uprising.

EN 11   Arriving in the Colony with these Men of '98 were "The Convict Priests" : Father James Dixon; Father James Harold and Father Peter Dixon.

EN 12   Further reading on John Thomas Campbell :

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/campbell-john-thomas-1873

EN 13   Trying to estimate how a sum of money from two hundred years ago compares with present day monetary value is not a straightforward matter.  This website has one method for comparing the value of the British pound :

https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1821?amount=50

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REFERENCE WORKS

Donohoe, James Hugh The Catholics of New South Wales & their families 1788-1820, Archives Authority of NSW, Sydney, 1988.

Harden, Rev'd R.W., "Old Saint Mary's 1821-1865", Saint Mary's Cathedral 1821-1871 Devonshire Press, 1971.

Keely, Sister Vivienne Michael Hayes : The Life of a Wexford Rebel in Sydney, Anchor Press, Melbourne, 2019.

McGuanne, John Percy, Old Saint Mary's, Sydney, 1915.

O'Brien, Rev'd Eris M.,  The Life and Letters of Archpriest John Joseph Therry, Agnus & Robertson, Sydney, 1922.

The Sydney Gazette, accessed through Trove.

Waldersee, James "Father Therry and the Financing of Old Saint Mary's", Saint Mary's Cathedral 1821-1871 Devonshire Press, 1971.