In previous articles on this blog, we have been tracing the story of the foundation of the first Saint Mary's Cathedral, two centuries ago. We began by recounting the events of the day on which the Foundation Stone was laid.
Then we re-traced our steps to study the meetings and planning of the Colony's Catholics to establish that first church.
In this post, we will look at how Saint Mary's Cathedral came to be built where it is, one of the finest sites in Sydney city.
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| This well-known tinted drawing depicts old Saint Mary's Cathedral and its related buildings in 1842. The artist, John Rae, positioned himself in Elizabeth Street, facing eastward across a tree-less Hyde Park. Image : State Library of NSW |
The late W [illiam] Davis asked Father Therry, many years ago, why he did not erect a church in the western portion of Sydney, and Father Therry told him he could not get any land to build a church upon in that part of town, because a person in the Survey Office, a Catholic well known as Jemmy Mein, opposed it. When Father Therry applied to him for a piece of land to build a church in the western part of the city, Jemmy Mein told him that that if he built a church there he would have all the poor in the city paraded before the Governor as he was going to church at St. Phillip's, and that he had better go and look for a piece near the prison barracks at Hyde Park. EN 1
Father McEncroe's account of how the land was acquired brought forth much laughter from the large crowd attending that meeting, but the facts of the matter were not as straightforward as he described them. In this post we will try to separate facts from legend.
JEMMY MEIN
Based on Father McEncroe's account, given above, Jemmy Mein seems to be the villain of the piece, so to speak; it is claimed that he thwarted the aspirations of the Father Therry to have the Catholic Chapel built in the fashionable part of the town. There is, however, much evidence of the process which does not support Father McEncroe's claim.
Who was " Jemmy Mein " ? His name was, properly, JAMES MEEHAN, but perhaps we are given a clue as to how his name was pronounced by the way it is written in that account : Mean or Me-in. In a previous article, we met James Meehan, because he was among the members of that committee which was selected by a meeting in July 1820 to bring about the construction of a Catholic Chapel in Sydney.
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| A statue of James Meehan positioned in one of the niches of the NSW Lands Department building in Bridge Street, Sydney. The statue was commissioned for the building to commemorate Meehan's important role as a surveyor and explorer in early Australia and put in place in 2009. Image : Alamy |
Mr. Meehan is eminently well qualified for this Situation being a Most excellent Land Surveyor, active, diligent and Correct in his Surveys, perfectly well acquainted from long Residence and Constant practice in his Profession of every part of the Colony, and is besides a Man of strict Honor [sic] and Integrity. I have derived a great deal of Very Useful local knowledge from this Gentleman since my first Arrival in this Colony, and I have always found his Information perfectly Correct and his Conduct altogether that of an honest, upright, Well principled Man. EN 4
Almost ten years later, the Governor's opinion of James Meehan was even more favourable :
I have … had an opportunity of witnessing his indefatigable assiduity in the fulfilment of his arduous duties. I believe that no man has suffered so much privation and fatigue in the service of this Colony as Mr Meehan has done … His integrity has never, to my knowledge, been impeached; and I certainly consider him to be, both on account of his professional skill, and the faithfull [sic] and laborious discharge of his duty, a valuable man. EN 5
It would seem that James Meehan was not limited by a list of duties that might be found in a positions vacant column: he advised and guided the Government of the Colony and it accepted his advice. This was used to advantage by him with respect to those Irish convicts who had been part of the 1798 rebellion.
From 1809, a considerable number of the 1798 men had received either full or conditional pardons from the Crown and had acquired land either by government grant or purchase. This land formed a concentration to the south-west of Sydney, around and beyond Liverpool. It was not a coincidence; the whole operation of opening up and settling these areas was arranged by James Meehan himself, who evidently considered that the district possessed distinct advantages for himself and his fellow Irishmen. The role played by James Meehan in creating the pattern of Irish Catholic settlement in the colony from about 1810 to 1821 was decisive. Having arranged for his own grant of land at Macquarie Fields (now Ingleburn) Meehan seems to have persuaded those compatriots to settle in that district of the colony. EN 6
Consequently, the Catholics to whom Father Therry came to minister in 1820 were far from being entirely an impoverished serfdom. These 1798 men soon achieved a middle-class prosperity. Some of them were the members of the Catholic Chapel Committee. EN 7
APPLYING FOR A GRANT OF LAND
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| A facsimile of the July 1820 petition to Governor Macquarie from members of the Catholic Chapel Committee requesting a grant of land for building a chapel near Charlotte Place in the Rocks. Image : State Archives of NSW |
Sydney 10th July 1820
Sir,
We, the undersigned members of a committee appointed at a meeting of the Roman Catholicks of this Colony, to select a site for and to conduct the concerns of the intended Catholic Chapel, are decidedly of opinion that the Government ground, situated between Saint Philip's Church, Charlotte Place and the Military Barracks is, in every respect, the most eligible of all the plots of ground from which His Excellency the Governor, has had the goodness to offer a selection for that purpose. And we therefore, Sir, most humbly and earnestly request that you will, as soon as his convenience and yours will allow, lay this our opinion before His Excellency, and pray him in our behalf, and in that of the Roman Catholic inhabitants of this colony, to give a confirmation of the grant of ground adverted to above and you will oblige, Sir, Your obedient servants. EN 9
There was no reply to the Committee's letter for a full five weeks and in the meantime, for reasons not entirely clear, the Governor decided against granting land near Charlotte Place. He would leave the matter of where the land grant would be to the Deputy Surveyor General, James Meehan :
The Governor is sorry he cannot allow the Roman Catholic Chapel to be built on the Site herein solicited in Charlotte Place, the ground in question being reserved for Govt. Public Buildings. L. M.
N.B.
The Deputy Surveyor General has received the Governor's orders to point out some other eligible Place in the Town of Sydney for the Catholic Chapel to be built on.
Parramatta L. M.
19th August 1820 EN 10
Did James Meehan advise the Governor against a grant of land for the Chapel in what was then the hub of Sydney town? The speech given by Father McEncroe in 1865 recounting his discussion with another Committee member, William Davis suggests so. It would seem more likely that the Governor sought alternative advice on where the Catholic Chapel should be built (or not built), not just the views of members of the Chapel Committee (including James Meehan).
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| An engraving of the old Church of Saint Philip, which had been built in 1810 and was almost directly opposite Saint Patrick's Church Hill. The old church was replaced by a modern exercise in the Gothic style constructed between 1848 and 1856 in another location nearby in York Street. Image : State Library of NSW |
The Governor's decision does not seem to be well received by the Committee members and it is presumed that a great deal of further discussion took place as to where the chapel should be situated. Such discussion dragged on for months. An indicator of the lack of consensus amongst the Committee was the following advertisement which appeared in The Sydney Gazette in April 1821.
This startling notice was placed by another member of the Chapel Committee and greatly respected Colonial Catholic, William Davis. But he does not seem to be writing on behalf of the Committee, but in his own name. There is something else surprising about it : Davis makes clear that he is willing to purchase a suitable plot of land. So what about Governor Macquarie's promise of a grant of land the previous August? Some light is thrown on the matter by the following comments of John Thomas Bigge, who was resident in New South Wales at the time, conducting a commission of enquiry into the affairs of the Colony on behalf of the British Government :
A subscription was commenced by the Catholics of New South Wales, prior to my departure, to build a chapel at Sydney, and Governor Macquarie had promised to give them an allotment of ground for the purpose. I observed that although some difference of opinion arose among the Catholics themselves respecting the situation of the allotment and the preference that had been given to the town of Sydney, yet a very liberal disposition was manifested by them to defray the expense of the work, and it also met a still more liberal encouragement from the higher classes of the Protestants. EN 11
The account of the speech given at the beginning of this article, together with the advertisement of April 1821 in The Sydney Gazette and the comments of Mr Commissioner Bigge, when considered together, indicate that William Davis was the dissenting party in discussions over the location of the land for the Catholic Chapel.
As a man who had been a faithful Catholic since his arrival in the Colony as a political prisoner twenty years before, William Davis had been an unofficial leader of the Catholic Community in those dark years when there were no priests to provide the Sacraments. His home in Charlotte Place had been a centre of private Catholic devotion in Sydney. It is not surprising that he took the view that the more centrally-located Charlotte Place was the most appropriate place for the Catholic Chapel to be built. It had the added advantage of being immediately adjacent to his residence! It was not, of course, built there in 1821, but only twenty years passed before a second Catholic chapel for Sydney was needed and it was built in Charlotte Place. It still stands today : Saint Patrick's Church Hill. EN 12
The above is a section of a plan of Sydney originally published in August 1822 and drawn by John Septimus Roe. The plan is held by the State Library of NSW. It is included to illustrate the area which the petitioners favoured as the site for the Catholic Chapel. An irregular shape shaded in yellow denotes that land which was vacant and eligible for the Governor's grant. Immediately beside this area and outlined in purple is the Anglican church of Saint Philip. This is not the present Anglican church, but its predecessor. South of this (on the left of the map) is depicted the large mass of the Military Barracks, now the site of Wynyard. The petitioners were seeking a small grant of land, similar in size to the other allotments marked around on the plan. Several such allotments would have fitted into the area shaded in yellow.
Image : State Library of NSW
MAKING THE SELECTION OF LAND
At some point between August 1820 and November 1821, James Meehan selected a plot of land for the location of the Catholic Chapel at the North-east corner of what is now Hyde Park and measured it out himself. Having persuaded members of the Chapel Committee of the merits of the location, he obtained Governor Macquarie's approval for the selection. It most likely, however, that the Governor already had had some say in where that grant would be. Let us give James Meehan the benefit of the doubt that he selected a site which would be advantageous to the Catholic community and give the possibility of expansion. Let us also be clear, however, that in 1821, the selected land was not the most prestigious area of Sydney town.
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| A coloured sketch by Thomas Lewis depicting a cricket match taking place in Hyde Park, ringed-around by spectators. On the left of this drawing is Elizabeth Street and on the right Macquarie Street (which in the 1840s passed through Hyde Park). The spired church in the background is Saint James', King Street. Image : State Library of NSW |
HYDE PARK
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| A coloured sketch of 1842 by John Rae depicting the southern corner of Hyde Park. The track running from the lower right corner leads to William Street in the upper left corner. The grazing of livestock in the Park seems to have been a common thing over many decades. Image : State Library of NSW |
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| A hand-coloured lithograph by J G Austin & Co depicting the northern limit of Hyde Park. On the left is the fine classical porch of Saint James' church and, dominating the drawing, the Hyde Park Barracks with its surrounding stone wall. Both these buildings were designed by the colonial architect Francis Greenway. Image : State Library of NSW |
When seen in the light of Greenway's Grand Design, the selection of a plot of land on the eastern side of this proposed civic area does not seem at all like the caricature that Catholics were fobbed-off with a useless parcel of land in an undesirable area. This point was also made by the editor of The Sydney Gazette in his article about the laying of the foundation stone of Saint Mary's Chapel :
The site chosen for the erection of this edifice, which is intended to be spacious as well as handsome, lies to the east of Hyde Park, the front of the chapel facing the town. The spot in every way appears extremely eligible, and there can hardly be a doubt entertained but that the structure, when completed, will join with the other superb buildings in that attractive end of the town, in affording additional and consistent beauty to the rapidly-improving Australian capital. EN 15
The above is a section of a plan of Sydney originally published in August 1822 and drawn by John Septimus Roe. The plan is held by the State Library of NSW. It is included to illustrate the site granted for building the Catholic Chapel. This is shewn by the rose-coloured square. When the map was drawn-up, work on the chapel had commenced, but was limited to foundation works. It might be observed that at the time the map was drawn-up, the land stretching eastward from Elizabeth Street was almost entirely devoid of any structures. At this time, also, College Street, which now separates the Cathedral from Hyde Park, did not exist. Macquarie Street is shewn to be closed at the Northern end of the Park. Sometime after this plan was drawn, Macquarie Street was re-opened to intersect with William Street (indicated by the no. 43). By the 1850s, Macquarie Street was closed again, re-establishing the boundaries and integrity of the park.
THE GRANT OF LAND
An plot of land which was more or less square, and almost one hectare, was measured out by the Deputy Surveyor-General, James Meehan, perhaps with a little assistance :
Rumour whispered, with every appearance of truth, that when the land was roughly measured, Pat Moore turned to Jimmy and said: “Arrah, Jemmy, don’t be Meehan by name and mean by nature over a bit of land; sure an extra yard or two’ll make no difference.” EN 16A sizeable tract of land it was, but it was also rocky and had a decided slope downward from the level plain of Hyde Park. For the purposes of building, this would pose some significant problems. The grant was partly unreclaimed bush, and close to tracks which lead to Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst and beyond to South Head.
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| Another coloured sketch of 1842 by John Rae depicting Macquarie Street intersecting Hyde Park, looking north from William Street. In the next decade Macquarie Street would be closed off at the northern end of the Park. The building in the middle is old Saint Mary's, with its bell-tower on the left and what is now known as the "Chapter House" on its right. The buildings on the right-hand side are the Grammar School and Museum. Image : State Library of NSW |
SOME FINAL POINTS
The original land granted to Father Therry and the Catholic community of Sydney in 1821 is the same land on which the present Saint Mary's Cathedral is built. Although not looked upon with enthusiasm at the time, in only a couple of decades it was realised that the site of Saint Mary's was both very suitable for its purpose and admirable in its position.
The anecdote of Father McEncroe about the selection of the site, which was quoted at the beginning of the article, is rather unfair in its apportioning negative responsibility to James Meehan. Governor Macquarie, having rejected the petition for a grant of land in Charlotte Place, gave to James Meehan the authority to select another plot of land for the Catholic chapel and arrange for its ownership as a grant, not a purchase. Meehan did so; and Catholics in Sydney and Australia have benefitted enormously from his wise judgement and foresight.
Over the twenty years since 1800, James Meehan would have seen the tremendous growth in the settlement of Europeans. It is reasonable to assume that he understood that the Catholic community would require more land than the immediate need for a rather small chapel. The point needs to be emphasised that had the Catholic community been given a plot of land in the more densely settled area of Sydney town, it would have been very much smaller in size and with little capacity to accommodate the expansion of the Catholic community.
James Meehan certainly was not the petty, anti-Catholic bureaucrat which Father McEncroe's account of the story suggests. James Meehan was not an obstacle to Father Therry, but he was a faithful servant of the Crown and thoroughly trusted by the Governor of the Colony at that time. He was a hard-working, skilful, effective and upright man and he was also a very generous donor to the fund to build the Catholic Chapel.
What then of Father McEncroe's story? Someone was responsible for the decision not to allow Sydney Catholics to build a chapel in the fashionable area of the Rocks, but it is much more likely that it was Governor Macquarie himself who made that decision, not James Meehan. It would also seem likely - although no evidence has emerged to support such a theory - that the Governor received the unfavourable opinions of prominent men of the Colony about the proposal to locate a Catholic Chapel right next to the Anglican church of Saint Philip, which at that time was the sole Anglican church in Sydney town. Perhaps it was his Secretary, John Thomas Campbell who suggested that the site would be better used for Governmental purposes.
In our next article in this series, we will discuss the collaboration of the architect Francis Greenway with the Catholic Community to build Sydney's first Catholic Chapel.
AMDG
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| A coloured sketch of 1835 by Robert Russell depicting the Catholic buildings recently completed. In the centre is the eastern (back) end of Saint Mary's whilst farther right is the three-winged building which comprised the residence of the clergy, Saint Joseph's chapel and the schoolhouse. The track in the foreground led to Woolloomoolo and would later be known as Saint Mary's Road. This sketch shews clearly the sloping ground on which the buildings were constructed. Image : State Library of NSW |
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ENDNOTES
EN 1 "Saint Mary's Cathedral Sydney A memoir of its destruction by fire", Sydney 1865, as quoted in Saint Mary's Cathedral 1821 - 1971. This was a report of a public meeting held in Sydney on 6th July, 1865, in response to the tragic destruction by fire of old Saint Mary's Cathedral a week previously.
EN 2 James Meehan and Patrick Moore had been transported to the Colony for political offences in Ireland before the 1798 Uprising. Arriving in the Colony with these Men of '98 were "The Convict Priests" : Father James Dixon; Father James Harold and Father Peter Dixon.
EN 3 Testimony of James Meehan to the Commissioner of Enquiry, 1820. The Commissioner 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 4 An extract from Governor Lachlan Macquarie's testimonial for the appointment of James Meehan as Deputy Surveyor General (Despatch to the Earl of Liverpool, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, 17th November 1812), as cited in James Meehan : A Most Excellent Surveyor, by Tony Dawson.
EN 5 Part of a letter from Governor Macquarie to Viscount Sidmouth, 1821 as quoted in TM Perry's article on James Meehan in The Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/meehan-james-2443
EN 6 A fuller assessment of James Meehan's role in the distribution of grants is given by the historians James Waldersee, Patrick O'Farrell and Bernard O'Dowd.
EN 7 There were three members of the Catholic Chapel Committee who did not sign the petition to the Governor. Two are entirely explicable, since they held responsibilities both in Government and on the Committee, namely James Meehan and John Thomas Campbell. The third absent name is much less explicable : the senior Catholic Chaplain, Father Philip Connolly.
EN 8 Further reading on John Thomas Campbell : https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/campbell-john-thomas-1873
EN 9 The petition, dated 10th July 1820 and with Governor Macquarie's reply written across it, is preserved in the State Archives of NSW.
EN 10 The Governor ( L.M.) wrote upon the petition a brief memorandum, intended to be officially communicated to the Chapel Committee by Mr Campbell. He wrote it from his residence in Parramatta.
EN 11 Part of a letter by Mr Commissioner Bigge as cited in the article, Old Saint Mary's, by J.P. McGuanne.
EN 12 The land on which Saint Patrick's Church was built from 1840, was donated to the church by William Davis and part of the land of his Charlotte Place residence.
EN 13 An informative article on the history of Hyde Park may be found at Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park,_Sydney#cite_note-nswshr-1871-1
EN 14 Part of a letter to the editor of The Australian of 28th April 1825. Greenway published a series of letters to this newspaper, defending his work and outlining his plans for the future of Sydney town. His plans for a Sydney square had been fully developed during the period of his collaboration with Governor Macquarie.
EN 15 The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Saturday 3rd November 1821. Some historians have commented on the Gazette's assessment of the land grant almost mockingly. But perhaps it might be accepted at face value.
EN 16 McGuanne, John Percy, Old Saint Mary's, Sydney, 1915. Mr McGuanne's paper was originally a lecture given in Sydney in 1913. Pat [rick] Moore, a long-standing friend of James Meehan, was also a member of the Chapel Committee. Both were Men of '98. It seems that the precise measurements of the grant were not documented until as late as 1834, after a protracted dispute, which is a story in itself. The grant was finally settled at being 2 acres, one rood and five perches (being in metric measure, 0.92 hectares). This was almost four times the area that would have been available for a grant in Charlotte Place.
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REFERENCE WORKS
Dawson, Tony James Meehan : A Most Excellent Surveyor, Crossing Press, Sydney, 2004.
Ellis, M. H. , Francis Greenway, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1949.
Grocott, Alan M., Convicts, Clergymen and Churches, Sydney University Press, 1980.
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. Digital copy of the booklet held by the State Library of NSW.
O'Brien, Rev'd Eris M., The Life and Letters of Archpriest John Joseph Therry, Agnus & Robertson, Sydney, 1922.
O'Farrell, Patrick, The Catholic Church and Community in Australia : A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1977.
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.
Waldersee, James Catholic Society in New South Wales 1788-1860, Sydney University Press, 1974
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