Historic images of Sydney's Catholic Cathedrals : 21

Saint Mary's Cathedral 1914 - 1917.
Image : State Library of NSW

We continue our series of historic photographs commemorating the bi-centenary of Saint Mary's Cathedral (1821-2021) with this street photograph taken between 1914 and 1917. 

This photograph, taken in Hyde Park and looking south-east, shews the Cathedral as it appeared in its completed state of 1900.  On the right in the middle-ground is the statue of William Bede Dalley, which still stands on this spot in the Park.  On the sunny afternoon in the park, some people are taking their ease, sitting on benches.

A close view of the photograph reveals that the facade of old Saint Mary's - which was visible above the tree-line in previous posts - has disappeared.  The cherished old building was demolished in stages 1913-1914.  But the unfortunate outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 slowed down considerably all the work on the new stage of the Cathedral. 

In our previous articles, we posted photographs illustrating the stages of the construction of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral, to be found at the following links :

1871              1882             1883             1886

1887              1890             1892             1895

1896               1901             1902            1905

1907               1910            1914             1915  

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

AMDG

NOTES

The photographs in this series are taken from a variety of sources, some in online Archival collections, some from books, some original images in the editor's collection.  They are presented here in a "modernised" digital form, and with as much detail of the structure of the Cathedrals enhanced in order to make them more accessible to a new generation of Australian Catholics.  The original image on which this digital rendering is based is held by the State Library of NSW.  Thanks are due to Special Collections of the State Library for undertaking a search to locate this and other rare images.  Please do not reproduce these unique images without permission.