Historic Images of Sydney's Catholic Cathedrals : 25

 

Saint Mary's Cathedral circa 1929.
Image : State Library of NSW

We continue our series of historic photographs commemorating the bi-centenary of Saint Mary's Cathedral (1821-2021), but take a leap forward by a few years with this image taken in 1928 or 29 by an amateur photographer.

This photograph, looking north-west, shews the newly-constructed facade of the Cathedral with its massive paired towers.  To the left of the towers, standing on a solitary pedestal, is the bronze statue of Cardinal Moran.  This statue was put in place to coincide with the opening of the Cathedral enlargements in 1928.

In the foreground, cars are seen parked in the former Cathedral Street (which no longer exists) together with the entrance to the Cathedral Presbytery (seen on the right of the photograph) which was constructed after the fire of 1865.  A pile of masonry in the middle ground, outside the Cathedral's stone fence, indicates that some work was continuing at the Cathedral at the time the photograph was taken.

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            1912             1914             

1915               1917            1921             1930

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.