By Genevieve Arthur with referencing from
"The Pictorial History of the Catholic Church in Australia".

Chapter I

The decision about the convicts

It was 1787 when England decided to send its convicts to Botany Bay. Out of 1,044 convicts in the first fleet, 316 of them were Catholics. In 1789, Father Walsh asked permission from the British government to go with one other priest to Botany Bay to help convicts, but the government refused. So of the first three fleets that sailed to Botany Bay, altogether 4,414 convicts, and 1,472 of them were Catholics.

Arthur Phillip, the first governor commanded that all convicts go to “Divine Service” which was performed by a Church of England minister- Rev. Johnson. All Catholics were to go as well, but some of them refused to attend the “Divine Service”. The Catholics who resisted were flogged. One Catholic who again refused to go was put in the stocks for two hours and then the treadmill for fourteen days. Fourteen days later, that same convict, McCernan, was found sick at the treadmill. Before he had even recovered he was sent for from the doctor to come and receive a punishment.

Conditions had become impossible for the Catholic convicts by 1800. Irish convicts were not allowed to speak their native language, Gaelic, because they could plot an escape right in front of a guard who did not know it, as easy as though he were deaf. Some men did scheme a plot to go to Sydney, take a ship, the “Buffalo”, and sail it to China or Ireland. They told a priest, Fr. Harold, and he advised them not to go through with it, but they did and were caught and each of them received five hundred lashes.

Finally, in 1803 Fr. Dixon, by pressing him, received permission to say Mass for the convicts from Governor King. So the first Mass was celebrated in Australia with a tin chalice made by a Catholic convict, consecrated oils ordered from overseas in South America and vestments made from some old curtains. The great day came, 15th May 1803, in the home of an ex-convict, James Meehan. Mass was said with guards posted all around the house, almost all who attended that Mass were convicts who had not had the chance to go to Mass for fifteen years.

In 1804 the Irish convicts in New South Wales rebelled, and it took many troops to destroy the rebellion. All of them were Catholics, and Fr. Dixon was partly blamed for it, had all rights and privileges taken away and could not say Mass for the Catholics.

Meanwhile, the government in England were going to allow the Catholics to see only the priests and bishops appointed by the government. The Catholics in England chose an Irish priest, Fr. Hayes, to go to Rome and ask the Pope for assistance. When he was just about to leave for Rome, a letter came; it was from his brother, Michael Hayes, who was a Catholic in Botany Bay.

Michael’s letter made Fr. Hayes realize how bad the conditions for the Catholic convicts were. They were forced to go to “Divine Service” and could not go to Mass. At Rome, Fr. Hayes met another Irish priest, Fr. O’Flynn, who was a missionary and was full of energy and enthusiasm for going to distant countries. Fr. Hayes told him about the Catholics at Botany Bay and all over Australia and together they asked permission to go to New Holland and help the faithful, who had not one priest that was allowed to say Mass among them.

Fr. O’Flynn received permission to go to Australia, for the Pope had wanted to send some priests to New Holland. From Ireland Father O’Flynn had raised money for his mission, from England he would try to obtain a permit to land at Australia.

Chapter II

The Difficulties of Obtaining Permission for a Priest
to Offer Mass in Australia

The governor did not want more priests and, no matter how pressed, refused to give Fr. O'Flynn a permit. Still, Fr. O’Flynn paid dearly to board a private ship, “Duke of Wellington”, which was headed for Hobart at Van Diemen’s, (Tasmania). On November 9th, 1817, he arrived in Sydney. When Governor Macquarie heard, he was furious and sent for Fr. O'Flynn immediately. Though he kept begging to stay, because Father O’Flynn had no permit, Governor Macquarie gave him orders to leave at once.

When the Catholics heard of how Fr. O’Flynn was being sent away, they got together and made a petition of plea for him to stay. Over two hundred Catholic officers and soldiers, and over four hundred non-catholic civilians signed it.

Despite everyone’s efforts, on December 12th, Governor Macquarie finally decided that Fr. O’Flynn must leave the country. The governor sent the persistent priest a letter commanding him to go immediately. Instead of leaving, Fr. O’Flynn, seeing the need of the Catholics and the fact that other priests would not be able to give the sacraments went into hiding and provided the sacraments to Catholics secretly.

He only allowed five people to attend Mass at a time. Finally, after six months the governor’s troops, who had been tracking him down caught him while saying Mass. The troops came in right after Father O’Flynn had consecrated the host, he did not have time to consume it before they took him. It was honored by the family who’s house he had said Mass in, and years later a French priest was surprised to find that they had protected it from the government. So he offered Mass at their house and consumed Our Lord.

It was May fifteenth when Fr. O’Flynn was dragged off while offering Mass and thrown into prison. Governor Macquarie ordered that he was to leave on May twentieth, so Fr. O’Flynn was put aboard a vessel. With a heavy guard, he was sent back to England aboard the “David Shea”.

Fr. O’Flynn went to Ireland straight away and told the bishop of Cork about the Catholics in Australia and their terrible conditions. The bishop appointed two priests to go to New Holland straight away.

Chapter III

What came of those two Priests who were sent by
the Bishop to Australia

The two priests, Fr. Conolly and Fr. Therry, went to New Holland with their permits so as to not be sent away like Fr. O’Flynn. As soon as they arrived, governor Macquarie lay down special conditions for the two priests. They were not allowed to convert anyone, not allowed to teach orphans and many other things were restricted.

The first thing they planned to do was to build a church. The members of the first committee for building it were Fr. Connolly, Fr. Therry, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Dempsey, Mr. Redmond, Mr. Dwyer, Mr. Meehan and Mr. Davis.

Fr. Connolly decided that the two priests if separated could help more Catholics, so Fr. Therry boarded a ship to go to Van Diemen’s. But his ship got caught in a storm and had to go back to Sydney where it had just come from. After that incident Fr. Connolly decided that he would go to Tasmania instead of Fr. Therry.

While Father Conolly was on his way to Van Diemen’s, Fr. Therry was very busy with people from all over the country writing to him. He asked governor Macquarie for a plot of land. What he ended up getting was in quite a bad spot for a church, but Father Therry took it anyway.

Governor Macquarie saw that he and Fr Therry both were interested in the welfare and future of Australia. So from the governor, Fr. Therry soon was given much money and an offer for workers to help lay stone and build the church. At the end of 1822, the amount of money collected from both Catholics and non-Catholics was up to about 1,329 pounds.

Before much progress could be made, there came a new governor, Governor Darling. It was on December 19th, 1825, and only the foundations were set for the new church. For the Catholics things went very bad again until in 1832 when more priests could come. The reason for more priests coming was because Governor Darling left and Governor Bourke had come into office. Everyone said that he was a good and fair man.

In London, an English priest, Father Ullathorne, heard of all the Catholics in Australia and their need of priests. He at once volunteered to go there as a missionary. He was accepted, and he prepared to leave as soon as he could. On the way to Sydney, the ship Fr. Ullathorne was aboard put in at Van Diemen’s and he met Fr. Connolly. He told Fr. Ullathorne of the bad conditions in Tasmania, the whole island was basically a prison.

When Fr. Ullathorne finally arrived at Sydney he went straight to Governor Bourke who was quite reasonable and gave Fr. Ullathorne charge over all the Catholics and said that he was willing to help him in his mission.

In 1835, Bishop Polding, John Fawkner and John Batman were all heading for Australia. John Batman paying with knives, axes, blankets and food, bought an enormous piece of land from the Aboriginals. After two years had passed, many other people followed them and so governor Bourke decided to build a town that he called “Melbourne”. Word went around everywhere about this “great, new country” and people from all over the world came and settled there.

Chapter IV

Catholic Melbourne

It was 1839 when Bishop Polding decided to send a priest to Melbourne, which had grown since it was first built, for all the Catholics there had not one priest to minister the sacraments among them. So Father Georghegan was sent to Melbourne.

The government agreed to sell him a plot of land to build a church on if he raised enough money within six months. As Fr. Georghegan was confident of the success of his mission, he put up a shed on the new site as a temporary church until he could raise enough money to buy it.

Very soon more priests were needed for all over the country. While Fr. Georghegan and other priests were busy with their work, enemies of the Church were urging people to drive out all the priests and bishops from the country. Especially Archbishop Polding who had gained much influence and was respected countrywide.

In 1851 people heard about a gold strike in Ballarat where “you could become rich in a week”. A young priest named Fr. Patrick Dunne, who was building a church in Cobourg with the help of some local Catholics, was soon left to build it himself for many men had left with their families and gone to Ballarat. Fr. Dunne knew that they would be lacking priests so he got ready to leave and soon set off after his parishioners.

After a long struggle, convents, schools and churches were built, scattered around Australia. A nun, Mother Mary Gonzaga, and several other nuns came to New Holland from Ireland to help the priests in Ballarat with all the people who came as a result of the gold strike.

Chapter V

The Church in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia
and Tasmania

Queensland

At Queensland more and more convicts were being sent to a place called Redcliffe. But it was soon found that the land near the outpost was bad and nothing could grow in the unsuitable soil. The government soon found a suitable place for the convicts in Queensland and built a small town called “Brisbane”. There the convicts did farming, building, and other activities to make the settlement better for convicts and non-convicts alike.

A priest in Dublin was consecrated Bishop O’Quinn of Brisbane. So he left for Queensland with six Sisters of Mercy and five other priests. The new bishop decided to go around Queensland, finding and marking Catholics that lived alone in the outback.

While Bishop O’Quinn was busy seeking out Catholics, the Sisters of Mercy were busy setting up a school in an old deserted shed. Mother Vincent Whitty, who had come with Bishop O’Quinn, died thirty years later after building schools and convents around Queensland.

South Australia

In South Australia, where Adelaide now stands, in the year 1836, when people first started settling, it was a boggy mess of quagmire and mud, with no fresh water fit for drinking for miles around. The only fresh water was at first carted from the river Torres to the small settlement of Adelaide. Fr. Ullathorne was the first priest that came to help the Catholics there. The government refused to provide him with any building in which to say Mass. A kind non-Catholic, Mr. Neale let him use his shop on Thursdays and Sundays to say Mass, hear confessions and teach children.

Soon Bishop Murphy, came to Adelaide, his new diocese. He found no school, no church and only one priest. Thanks to a recent convert, Mr. Leigh, Bishop Murphy built a church in Adelaide, with the land and money donated by the former. He dedicated it to Saint Patrick. And over the years it had been a great help to all priests and bishops.

Western Australia

For thirteen years in a small town called Perth in Western Australia, all the Catholic settlers had not seen a priest. They sent a plea to Rome and soon seven priests came to help them. Unfortunately, only one of the priests could speak English. After many hard years of travelling and working, a few churches were built and a school was made at Fremantle. In that time most of the priests had died leaving only three.

The three missionary priests that were still alive boarded a ship heading for Queensland, but one night at Torres Strait they ran into a storm and were blown to some reefs. By morning the ship was battered to pieces and the only survivors were the captain and Fr. Canfalonieri, one of the missionary priests. Fr. Canfalonieri spent the rest of his life travelling all over Australia helping Catholics.

Dom Salvado, a French priest, came to Perth. He had no money and needed to raise some for his friends who were camped eighty miles north of Perth and to help his mission in converting people all over Australia. So he borrowed a piano and did a concert by himself, he was such a good player and singer that many people came to see him. He raised enough money to buy food, provisions, a mule and cow for his friends as well as spare for his own cause.

In 1846 six Sisters of Mercy had arrived and had built a big convent and/or school. Their first pupil was an Aboriginal girl named Mary who had come a long way with Fr. Salvado. With the help of several bishops, many priests and nuns, the settlements in Perth, Fremantle and other places around Western Australia were comfortable with many churches, schools and convents by 1890.

Tasmania

On the fourteenth of April 1821, Fr. Conolly arrived at Tasmania. As the first and only priest there, he had many hardships, there were so little free Catholics that there wasn’t even enough money to build a small chapel. Fr. Conolly travelled back and forth to the Catholics all over the island.

Finally after Fr. Conolly’s many years of hardship, the first bishop of Hobart, Bishop Willson, on the 28th of September 1845, gave the first Confirmations in Tasmania. On that Sunday, five hundred people (most of them convicts) were confirmed. Bishop Willson had battled against the government for years and finally he had succeeded in closing Tasmania as a convict prison.

And so after many years of hardship, suffering, travelling and battling, the Church was established on strong foundations throughout Australia thanks to those early pioneer nuns, brothers, priests, and bishops of Australia.

THE END