Record
the
HISTORICAL EDITION
02/10/13
In the beginning
Historians recount the remarkable story of how the Catholic Church in Western Australia pulled itself up by the bootstraps in the most isolated city in the world despite internal dissension, erratic personalities and continual problems with poverty and sectarian discrimination...
A photograph taken by AH Stone in 1868 shows five prominent Perth ladies out for a stroll. They are the Governess, Maria Stone, left; Maria’s sister, Miss Helms and friends of the family. The photograph is taken in Victoria Avenue, Perth. In the background are the Bishop’s palace, completed in 1856 on the left, and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed VIrgin Mary, completed in 1865. Directly in front of the cathedral is the smaller St John’s Church, the first Catholic church in WA. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MRS DOROTHY CROFT
How a Church began in the West
T
his special edition of The Record - a co-presentation between The Record and the Archdiocese of Perth’s Historical Commission - sets out the first 50 years of the Church’s existence in WA. Long in the planning, it’s a remarkable tale, full of disputes, drama and suffering – yet also steady growth. Shouldering the lion’s share of the writing is widely-respected Perth author and biographer Hal Colebatch who follows the trail from the earliest known Catholic presence in WA through to the 1850s, by which time the Church had become an established - and in some cases, a key - feature of the State’s life. Also contributing special insights to this issue are University of Notre Dame Australia Adjunct Research Scholar Odhran O’Brien (Contributing Editor), whose forthcoming biography of early Perth Bishop Martin Griver is due to be published in 2014. Adelaide-based Dominican historian Fr Christopher Dowd OP writes on key Church figures, Bishops Jose Maria Serra OSB and John Brady (pictured at top of page). Fr Dowd’s biography of Archbishop Patrick Clune is also due for publication next year. Meanwhile, Melbourne University’s Dr Catherine Kovesi chronicles the story of one of the critical shaping personalities of the growth of the Church, Mercy Sister Ursula Frayne. Benedictine author Fr David Barry OSB sets out the remarkable story of the first Benedictines who established New Norcia and its mission to the nation’s first inhabitants, while Dr Rob Andrews from UNDA explores the background - the situation of the Church around the world in the 19th century. P ROSENGREN - EDITOR
Earliest traces of Catholicism in Western Australia By Hal Colebatch
W
hen Pope Alexander VI divided the as yet littleknown world between Spain and Portugal in 1493, a year after the modern discovery of America, Western Australia was on the Portuguese side of the line. As a result, it is likely that the first Catholics to visit Western Australia may have been Portuguese sailors, but the Portuguese kept the records of their voyages secret. Perhaps long-forgotten archives in Portugal or its former colonies will one day reveal something beyond speculation. Plainly, however, if they did visit they did not consider the place worth garrisoning. The Dutch who carried out some desultory explorations and several of whose ships were wrecked on the coast were Protestant. Documents discovered in the Vatican archives
have revealed that on 15 July 1681 nine cardinals of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith appointed a 60-year-old Dominican priest in Manila, Fr Vittorio Riccio, to be in charge of Terra Australis, believed to be a great continent reaching to Antarctica. The visionary Spanish seaman and explorer Captain Quiros also dreamed of discovering a ‘Great South Land of the Holy Spirit’. However, there is no evidence that the Spanish actually reached Australia although their colony in the Philippines was relatively close. The first Catholics to visit Western Australia of whom we know anything certain were French explorers under Francois de St Allouarn, who anchored off Cape Leeuwin on 18 March 1772. On 30 March he landed at Shark Bay, raised the French flag, and claimed the land for the King of France. A sailor died and was buried on shore, presumably with some religious ceremony, although there is no record. In 1792, the ships of the La Perouse expedition, carrying two chaplains, Canon
THROUGH A WOMAN’S EYES...
First missionaries and educators: Mother Ursula Frayne and the Sisters of Mercy recall harsh conditions and erratic personalities of the Church - PAGE 10
Pope Gregory XVI despatches Salvado and Serra for the missions with a benediction. PHOTO: COURTESY BENEDICTINE COMMUNITY OF NEW NORCIA
Ventenat and Dom Pierson OSB, who also served as naturalist and astronomer, anchored at Esperance in December. Dom Pierson fell overboard there and had to be rescued from a shark.
The next French explorer to visit, Nicholas Baudin, in 1801, may have brought along a priest, but this is uncertain as, by that time, the atheist French Revolution had been raging. Chaplains
were carried on French ships which visited later in the post-Napoleonic period. Presumably, services were held when they went on shore. The French government
at one time considered establishing settlements in WA (Rottnest and Garden Island were named the Isles Louis Napoleon on French charts) but finally decided that sharing a land frontier with Britain was not a good idea. Britain emphatically agreed. The British government then decided to establish settlements on the west coast, at Albany in 1826 and at the Swan River in 1829. There were Catholics among the soldiers and settlers, several of whom became prominent in the community. These included Bernard Smith, a brick-maker and builder whose father had come to the colony as a coloursergeant with a detachment of the 21st Fusiliers in 1833. A genial and public-spirited man, he was elected to the first Perth city council. Patrick Marmion owned the Emerald Isle Hotel in Henry Street and started whaling at Marmion Beach, which is named after him. Robert D’Arcy was a school master. Continued on Page 3
THE WAY OF BENEDICT
Salvado, Serra, the remarkable pioneering Benedictine monks and their mission at New Norcia - PAGE 7