Early Church Australia

By amiller22

  • 1788

    The First Fleet

  • 1792

    Catholic settlers in Parramatta petition Governor Phillip for a chaplin

  • 1800

    Fr James Dixon and two other priests arrested as part of the 1798 Irish Rebellion are transported to New South Wales as convicts

  • 1803

    First official public Mass is held under strict Government supervision and is celebrated by prisoner priest, Fr Dixon

  • 1819

    Fr John Therry and Fr Philip Conolly, Australia's first official priests, arrive in Sydney. Fr Therry opens the first Catholic school in Parramatta and lobbies Governor Macquarie for land on which to build the settlement's first Catholic church