-
1788
La Perouse enters Botany Bay and his chaplain, Abbe Mones, celebrates the first
Mass within Australian territory -
1791
First Irish convicts transported to Botany Bay -
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
The first official public Mass is held under strict Government supervision and is celebrated by prisoner priest, Fr Dixon -
1804
Fr Jeremiah Flynn arrives to minister to convict Catholics but he does not have the official sanction of the church or state. The following year after ignoring Governor Macquarie’s instructions not to carry out any of the functions of a priest, he is arrested and deported despite protests from the colony’s Catholics and several Protestant leaders -
1820
Fr John Thierry 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. Father Conolly leaves for Hobart leaving Fr John Therry the only priest on mainland Australia -
1830
Fr Power dies -
1850
Fr John McEncroe, now Archdeacon McEncroe, founds the Freeman’s Journal in 1850 continuing the tradition of a weekly informative Catholic newspaper -
1970
Pope Paul VI makes the first-ever Papal visit to Australia -
2000
The two spires of St Mary’s Cathedral are finally completed -
2005
Death of much loved, Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected Pope Benedict XVI -
2008
Pope Benedict XVI makes his first visit to Australia when the Archdiocese of Sydney hosts World Youth Day 2008. WYD08 is a huge success and as a result the social networking website, Xt3 is created for young people not onl;y in Sydney but worldwide. It quickly becomes the fastest growing Catholic website worldwide. -
2009
Restoration and renovation begins on the former Marist Fathers students’ home in Rome for what will become a pilgrim’s haven for Australians in the city offering accommodation and a home away from home -
2014
The Holy Father Pope Francis appoints George Cardinal Pell as Prefect of the new Secretariat for the Economy. The Most Rev Anthony Fisher is appointed as the ninth Archbishop of Sydney. -
2022
There are 5.3 million Catholics now in Australia which is almost 20% of the population