History and archives

Early History of the Newcastle / Hunter area

Catholic buildings in the Newcastle area

History of Newcastle Parish

History of Hamilton Parish

History of Tighes Hill / Carrington Parish

History of Broadmeadow Parish

Newcastle Parish register transcription and archive team

Early History of the Newcastle / Hunter area

The Awabakal and Worimi peoples are recognised as the traditional custodians of the land and waters of the Newcastle area, including the NICCC area.  This has been acknowledged on the plaques in our churches at Broadmeadow, Newcastle, The Junction and Tighes Hill.

The Newcastle City Council website describes Aboriginal culture in the Newcastle / Hunter.  The same site has an extensive local history dating from when Captain Cook first marked on a map the rocky islet of Nobby’s Head on 10 May 1770 as he sailed north.

Catholic buildings in the Newcastle area

Click here for a fascinating photographic tour of numerous Catholic church buildings, including many that are no longer used, not only in our Newcastle area, but throughout Australia.

History of Newcastle Parish

The first Mass in Newcastle was said by a visiting Fr Philip Connolly in September 1822 followed by Fr J.J. Therry in 1824.  The Parish of Newcastle was established in 1838 under the administration of the Archbishop of Sydney.  It extended from the Pacific Ocean to Lake Macquarie.  Fr Dowling, the first priest to live in Newcastle was appointed in 1838 and used a “large cottage” on the sand hills near where Parnell Place is today.  Between 1845 and 1866 Fr Dowling used his home, a government store in Watt Street.  A temporary chapel was built in Wolfe St, on The Hill, in 1852 and Fr Dowling acquired the site on which the present St Mary’s Star of the Sea stands.

Fr Dowling was succeeded by Fr Cusse who contributed 1000 pounds of his own money towards the construction of the new St Mary’s, which was dedicated on St Patrick’s Day 17 March 1866.  It was the first purpose-built Catholic Church in Newcastle.

After the Diocese of Maitland was established, the Newcastle Parish continued to be administered by the Archdiocese of Sydney until 1873, when it was transferred to the Diocese of Maitland.

Catholic schooling began when the Dominican Sisters arrived in Newcastle in 1873 and continued with the Sisters of St Joseph from 1961.  The Marist Brothers established a school under the church which they conducted for many years before transferring to the present site of St Francis Xavier’s College, Hamilton.

The present Newcastle Parish was established on 1 July 1997.  It covers the area of three former parishes, viz Merewether (St Joseph’s), Merewether Beach (Holy Family) and Newcastle (St Mary Star of the Sea).

The Merewether Parish, based at St Joseph’s in The Junction, was originally part of a much larger Burwood Parish which extended from Cooks Hill to the shores of Lake Macquarie.  The first St Joseph's church was built in 1876 and was, then, part of the Parish of Newcastle. St Joseph's became the parish church for the new Parish of Burwood when that was established in 1891.  Subsequently, the size of this parish was reduced as other parishes were formed within the area, eg, Adamstown Parish in 1925, and Merewether Beach in 1939.  The old stone church, which had been extended in 1912, was demolished in 1962 (something that may not have been allowed today) and the existing St Joseph's Church constructed on the same site.

In the 1960s, Mass stations had been established in the Newcastle Parish at Cooks Hill and, in Merewether Parish at Hamilton South.

St Luke’s Church in Dawson Street, Cooks Hill within Merewether Parish was built at a cost of £11,320 and opened on 2 September 1962.  It closed after morning Mass on Saturday 18 October 2003 (St Luke’s Feast Day).

The St Martin de Tours Church at the corner of Darling and Lawson Streets in Hamilton South was opened as an ‘intimate Mass centre’ within Merewether Parish on 17 July 1966 and was closed in December 1993.

St Mark’s Chapel in Morgan Street (opposite Laing Street) in the Newcastle CBD (1970 to 2007) was built, owned and operated by the Diocese chiefly for the benefit of Catholics working in the Newcastle City CBD area.  The Catholic Women’s’ League made a significant contribution to the establishment of St Mark’s which was opened on 2 April 1970.  In recent years, the only regular Mass at Mark’s was at 12 noon on Sundays.  Fr Bill Goldman, CSsR celebrated the last Mass at St Mark’s at noon on Sunday 25 February 2007.  The Diocese then sold the site, and donated some of the proceeds to the CWL in 2008.

Merewether Beach Parish (initially called Merewether South) was established in February 1939 and suppressed on 1 July 1997.  The first Mass was celebrated on 5 March 1939 in a small cottage on the corner of Pell and Ridge Streets.  Within three months the cottage had been demolished and regular masses began in a new church/hall which was blessed on 3 June 1939.  Subsequently the Holy Family Church was opened and blessed by Bishop Gleeson on 10 November 1952.  The Holy Family School and Hall was opened in February 1956.  Originally the Sisters of St Joseph travelled each day to the school from their convent at The Junction.  The present School building was opened late in 1961.  The Holy Family Convent was opened and blessed on 24 July 1964.  The Convent was converted for use by the school and parish in 1999.  The Presbytery (corner Pell and Nott Streets) was sold in 2003.  The Holy Family Church was closed after the Vigil Mass on Saturday 30 June 2007.

The present Newcastle Parish covers the largest area of the Inner City parishes and 6,768 Catholics were recorded in this area at the 2006 Census.

Parish Priests and Administrators of Newcastle Parish

Parish Priests of Merewether Beach Parish

Parish Priests of Merewether Parish

History of Hamilton Parish

Hamilton Parish was separated from Newcastle Parish and established in June 1884 with Father Patrick Finn as the first resident Parish Priest.  At that time the town, villages and districts of Adamstown, Burwood (now Merewether), Glebe (near the Junction), Tighes Hill, Waratah, Bullock Island (Carrington), Islington, Wickham, Cook’s Hill and Charlestown were all administered from Hamilton.

The subsequent history of the territory of the Hamilton parish is a saga of losses and gains.  From the beginning of 1887, Burwood (Merewether and the Junction) and Charlestown were returned to the care of the Parish of Newcastle, as was Carrington (Bullock Island).

Hamilton was originally a coal mining township, surrounded by a collection of other coal-mining settlements.  Over the years, coal-mining decreased in importance and, in 1901, Hamilton’s major mine, the Borehole Pit closed.  Subsequently, the character of Hamilton changed as industry opened up nearby – the State Dockyard in 1912 and the steelworks of the Broken Hill Propriety Company in 1915.  During the period of Fr O’Donohoe’s administration (1894-1920), the district changed considerably, becoming one of the more fashionable suburbs in the city.

In 1917, the new Parish of Waratah was established and St Laurence O’Toole’s School-Church at Broadmeadow became attached to Waratah.  The Parish of Tighes Hill, embracing parts of Wickham and Waratah municipalities, was established in 1921.  In 1950, Wickham became a Parish, comprising the northern portion of Hamilton Parish together with a portion of Tighes Hill Parish, initially served by a small chapel in St Gabriel’s Institute, a combined Seamen’s Institute and Refuge for Homeless Men, in Hannell Street.  St Gabriel’s Church in Albert Street was opened in 1960.  In 1970, Carrington was taken from the care of Newcastle Parish and added to Wickham, the parish now being called Port Hunter.  However numbers declined and, by 1973, the parish was no longer viable and the parish priest was moved elsewhere.  The northern portion of Port Hunter reverted to Tighes Hill and Carrington went back to Newcastle.  The main body of the parish went back to Hamilton.  Carrington subsequently was taken from Newcastle and added to Hamilton again in 1979.  The last Mass at St Gabriel’s was said in 1979 and the building subsequently sold.

The present Sacred Heart Church was opened on Trinity Sunday 15 June 1930.  At that time the Bishop of Maitland, Patrick Vincent Dwyer, issued a booklet outlining the history of the Parish and describing the new building in detail.   The Parish Church became the Diocesan Cathedral in 1995.  To mark the 75th anniversary in 2005, Monsignor Allan Hart as Parish Priest re-issued Bishop Dwyer’s booklet.

Over the years, Catholic education has been a strong feature of the life of Hamilton Parish.  In 1884 Sister Mary Joseph O’Connor had led the first Sisters of Mercy to Hamilton.  The new Sacred Heart Convent was solemnly blessed and opened by September 1889, and in 1895 the Sacred Heart Primary School was founded.  The original Convent of the Sisters of Mercy, Hamilton was extended in 1916 buy the addition of a wing to match the original structure.  St Aloysius Secondary School commenced operations in 1916 with an enrolment of between 10 and 15 boys and girls.  In 1923, the original St Aloysius was replaced by a more substantial brick building.  The new St Aloysius received a second story in 1934 and a third in 1957, which is as the building stands today.  When the Marist Brothers opened the Boys School, St Aloysius ceased being a coeducational establishment.  With restructuring of secondary education in the Catholic system at the second half of the last century, St Aloysius finally closed in 1979.

The Marist Brothers took up teaching in the Parish in 1928, moving from the basement of St Mary’s Star of the Sea.  The first secondary class for boys had begun at the Brother’s school there in 1924.  St Francis Xavier’s School was built by the Brothers on land between Everton and Skelton Sts and Parkway Ave.  From this time, the Brothers took over secondary education for boys while St Aloysius continued to provide this for girls. St Francis Xavier’s has continued to flourish and is now a co-educational senior college, with over 1000 Year11 and Year 12 students.

A book mark the centenary of the Sacred Heart Parish Hamilton 1884-1984 was written by Michael Sternbeck.  Entitled “With Hearts and Hands and Voices”, this has been the source for much of the history presented here.

As inner city populations have declined, so has the number of Catholics residing in the area of the Hamilton parish.  In 2006, there were 1,655 Catholics in this area.

Parish Priests and Administrators of Hamilton Parish

History of Tighes Hill / Carrington Parish

The Catholic community started back in 1887 when a Church-School dedicated to St Francis Xavier was built in Carrington and in 1895 when St Patrick’s Church-School was established at Rosedale Hall, Tighes Hill.  The first convent at Carrington opened in 1888, when the Sisters of St Joseph began teaching in St Francis Xavier's church-school.  The school closed and the sisters withdrew in 1970. 

On 25 March 1900 a timber Church of the Immaculate Conception was blessed and opened by Bishop Dwyer at 22 Bryant Street (on the corner with Union Street), Tighes Hill.  The Parish Primary school then relocated across the road to the building that is now the Catholic Croatian Centre. 

The Parish of Tighes Hill was established in 1921 under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception.  In time the Parish built a more permanent church (the present church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) on the corner of Union Street and Tighes Terrace.  Coming just after the Year of Mary in 1954 this church would be a shrine to Mary the mother of Christ, particularly as revealed in the enormously popular apparitions of Fatima, Portugal in 1917.  On 27 November 1955 the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was blessed and opened.  After being established as a Parochial District in 1956, Carrington eventually became part of Tighes Hill.

There was a Catholic primary school in Tighes Hill from 1895 until 1975.  In addition St Pius X Primary School for boys with 5th and 6th class boys was blessed and opened at 32 Union Street in 1955.  In 1961 St Pius X School relocated to Adamstown.  In 1966 St Anne’s High School for girls operated from this site until it also relocated to Adamstown in 1967.  In 1971 (December) the pupils transferred from the Bryant Street School to the former Pius X building which had been empty for a few years.

More recently Church buildings have found new life.  In 1976 Mercy Community Services moved to the former school building at 32 Union Street.  In 1997 the Parish sold the large Mercy Convent in Union Street to the Society of St Vincent de Paul to be used to accommodate young people from the country who are studying in Newcastle.  In 2001 the former presbytery was leased to Catholic Care as the base for its Youth Accommodation Support Service.  The Bryant Street Parish Primary School is now the Catholic Croatian Centre.  In Carrington the former Parish Primary School is now used by Mercy Community Services and the Catholic Schools Office.  The former Carrington Convent is now the base for Zimmerman House, the Diocesan Child Protection and Professional Conduct Unit.

From 1998 the Parish has been without a resident priest and has been under the care of the Parish Priest of Hamilton.

The number of people living in the Tighes Hill / Carrington area has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years.  At the 2006 Census, 1,589 Catholics were recorded in this area. 

Parish Priests of Tighes Hill Parish

Click here to view to the Tighes Hill Church 50th Anniversary booklet (2005) (1,641 kb)

Click here to view Tighes Hill Parish History 1895-2005 (37 pages) (4,097 kb)

History of Broadmeadow Parish

Broadmeadow was established as a Pastoral District in 1939.  A strong characteristic of St Laurence O’Toole Broadmeadow Parish has been the virtue of hospitality and welcome. The Ukrainian community used the church in the difficult years of post-war settlement.  The Lithuanian community had a priest with a room in the Broadmeadow presbytery for 20 years.

From 1960-1976 the parish was administered by the Scalabrinian Fathers who catered for the large Italian community before moving to the chapel in Beaumont St Hamilton.  It was during this period that the new Presbytery and the Parish Hall were built.  The Parish Hall opened in 1964.  The original porch of the Church was replaced in the 1980s.

The Vietnamese community presently use the facilities for religious and cultural ceremonies, both Christian and Buddhist.

Under Father Tony Stace, a room was provided for the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry and prayer meetings held monthly.  Tongan and Samoan singing was arranged at parish Masses on occasions.

The 28 December 1989 earthquake badly damaged the church and it was two and a half years before it was reopened in July 1992.  Meanwhile, ceremonies and sacraments were celebrated in a more domestic fashion, in the hall, presbytery and in homes.

Former school buildings are now used for Mission Outreach.  The St Laurence Centre, a unit of Catholic Education, provides counselling and special education service.  The City Schools Apostolate has a resource room at Broadmeadow, and the Catholic Library is also housed there.

The character of the Broadmeadow area has changed significantly over the years.  Population has declined and the area has developed as a light industrial location, leaving ageing pockets of residential activity.  In 2006, just 1,001 Catholics were recorded as living in this area. 

Parish Priests of Broadmeadow Parish

Newcastle Parish register transcription and archive team

Aim

To assemble and preserve original Parish Registers (Baptism, Marriage and Burial) in a sustainable and retrievable manner.

Contact

Mary Ph: 4963 3981

Meetings

Each Tuesday morning except in school holidays, at the CRCC.

Activities

We do not really have contact with the parish “Archives” other than the original shelving.  Our work is on Registers only.

Our focus is on preserving the original paper registers (approximately 40 volumes).  To this end we have assembled all available books from the City Region, with the exception of Mayfield Parish records; some Burial Registers from late 1800s are missing.  A circular sent through the Diocesan Office to all Parishes was unsuccessful in locating any further volumes.  Each volume was checked, described, covered with archival quality material, then microfilmed.  With developing technology, microfilm is the preferred method for long term storage; access will be via DVD lodged on the mainframe computer at the Diocesan Computing Centre.  As technology changes, microfilm should provide a stable base from which continuing access will be made.  Limited password control access will be available.  Records are not available for public access.  All microfilming has been completed.

Our most time consuming task is the compilation of an index to all records.  As the quality of some earlier records deteriorates it can involve much consultation to decipher names with accuracy.  With time, paper will crumble, ink will fade, and earlier handwriting will prove to be, at times, almost illegible.  At least, we mature scribes can read ‘running’ writing!  Needless to say that electronic reading of the entries (such as with OCR) is not an option.  Indexing of the Baptism registers is almost complete, with Marriage and Burial to follow. We have had discussion with the Computing office about transfer to an electronic index, and this should commence before the end of 2009.

The information is essential for administration of the Parish; a single paper record deteriorating over time is vulnerable.  They are stored in a specifically designed room, but with a microfilm record it will be possible to store a copy in a separate location. The records are also of use to historians and genealogists.  We undertake a small number of genealogy requests accepting a donation for such work.  There is a range of legislation covering such access; it relates to privacy, confidentiality and reducing the potential for identity fraud.

We are thankful to the many former Parish Priests, visiting Priests and office personnel, for despite the age (earliest records are from 1834) and quantity (almost 10,000 pages), we have a priceless legacy.