The History of the Catholic Church in Australia

  • The First Fleet

    The first catholics to reside in Australia
  • The first priest arrived in the colony

  • Over 2000 Catholic convicts arrived in Botany Bay

  • Period: to

    James Dixon had permission to say Mass on sunday's

  • Mass legally celebrated by chaplains

  • Therry and Connolly arrived in Australia

  • Ten Catholic schools were established in Australia

  • First Catholic bishop arrived in Sydney

  • The formal establishment of the Catholic Church

  • Good Samaritan sisters founded

  • 'free, secular and compulsory' education began

  • Josephites' were running 35 schools in the Adelaide diocese

  • Period: to

    Education Act was passed

  • 815 sister from all orders teaching in schools

  • 115 brother teaching in thirty schools

  • Over 5000 sister from all orders teaching in schools

  • Numbers of Catholic grew rapidly

  • Period: to

    Post-war influx of non-English-speaking immigrants

  • Period: to

    The Second Vatican Council was held in Rome