A Brief History of St Mary's Cathedral

• 1788 - The "First Fleet" arrives and Sydney is founded as a British convict settlement. Catholics are among the convicts and soldiers.
• 1820 - The first official Catholic Chaplains to the colony, Fr. John Therry and Fr. Philip Conolly arrive on May 3.
• 1821
- The foundation stone of the first St, Mary's Chapel is laid by Governor Lachlan Macquarie and blessed by Fr. Therry. The site of the chapel is near the convict barracks, on the edge of the town. It will be a stone building in a naive gothic style.
• 1835 - Sydney's first bishop, John Bede Polding OSB, arrives on September 13, as Vicar Apostolic of New Holland. St. Mary's Chapel becomes his Cathedral.
• 1842 - Polding becomes first Archbishop of Sydney.
• 1851 - Work on extensions to the Cathedral commences, to designs by A. W. N. Pugin, the celebrated English architect and promoter of a more correct gothic style.
• 1865 - The first St. Mary's Cathedral is ruined by fire on the evening of June 29.
• 1868 - The foundation stone of a new Cathedral is blessed by Archbishop Polding. The new Cathedral is to be an outstanding example of gothic revival architecture, designed by William Wilkinson Wardell.
• 1877 - Roger Bede Vaughan OSB becomes Archbishop of Sydney.
• 1882 - The incomplete Northern section of the new Cathedral is opened and dedicated.
• 1885 - Patrick Francis Moran becomes third Archbishop of Sydney, as is soon created Australia's first Cardinal.

• 1900 - The opened section and central tower are completed and dedicated.
• 1905 - Free of debt, the Cathedral is solemnly consecrated.
• 1911 - Archbishop Michael Kelly succeeds Cardinal Moran.
• 1928 - Construction of the Nave is completed, and Archbishop Kelly opens the almost-complete Cathedral on September 2nd. (The total cost of construction amounted to approximately 700,000 over a period of 60 years.)
• 1930 - Pope Pius XI bestows on the Cathedral the title and dignity of a Minor Basilica.
• 1940 - Norman Thomas Gilroy, first Australian-born Archbishop of Sydney succeeds Archbishop Kelly and becomes Cardinal in 1946.
• 1970 - Pope Paul VI visits Sydney, celebrating Mass in the Cathedral.
• 1971 - Archbishop (later Cardinal) James Freeman succeeds Cardinal Gilroy.
• 1983 - Cardinal Freeman retires and Archbishop Edward Bede Clancy is appointed Archbishop of Sydney, being created Cardinal in 1988.
• 1986 & 1995 - Pope John Paul II visits St. Mary's Cathedral.
• 1998 - 2000 - The Spires, designed by Wardell, are built.
• 2001 - St Mary's is the location for the celebration of the Ninth World Day of the Sick.
• 2001 - Cardinal Clancy retires and Archbishop George Pell is appointed Archbishop of Sydney, becoming Cardinal in October 2003.

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