On 7 September 1941 the new St Patrick’s Church, the fourth Catholic Church in Araluen, was proudly opened free of debt, replacing a wooden structure, at the same location.
The first Catholic Church was in place about 1854 at Sweeney’s Flat, Mudmelong.
Services were noted in 1858, as ‘The Araluen Valley is visited about every six weeks by Mr. Edward O’Brien, and then Divine Service is performed in a tent, as no place of worship has been erected to receive the reverend gentleman’.1Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Tuesday 10 August 1858, p 4. ‘Mr. Sweeney, of Lower Araluen, has offered the use of his large room for the performance of divine service, whenever the Rev. Mr. O’Brien shall visit the Lower Diggings‘2Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser (NSW : 1848-1859), Wednesday 27 October 1858, p 2.
The second Catholic Church building, following the population, was moved to Crown Flat in 1859, and then rebuilt in a more central location at Crown Flat in 1862.
In June 1859, the Sydney Morning Herald3Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Thursday 30 June 1859, p 5. reported land surveys were conducted to mark out land for the ‘erection of a church, a schoolroom, and a reserve for a burial ground‘. Adding in July4Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Thursday 14 July 1859, p 5. that ‘A Roman Catholic Church is on the eve of being erected at the Lower Araluen by voluntary contributions.’ By August of that year the Freeman’s Journal5Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Saturday 6 August 1859, p 7. reported ‘Mr. Murphy, the contractor for the new Catholic Church at Araluen had all the joists, sleepers, and other timber required for the building drawn in.’
By November 1859, the Braidwood Despatch6Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW: 1850 – 1932), Saturday 17 September 1859, p 3. reported ‘The new Catholic Church of Araluen is rapidly advancing, and it is expected to be ready for opening on Sunday, the 6th November [1859] … the ladies, who have been most indefatigable in their exertions in raising funds for the decorations and fittings of the interior’. Mrs. Hogan and Mrs. Gallagher have handed over to the Rev. E. O’Brien the sum of £14, contributed for that purpose’. The ladies are detailed in the Freeman’s Journal7Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Wednesday 10 August 1859, p 2. as ‘A committee of ladies, consisting of Mrs. Greenwood, Mrs. Hogan, Mrs. Sweeny, Mis. Barrett, Mrs. Nicholls, Mrs. George, and Miss Mary Anne Maher, is formed at Lower Araluen for the purpose of raising subscriptions towards the decoration of the interior of the new Catholic Church.’
The move to a far more eligible site occurred in December 1861, with the Freeman’s Journal8Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1932), Wednesday 4 December 1861, p 3. reporting ‘The fabric of the Catholic Church recently erected near Sweeney’s Flat, is in course of removal to another site on Crown Flat, near the schoolroom of that denomination. The new site is a far more eligible one than that which was formerly occupied, and being situated in a centrical position will be much more convenient of access by the population. The removal and rebuilding of the Chapel, is under the superintendence and contract of Messrs. Greenwood and Barrett.’
In February 1862, the Freemans’ Journal9Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Saturday 8 February 1862, p 5. reported ‘The removal of the Catholic Church at Araluen has been completed. The new edifice stands on the hill at Crown Flat, in a most imposing situation. It has been substantially erected and enlarged, and is now capable of holding upwards of two-hundred persons. The works attendant upon the removal and re-erection have been carried out under the personal superintendence of Messrs. Greenwood and Barrett— Braidwood Observer.’
‘The Catholic Church at Araluen was entirely demolished recently by a severe gale of wind’ the Freemans’ Journal10Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Wednesday 24 December 1862, p 3. reported in December 1862. Adding ‘We are happy, however, to state that owing to the perseverance of Dillon and party, the work of rebuilding … as to render it fit for the service of the Church on Sunday next. The building is now spoken of as being a very substantial one, and likely to stand the fury of the elements for ever, be they ever so unruly‘.
Historical Maps11NSW Land Registry Service, Parish and Historical Maps. Historical Land Records Viewer https://www.nswlrs.com.au/Parish-and-Historical-Maps. Accessed 18 February 2023. indicate the land purchased by Reverend Edward O’Brien, at Crown Flat was Portion 21.
D. J. Barrett in a letter in 1926, in the Catholic Press12Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895-1942), Thursday 21 January 1926, p 33. recollects, ‘I was born in the Happy Valley of Araluen, in the South Coast district, where rich alluvial gold was discovered in the early fifties. Dean O’Brien was the first priest stationed at Braidwood … Father Riordan arrived from Ireland in about 1866, he was appointed to take charge of Araluen, Irish Corner, and Major’s Creek … He took up his residence at Crown Flat, Araluen, across the road from our house, in a building that was a store kept by my uncle, James Maher. The chapel, of slab walls, with shingled roof, was on a little knoll 100 yards from where I lived … As years rolled by, the miners moved up the valley, after the gold lead. My uncle, Tom Barrett, bought the old chapel, and Father Riordan secured another old building at Redbank, and transformed it into a chapel. At the same time, he built a new presbytery on a nice site at Upper Araluen, about a mile from the chapel’.
The third Catholic Church13St Patrick’s Araluen Restoration.pdf, 2021, a wooden structure, originally a hotel, and then a grain store, and was re-purposed to become St Patrick’s, serving the community from 1867 until 1941.14Chris Woodland. Araluen. A History through Photographs c. 1840–2000. Snap Printing, Williamstown, VIC. 2014. p 30. 15St Bede’s Parish Braidwood. http://cg.org.au/braidwood/History.aspx. Accessed 18 February 2023.
It operated to enable upwards of 300 parishioners to attend Sunday Mass during all that time. In 1870, Father William Riordan, Parish Priest of Araluen, details the Catholic population of his district as 2,000, with 250 children at Catholic Schools.16Peter Malone. The Catholic Church on a Goldfields Parish. Braidwood – Araluen 1852 – 1869. p 74.
St Patrick’s c 1920
l-r main group – Anne Moylan, Nell Kelly (nee Pickett), Mollie Collins, Mollie McFadden and others.
The Catholic Freeman’s Journal,17Catholic Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1932-1942), Thursday 11 September 1941, p 4. lists the Araluen priests, detailing ‘The earliest records are dated 1871, and show Father William Lyons as the priest in charge. There may have been another before him. After him came Fathers P. Walsh, W. J. Riordan P. Hewitt, E. Walsh, W. M. O’Connell, T. Harnett, J. Murphy, Jas. J. Mahoney, J. P. Prendergast, John Flahavan, B. J. Sheridan, Thos. Ryan, P. J. Baugh, E. Hanrahan, M. McNamara, A. J. McHugh, P. J. O’Donnell, Fabian Dwyer, Jas. McDade, and Timothy O’Collins. This long line of pastors filled up the space of 60 years exactly, and closed the life of Araluen as a separate parish. In 1929 the Parish returned to Braidwood.’
The Araluen Parish Return18Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Archdiocesan Administrative Files’ Series CG6. ‘Braidwood Correspondence 1857–1970’ Box 23 file 3. dated 24 July 1920, notes ‘The Church and Convent at Araluen do not belong to us. Rent has always been paid for them‘. The 1939 Braidwood Parish Balance sheet records expenditure of ‘£5 Rent Araluen’, and ‘£5 Deposit on church Block Araluen’. The next year, the 1939 statement itemised a payment of ‘£51 for the purchase of land, and survey in Araluen’. The Braidwood Dispatch 19Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW: 1888 – 1889; 1895; 1897 – 1954), Friday 12 September 1941, page 2 reported in September 1942 ‘Fr. Devine … said he had a long list of people to thank. One was Mr. Alley, from whom they were able to acquire the piece of land upon which to build their church. ‘When I came to the parish first I met Mr. Alley and asked him about the land, but was told there was not much hope,’ said the speaker. Finally, however Mr. Alley was successful in getting the transfer through for us. We are thankful to him.’
The ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for fourth Catholic Church, was reported in December 1940 in the Braidwood Review and District Advocate Newspaper.20Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1915-1954), Tuesday 19 November 1940, p 2. ‘Attendees at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of their “new church” on December 1st 1940, will witness the inauguration of the fourth Catholic Church in Araluen. The first was erected as far back as 1854, at Sweeney’s Flat, Mudmelong. It did not remain there for long. Up the creek it came, following the fast moving diggers to Crown Flat, for, in 1861 of June 8, Mr. Gilligan, as Treasurer received £60 to pay for the removal of the Church21Catholic Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1932-1942), Thursday 11 September 1941, p 4., to Crown Flat; and finally the structure now being displaced by the new church’.
The bricks were re-used from a Bank of NSW re-building22 Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1915-1954), Tuesday 26 November 1940, p 7. and gave the people of Araluen the chance of replacing a really reproachful structure with a building which will be an ornament to the village. On 7 September 1941, the current St Patrick’s Church was [proudly] opened free of debt with the support of the community. At the Official Opening 23Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW: 1888 – 1889; 1895; 1897 – 1954), Friday 12 September 1941, page 2 ‘Bishop McGuire said the cross on the front of the Church been made with stones from out of the golden creek‘.
The original old wooden pews and Stations of the Cross adorn the walls. The High Alter from St Bede’s Roman Catholic Church in Braidwood was re-installed at St Patrick’s in 1912.
An Episcopal Visitation is a bishop’s official pastoral visit to a congregation of the diocese. Episcopal visitation books (circa 1941-1968)24Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Archdiocesan Administrative Files’ Series CG6. ‘Braidwood Correspondence 1857–1970’ Box 23 file 3. provide details for these visits. St Patrick’s in Araluen in 1941, is detailed as a brick church, newly build, with a congregation of 108, of whom 70 attend the fortnightly Mass, and in 1950 as a brick church, in very good condition, with a congregation of 58, of whom 33 attend the fortnightly Mass. By 1968, St Patrick’s in Araluen is recorded as a brick church, in good condition, with a congregation of 16, of whom 10 attend the monthly Mass.
Many family events and celebrations have taken place at St Patrick’s over the years. The only regular service at present in St Patrick’s Church is the Stations of the Cross / Rosary which is held on the first Friday of each month.25St Patrick’s Araluen Restoration.pdf, 2021.
St Joseph’s Convent
On 25 June 1885, the then Archbishop consented to a small convent, which was opened by the Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, the Right Rev Dr Higgins on 11 November 1889.26Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Saturday 23 November 1889, p 16. When the Sisters of St Joseph came to open a school in 1889, they stayed for nine months at Phillip Madigan’s’ Perseverance Hotel before their convent was ready.27Malone. The Catholic Church on a Goldfields Parish. p 76.
The School Committee requested Sister Mary MacKillop to choose the site on which the convent would be erected. At that time there were 90 children on the school roll and an average attendance of 75 daily. Sister Mary MacKillop arrived in Araluen from Captains Flat on Tuesday 30 July 1901. She arrived on Tuesday night, spent time at the school on the Wednesday, gave the children a half day holiday and lollies, again saw the children on 31 July and departed for Moruya on 1 August 1901. The school was conducted by the Sisters of St Joseph from 1889 until 1928.
In November 192128Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1915-1954), Tuesday 22 November 1921, p 5. a large number of residents assembled to make a presentation to Sister Mary Aloysius, the Superioress of the Convent, on fifty years of service. During the seven years she had been in Araluen she had endeared herself to all with whom she came in contact. The Araluen Bazaar fundraising for Catholics of the Araluen parish in 1923 noted amongst the raffle winners a box of chocolates, won by Sister Honorine.29Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1954), Friday 12 October 1923, p 4.
The last teaching nuns Sisters Amanda, Honorine and Aloysius 30Woodland. Araluen. A History through Photographs p 29. left the valley when the school closed in 1929.
By November 1928, great preparations were being made for the last best ever Convent Ball, as it had been decided to close the Convent next year.31Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1915-1954), Tuesday 20 November 1928, p 2.