Sacred Heart Cathedral, Newcastle West

The site, between Hunter and Parry Streets, was purchased from the Australian Agricultural Company by Fr Michael Ryan in 1875 on the approval of Right Reverend James Murray, first Bishop of Maitland. Murray was intent on expanding the number of Catholic schools, buildings erected served a dual purpose as schools which inevitably became Mass centres on Sundays. The first school-church was built in 1875 with classes commencing in 1876. A new separate Sacred Heart School was built in 1895. When Sacred Heart Church collapsed during a storm in 1925, Bishop Dwyer agreed to building a new Sacred Heart Church but only if £10,000 was raised before any work began. Fundraising efforts did not prove successful until Fr Victor Peters returned from a trip to Chicago, bringing back the idea of the envelope system. The system was put into place and by the end of 1927, £8,000 had been raised. By September the target had been reached and on 23 September 1928 the foundation stone was laid by Bishop Dwyer and the Archbishop of San Francisco, the Most Rev Edward Hanna. Finally debt free, Sacred Heart Church at Hamilton was officially blessed and opened on Trinity Sunday, 15 June 1930. During the earthquake in December 1989, the original concrete copula was severely damaged. It was removed and placed on the grounds of the Cathedral as a memorial to earthquake victims. 1995 saw the relocation of the newly renamed Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle from Maitland to the Hamilton precinct. Sacred Heart Church then became the Cathedral for the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.