Gawler, SA - St Peter and Paul Catholic

Year Built: 1897

Denomination: Roman Catholic

Saint: Peter & Paul

Address: 1 Parnell Square, Gawler, South Australia, 5118

Architect: Albert Selmar Conrad

Architectural Style: Romanesque

Traditional Owners: Kaurna people

Last Updated: 10/09/2024

See Street View

Send your photos

Click on the image to view larger (4 photos)


History and Architecture:

The Gawler Catholic Mission began with the appointment of two English Cistercian Monks – Frs Norbert and Wolfrey, by Bishop of Adelaide, Doctor Murphy – and they arrived in Gawler in August 1848 from Tasmania.

The church is built on the site of Gawler's first Roman Catholic church, built in 1850, which was South Australia's second Catholic church. The Church cost about £3,500 and was opened on 16 October 1898 replacing one that was opened in 1850. It was erected while the Gawler Mission was under the administration of the Carmelite Fathers, who had taken over that Mission in 1881.

The building is characterised by its plan and its exhibition of some of the detail from earlier Mediterranean Roman Catholic church types. Extensive use of the semi-circular arch, emphasised by projecting moulds and strings, is set off by the distinctive treatment of exteriors with terra cotta tiles, bosses and finials. Constructed of roughly squared random-coursed shale, with substantial brickwork to porch, octagonal towers, strings, copings and surrounds to openings. There is vigorous use of hammer-dressed shale, which contrasts with brickwork trim.

Clergy:

This list may not contain every serving cleric, past or present, for this church.
Further submissions welcomed.

Years Name Annotation D.o.B D.o.D
1848 - 1849 Father Francis Coyle 1852
1849 - 1850 Father John Fallon 1860
1850 - 1856 Father Norbert Woolfrey 1801 1872
1856 - 1857 Father John Roe
1857 - 1872 Father Christopher Raynolds 1834 1893
1872 - 1873 Father James Quinlan
1873 - 1874 Father Theodore Bongaerts 1838 1875
1874 - 1877 Father Nicholas Burke 1882
1877 - 1880 Alfred Alcock OSB 1920
1880 - 1882 Father George Williams 1918
1882 - 1885 Prior Joseph Butler 1918
1885 - 1891 Prior Thomas Kelly 1926
1891 - 1896 Prior Patrick Murray
1896 - 1902 Prior Joseph Kindelan 1926
1902 - 1914 Father Thomas Francis O'Neill 1925
1914 - 1919 Father William McEvoy 1940
1919 - 1930 Father Michael Maher 1946
1930 - 1933 Father Cornelius Crowley 1946
1933 - 1948 Father Daniel O'Sullivan
1948 - 1958 Father Dominic Sparkes 1895 1958
1958 - 1969 Father Thomas Daley
1969 - 1981 Father James McSweeney 1986
1981 - 1989 Father Terrance Holland 2000
1989 - 1996 Father Edward Welling
1996 - 2001 Father Lawrence Moate
2001 - 2019 Father Germano Baiguini
2019 - 2024 Father Jose Pazheparambil
2024 - Father Sefo Mulipola SDB

Organ:

No information currently available. Submissions welcomed.

Contributions:

1. 2024 Lauren Benessy for photos 2, 3 and 4.

Source:

1. Deceased Clergy in Australia, 1788-2024.
2. Gawler History website.
3. Trove.