Koroit, VIC - Infant Jesus Catholic

History and Architecture:

The Church was blessed and opened on Sunday 13th November 1870, by Rev. D. Fitzpatrick V.G., acting on behalf of Bishop Goold, who was away attending the first Vatican Council at the time. The Examiner next day said more than one thousand people waited for the doors to open. The contractor for the main construction was Broadbent Watson & Co. of Melbourne.

The architect was said to be Mr. D.J. Howe, according to all newspaper's of the day. However it is now known that Howe was the supervisor of works. The Architect who drew the plans and was responsible for it all, was the emi-nent 19th century English Architect William Wilkinson Wardell. This fact was not known until 1970, one hundred years after the Church was completed. The discovery was made by Stephen Walsh, Professor of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, England.

A Foundation stone reads, " A.M.D.G. This stone was laid by The Most Rev Joseph Higgins D.D. Bishop of Ballarat Sunday July 5th 1914 A.D.".