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History of the Roman Catholic Church in the Colony of New South Wales - 1800 to 1836
Reverend John Joseph Therry and St Mary’s Chapel
John Joseph Therry was born at Cork in 1790. He was educated at St. Patricks College, Carlow, and was admitted to the priesthood in 1816.
Fr. John Therry
(Source:
St. Patrick's Carlow College History)
On 20 September 1819 he was appointed for duty in the Colony
by Dr. E. Slater, the Vicar Apostolic for the Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar,
Mauritius and New Holland. He arrived at Sydney on the Janus on 3 May 1820,
holding the appointment of Roman Catholic Chaplain at £100 per annum.
Reverend Connolly went to Hobart in March 1821 leaving
Reverend Therry as the only priest on the mainland for the next five years. His
was an onerous task as he not only had to perform all pastoral duties for the
expanding Colony, but had to deal with the colonial administration.
The building of a church in Sydney, planned from the first
days of the chaplaincy, was one of Reverend Therry’s main occupations.
The foundation-stone of the Catholic Chapel at the Hyde Park,
Sydney was laid by Governor Macquarie on 29 October 1821, and formed the first
Saint Marys cathedral. [The building was totally destroyed by fire on 29 June
1865].
Reverend Terry’s plans for the Chapel were grandiose and soon got out of hand financially. The Administration offered subsidies to the project but also imposed deadlines which Therry could not meet.
St. Mary's Chapel
An Aboriginal family pauses on the road near the old St Mary's Cathedral in 1836
(Austin, J G: A Series of lithographic drawings of
Sydney and its environs. 1836. PXA 581, plate 6. Mitchell Library, State Library
of New South Wales.)
(Source:
City of Sydney: Aboriginal Involvement with the Church)
• Funding for St Mary’s Chapel
EXTRACT OF LETTER FROM F. GOULBURN, COLONIAL SECRETARY TO REVEREND JOSEPH THERRY
– DATED 4/12/1822
‘After the anxiety so generally felt, the propriety of opening a fresh
Subscription of that religious, political and elegant undertaking, naturally
suggests itself; and in any List that may be opened, I am directed by the
Governor to enter the name of this government for a sum equal to the sum total
of all such additional donations’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 11, pp 383-384].
EXTRACT OF LETTER FROM REVERAND JOSEPH THERRY TO F. GOULBURN, COLONIAL
SECRETARY – DATED 9/9/1824
‘I cannot reasonably indulge a hope of being enabled, ..... to complete the
Catholic Chapel before the expiration of, at least, five years from this period,
unless His Excellency be graciously pleased to allow the regulation adopted by
him and notified to me , by your letter of the 4 December 1822, to have a
retrospective effect, which would entitle the Chapel to a sum equal in amount to
the Subscriptions received towards its erection prior to that date, as well as
those which should be obtained subsequently to it’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 11, p 384].
EXPENDITURE BY GOVERNMENT ON ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL AS AT 12 OCTOBER 1824
Value of the assistance in work, money and timber given to the Roman Catholic
Chapel by Government exclusive of nineteen full sets of slops:
-
Mechanics lent by Government £234
-
Timber sold by Government £18
-
Order on the Colonial Treasury £200
TOTAL £452
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 11, p 385].
Reverend Therry caused considerable dissension in the Colony in his dealings
with the Administration. Governor Brisbane in a despatch to Earl Bathurst called
for additional Roman Catholic priests and further government assistance for the
completion of the Chapel.
EXTRACT OF DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR BRISBANE TO EARL BATHURST – DATED
28/10/1824
‘Although I am no advocate for the tenets or doctrines of the Church of
Rome, still I consider that, in proportion as Roman Catholics increase, Priests
should be sent for their spiritual instruction, as it is a remarkable fact, of
which perhaps Your Lordship cannot be aware, that every murder or diabolical
crime, which has been committed in the Colony since my arrival, has been
perpetrated by Roman Catholics.
And this I ascribe entirely to their barbarous ignorance
and total want of education, the invariable companions of bigotry and cruelty,
as well as the parent crime.
Had there never been a Priest here, perhaps the Roman Catholic worship might
have dwindled away or become ingrafted with the Protestant.
Whereas one Priest only instils into the minds of his
flocks that they must not attend the service of heretics, and it is morally
impossible that one individual can dispense the religious rites and ceremonies
to far the greater proportion of the population of these colonies, dispensed
over hundreds of square miles.....
I induce your Lordship to authorise me to devote a certain
sum out of the public revenue to assist in completing the Chapel at Sydney, on
which they have already expended nearly £3,000, and towards which the local
Government has given £452..... As the walls only are finished, I should beg to
suggest that government should assist in roofing it in, putting floors and
windows, and then leave the remainder to themselves’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 11, pp 382-383].
In February 1826, Earl Bathurst ordered [Governor Darling]
that Therry’s salary should be discontinued, and offered him £300 for his return
passage to England. But Therry refused to leave the Colony. Governor Darling
reported most adversely on his conduct in various despatches.
Meanwhile Reverends Roger Murphy and Daniel Power were
appointed as official Chaplains to New South Wales. However Roger Murphy did not
come. Reverend Therry still continued to exert considerable influence and he did
not have a good working relationship with Daniel Power. Still St Mary’s Chapel
could not be completed.
• Discontinuation of Reverend Therry’s Salary
EXTRACT OF DESPATCH FROM EARL BATHURST TO GOVERNOR DARLING – DATED 21/2/1826
‘I request that you will take the earliest opportunity of intimating to the
reverend Rev. Therry, the Roman Catholic Clergyman at New South Wales, that His
Majesty’s Government have thought fit to direct that the further payment of his
salary should be discontinued, one month after he shall have received this
notification, and that, in case he should be desirous of quitting the Colony for
the purpose of returning home, £300 will be issued to him to defray the expenses
of his passage, but that this sum will not be paid until he shall have actually
embarked, nor even then if he shall have ill conducted himself after he had
received notice of his recall, or at any time prior to his embarkation’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 12, pp 173].
• Appointments of Reverends Roger Murphy and Daniel Power
EXTRACT FROM DESPATCH OF EARL BATHURST TO GOVERNOR DARLING – DATED 20/6/1826
‘I do myself the honour to inform you that I have sanctioned the appointment
of two Roman Catholic Clergyman, the Rev. Roger Murphy and Rev. Daniel Power,
for the service of New South Wales, with salaries of £100 per annum each, to
commence from the date of their embarkation, of which six months advance has
been made in this Country’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 12, pp 346].
• Character and Conduct of Reverend Therry
DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR DARLING TO EARL BATHURST – DATED 6/9/1826
‘Your Lordship will perceive that Rev. Therry is a man of strong feelings
and not much discretion. He is evidently disposed to be troublesome, and,
constituted as the community is, might be dangerous, a large proportion of the
convicts being of the lowest class of Irish Catholics, ignorant in the extreme,
and in proportion bigoted and under the domination of their Priest. He is
indefatigable in his endeavours to preserve his influence amongst his
countrymen, and is constantly going from place to place with this view. From the
similarity, he can hardly fail to succeed......
I must confess to your Lordship that I have no desire to
see any more of the Clergy of the Catholic persuasion here. The good they might
affect through the medium of education is counteracted by the subjugation of
mind, in which those under their influence are kept.
Mr Therry is anxious for the completion of his church, but though fully
disposed to assist in this object, as far as your Lordship has directed, it is
not in my power to do so at present without interrupting the progress of some of
the public buildings. I have informed him that, so soon as I possess the means,
I shall afford him the necessary aid.......
I understand Rev Therry is acquiring wealth, and, as his
influence will increase with his means, his immediate removal appears the more
desirable. I would beg to point out that, in selecting a Catholic Priest for
this Colony, it is most important that an Englishman should have the preference,
the Catholics here being, I believe, nearly all Irish’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 12, pp 543-44].
• Unwillingness of Reverend Therry to Leave
EXTRACT FROM DESPATCH OF GOVERNOR DARLING TO EARL BATHURST – DATED 18/11/1826
‘On communicating to him [Reverend Therry)] the Orders of His Majesty’s
Government, he informed me .... though deprived of salary which he observed he
had intended to relinquish, he should consider it incumbent on him to continue
his assistance to the Roman Catholics, until the arrival of some accredited
Clergyman from Home.
He stated that it was not his intention to leave the
Colony, though, if required to do so, he should not resist the Orders of
Government. It has not, however, appeared to me advisable to give such an order,
as I do not anticipate any evil consequences from his continuing his assistance,
until the arrival of his successor; and any order for his immediate removal
would in all probability have called forth some expression of the public opinion
in his favour, which is as well avoided and might for the moment have excited an
unpleasant sensation’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 12, p 693].
• Decline of tenders for the Completion of St Mary’s and Temporary
Accommodation for Worship
EXTRACT OF DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR DARLING TO UNDER SECRETARY HAY – DATED
13/8/1827
‘To afford the necessary means for putting the Roman Catholic Chapel in a
state fit for the performance of divine worship, that, the Government possessing
no means which could be applied to this purpose, tenders were in consequence
called for, and, those received appearing most unreasonable, £5,800 having been
demanded, I have felt it necessary to decline authorizing the undertaking.
It appears the Roman Catholics themselves very properly
attribute the present unfinished state of the building to Rev. Therry, the late
Chaplain, whose ostentations design has been the cause of its not being
completed. I have seen Rev. Power, the present Chaplain, who appears satisfied
with the reasons. I have assigned for the Government declining to complete the
Chapel. I am happy to say that, as a means of removing in some degree the
inconvenience to which the Catholics would be exposed from the want of a
suitable place in Sydney for the performance of divine worship, the Archdeacon
[Church of England] has been so good as to allow them to make use of part of the
public school houses, until their Chapel shall be in a state to afford the
accommodation required.
Rev. Therry, who still continues here and who is extremely
intemperate and offensive on all occasions, is I understand, endeavouring to
raise a subscription for the purpose of completing the Chapel, but I should
doubt the possibility of his obtaining the necessary funds. I should have stated
that he proposed undertaking the work himself on a reduced scale of £1,200 or
£1,550 below the tenders, which had been received. But, as I was satisfied this
was merely to induce the Government to embark in the undertaking in the hope
that having gone a certain length it would ultimately defray the whole expense,
I declined acceding to his proposal’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 13, pp 503-4].
• Financial Advance to Reverend Daniel Power
EXTARCT FROM DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR DARLING TO UNDER SECRETARY HAY – DATED
29/12/1827
‘I have authorized the issue of £100 to the Reverend Power, Roman Catholic
Chaplain, in addition to his salary of £100 for the present year. The state of
his finances rendered this indispensable, and it was besides desirable to attach
him to the Government, and prevent, if possible, Mr Therry prejudicing him and
rendering him an instrument of annoyance, as he had proved himself....
I have intimated to Rev. Power that I shall be disposed to
allow him, after this year, an addition of £50 to his salary, until the Catholic
Chapel is completed, as he informs me he cannot receive that aid from his
parishioners, which is necessary to support a respectable appearance, until the
Chapel is opened.....
I beg to add that the Reverend Murphy, who was reported by
the Colonial Agent to have been appointed, has not arrived, as I understand from
Rev. Power he has no intention of coming out’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 13, pp 567].
• Opposition of Reverend Therry to Reverend Daniel Power. Call for the
appointment of two Roman Catholic Chaplains
EXTRACT OF SECOND DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR DARLING TO SIR GEORGE MURRAY - DATED
16/3/1830
‘Mr. Power’s appointment became almost nugatory from the craftiness and
superior talent of his adversary Mr. Therry. I say adversary, for they were
always in a state of hostility, and some very indecorous proceedings have taken
place between them, even in the Chapel. Mr. Therry has continued,
notwithstanding his dismissal from the appointment he had held here, to retain
possession of the Chapel House,
.... to the exclusion of Mr. Power the accredited
Chaplain, who was obliged to hire a small lodging and was therefore on his very
inadequate income unable to support himself in a becoming manner. Besides, being
unfortunately addicted to drinking to excess, his character was not of that
description to give weight to the situation he held, and his artful opponent
immediately saw and took advantage of this circumstance.
In selecting individuals for the situations in question, I
would take leave to suggest that the principal person should be capable of
asserting and supporting the rights (if I may so term it) of his situation,
which Mr. Power was not, otherwise Mr. Therry will assert the same independence
and continue the same course of proceedings as in the case of Mr. Power’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 15, pp 382-383].
• Death of Daniel Power and Occupation of Chapel House by Reverend
Therry
EXTRACT OF DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR DARLING TO SIR GEORGE MURRAY – DATED 16/3/1830
‘I beg leave to report to you the death of Reverend Daniel Power, the only
Roman Catholic priest, accredited by the Government in this Colony. The Reverend
Therry still continues here, notwithstanding his dismissal from the situation he
had held, and has retained possession of the Chapel House in defiance of every
exertion, which has been made to remove him. In sending out a successor for the
late Mr. Power, it may therefore be advisable to furnish him with the necessary
means of obliging Mr. Therry to relinquish the Chapel House, which Mr. Power was
never able to effect’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 15, pp 382].
• Appointment of Reverend Dowling to succeed Reverend Power
EXTRACT FROM DESPATCH OF SIR GEORGE MURRAY TO GOVERNOR DARLING – DATED ON
15/11/1830
‘It is not in the power of His Majesty’s Government, at the present moment,
to send out to the Colony a Clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church, who may be
capable of contending successfully against Rev. Therry, yet I am in hope that an
appointment of this nature will not be long delayed.
‘In the mean time, I have appointed the Reverend Dowling
to succeed the late Rev. Power, and I trust he will be found to discharge the
duties of his situation in a more becoming manner than they appear to have been
executed by his predecessors.
In consequence of your representations as to the inadequacy of the former income
assigned to the Roman Catholic clergyman, I have to authorise the payment (from
the date of his embarkation) to the Rev. Dowling of a salary at the rate of £150
per annum’.
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 15, p 818].
Governor Darling in one of his last despatches home noted the absence of
Religious Orders on the Colony.
• Absence of Religious Orders in the Colony
EXTRACT FROM DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR DARLING TO SIR GEORGE MURRAY – DATED ON
29/3/1831
‘For your information ...there is no religious Order, Community or Society,
nor any persons in this Colony, that I am aware of who are bound by Religious or
monastic Vows’,
[Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Volume 16, p 228].
Links
Australian Dictionary of Biography:
John
Joseph Therry (1790 - 1864)
ABC: The Ark: Australian Gothic
[with reference to St. Mary's Cathedral and Fr.Therry]
Sydney Architecture: St. Mary's Cathedral - images and history
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