| 40,000BC | Years of Aboriginal residence. |
| 1606 | Quiros searches for Terra Australis and names part of Vanuatu ‘La Australia del Espiritu Santo’. |
| 1788 | Jan 23 First Fleet enters Sydney Cove; Jan 25 La Perouse enters Botany Bay; Abbé Mones, his chaplain, celebrates the first Mass within Australian territory; death and burial of Fr Receveur; 3 Feb 1788 First Anglican service. |
| 1792 | Catholic settlers at Parramatta petition Governor Phillip for a chaplain. |
| 1800 | Fr James Harold & Fr James Dixon arrive as convicts. |
| 1801 | Third convict priest, Fr Peter O’Neil, arrives and is sent to Norfolk Island |
| 1803 | Governor King proclaims toleration of Catholics; Dixon says first public Mass. |
| 1804 | March 4 Castle Hill rebellion of Irish convicts. Dixon’s permit withdrawn. |
| 1817 | Aug 3 Fr Jeremiah O’Flynn arrives – without government credentials. |
| 1818 | O’Flynn arrested and deported. |
| 1820 | Fr Philip Conolly and Fr John Therry arrive as official chaplains. |
| 1821 | Conolly moves to Van Diemen’s Land, Therry left in charge in NSW; First Catholic school at Parramatta. Oct 29 Governor Macquarie lays foundation stone for St Mary’s Church, on site of later cathedral. |
| 1826 | Dec. 25 Fr Daniel Power as chaplain; Therry moves to Parramatta. |
| 1828 | First census of NSW shows 69% of the white population Protestant and 30% Catholic. |
| 1829 | WA settlement begins. |
| 1830 | Catholic Emancipation Act promulgated for NSW. |
| 1831 | Fr CV Dowling OP arrives as chaplain. |
| 1832 | Fr John McEncroe arrives, and Attorney-General John Plunkett. |
| 1833 | Feb 18 Dr W B Ullathorne arrives in Sydney as Vicar-General; NSW Legislative Council makes grants for the appointment of four new chaplains, the completion of three unfinished churches, and £800 a year for schools and schoolteachers. |
| 1834 | John Bede Polding created bishop and appointed vicar-apostolic of New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land |
| 1835 | Polding arrives in Sydney as bishop; first resident clergy appointed to districts. |
| 1836 | Governor Bourke’s Church Act provides government funds for all major churches; John Baptist Pompallier consecrated bishop for missions in Oceania; South Australia first settlers; Financing secured for Catholic orphanage; foundation of St Patrick’s Church, Parramatta, |
| 1837 | Ullathorne’s pamphlet The Catholic Mission in Australasia published in London and attracts Catholic support for mission. |
| 1838 | Pompallier takes up residence in Auckland; first Marist priests at Woolloomooloo; St Mary’s Seminary opened at Bishop’s House; Fr Goold osa, Fr John Brady, Caroline Chisholm, Sisters of Charity arrive in Sydney; NSW Attorney-General John Plunkett achieves the conviction of seven perpetrators of the Myall Creek Massacre. |
| 1839 | Catholic newspaper Australasian Chronicle founded. |
| 1840 | End of Transportation to NSW. |
The ACHS Timeline
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