Image: St Mary of the Angels Basilica, Geelong

Description: Catholic church for Geelong which, although cathedral-like, is within the Archdiocese of Melbourne (parishes from Colac to the South Australian border are within the Diocese of Ballarat). Like the early church in Melbourne, the Geelong parish was established for the early Catholic population of the region, which was virtually exclusively Irish. Analogous to the Melbourne cathedral, the current church is the third church built on the site with larger churches built to accommodate the growing Catholic population of Geelong following the Gold Rush years. Located on a site bounded by Myers Street, Yarra Street and Little Myers Street, the first church built was a temporary wooden chapel in November 1842, which was around four years after the proclamation of Geelong as a township. In 1847 a more substantial church was built to accommodate the parish's growing population which had passed 1,000 people. At the time the Geelong parish covered a large area of south-western Victoria. The Gold Rush from 1851 saw this population almost quadruple to nearly 4000, leading to plans of a larger church which took the form of the building seen today. In 1854 the foundation stone of the church was laid, and work on the building continued until 1856 when the work on the partly completed church ceased. It remained this way until the early 1870's with the church finally dedicated in 1872. At the time the spires were not yet built as per the original plans. These were not completed until the 1930's during the Great Depression, with work done between 1931 and 1937 to complete the project.
Title: St Mary of the Angels Basilica, Geelong
Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86792135@N04/9258665368/
Author: AS 1979
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes