Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, Thursday Island facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church |
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Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, 2001
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| 10°35′01″S 142°12′55″E / 10.5836°S 142.2154°E | |
| Country | Australia |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| History | |
| Status | Church |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Years built | c. 1885 – c. 1905 |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Thursday Island |
| Diocese | Cairns |
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church is a historic Roman Catholic church located at 120 Douglas Street, Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia. It was built between about 1885 and 1905. This church is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register because of its important history and beautiful design.
Contents
The Church's Early History
The Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church on Thursday Island was built by French and Italian priests. These priests were part of a group called the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. They arrived on Thursday Island in October 1884.
They started the first Catholic mission in the Torres Strait area. Around 1885, they built a small church. Some people think this might be the same church building we see today. If it is, it would be the oldest building still standing on Thursday Island. By about 1905, the church looked much like it does now.
Thursday Island became very important in the late 1800s. It was a main port for ships and a center for pearl fishing. Many people from different countries came to work there.
Missionaries and Their Work
The Mission of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart started in France in the 1860s. In 1881, Pope Leo XIII asked them to start a mission in New Guinea. The priests decided to set up a mission on Thursday Island first. This would be a helpful stop for their journey to New Guinea.
The first missionaries arrived on Thursday Island in October 1884. At first, they held Sunday Mass in a hotel. Many of the people who came were Filipino pearl fishers.
In 1885, the priests bought some land on Thursday Island. By 1886, they had built a small church and a house. The mission grew to include three buildings. These were a church, a small convent for nuns, and a house for the priests. The priests' house also served as a place for sick priests from New Guinea to recover.
From 1884 to 1889, Thursday Island was the starting point for many Catholic missions. These missions were going to places like British New Guinea and New Britain.
Sisters, Schools, and Hospitals
The first Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart arrived in January 1886. A year later, they started a small school on the verandah of their convent. Around 1900, a proper school building was built.
The Sisters also opened Thursday Island's first hospital. This was before the government built its own hospital around 1910. In 1889, the missionaries also opened St Henry's Roman Catholic Asylum. This was a place where the Sisters cared for and educated children of all backgrounds. This asylum closed in 1942. Later, in the 1960s, it became the new home for Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School.
Art in the Church
In 1935, a talented artist named David Sing painted murals inside the church. David Sing was born on Thursday Island in 1911. He painted amazing pictures on the back wall of the sanctuary and on the front of the altar. These paintings used a special technique called Trompe-l'œil, which makes flat paintings look like they are three-dimensional.
David Sing became a lay missionary at 17. He painted religious art in churches on Thursday Island, in Port Moresby, and in Tully. He later studied art in Sydney, Paris, and Rome. His paintings became very popular and were even collected by famous people.
Changes and Modern Times
In 1938, the Sacred Heart Mission in the Torres Strait became part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Darwin. Later, in 1967, it moved to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns. Since then, priests from Cairns have served the parish.
Since 1968, the Sacred Heart school on Thursday Island has been run by the Sisters of Mercy from Cairns. Today, the Thursday Island parish includes missions on Hammond Island, Horn Island, and Bamaga.
In 1983, the church's metal spire was replaced with a new one made of fibreglass. This was part of a plan to renovate the church for its 100th anniversary. The roof was also replaced in 1992.
Church Design and Features
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church is a large timber building with a gabled roof. The roof is covered with galvanised iron. The church stands on concrete foundations. It is located on Douglas Street, high up on a slope, making it easy to see from the water. It is part of a group of Catholic buildings, including the presbytery, convent, and school.
The church is shaped like a rectangle. It has a small front porch and verandahs on the sides. There is also a small room at the back called a vestry. The outside walls are made of timber boards. The church is raised off the ground on concrete supports.
The front of the church faces south-east. It has a fibreglass spire, which is a copy of the original. The main front door and the windows next to it have Gothic arches. Windows with similar shapes are found along the side walls. All the windows have many small panes of glass. Some have bright red, blue, green, and yellow glass.
Outside, the church grounds have stone walls that create terraces. Concrete steps lead from the lower areas up to the church's front door.
Inside, the church is one large rectangular space. It is divided into the main seating area, called the nave, and the sanctuary where the altar is. The ceiling and walls are lined with timber boards. At the back, above the entrance, there is a choir loft. This loft has a decorative cast-iron railing and beautiful timber work. A wooden confessional is located near the entrance.
The floors are made of timber. The sanctuary floor is raised about 60 centimeters higher than the nave floor. It can be reached by two steps. The railing that used to separate the sanctuary from the nave has been removed. The sanctuary has a beautifully carved timber altar. The entire back wall of the sanctuary has the Trompe-l'œil mural painted in 1935. There are similar paintings on the front of the altar. Above the altar, there is a round window with painted glass. Two doors in the back wall lead to the vestry.
Why the Church is Important
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1998 for several reasons:
- It shows Queensland's history: The church helps us understand the early work of European missionaries in the Torres Strait. It also shows how Thursday Island grew into an important center in the late 1800s.
- It helps us learn about history: The church can teach us about the early work of David Sing, an artist born on Thursday Island who became famous worldwide.
- It shows a type of building: The church is a great example of a late 19th-century timber church. It has beautiful Gothic details and side verandahs. Many of its original features are still there, including the choir loft, pews, altar, and the 1930s painted murals.
- It is beautiful: The outside of the church, with its decorative verandahs, porch, and spire, is very pleasing to look at. It is a well-known landmark on Thursday Island.
- It is important to the community: The church has a very strong and special religious meaning for the local community, especially the islander people, for their cultural and spiritual life.
- It is linked to important people: The church is closely connected to the work of the Order of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Torres Strait and New Guinea. This includes their founder, Fr Louis Andre Navarre, and the early work of artist David Sing.
