The 1856 Census revealed a marked increase in the number of people living in Toodyay who were Catholic. Most of the recently arrived Enrolled Pensioner Guards and Irish immigrants were Catholics, as were other ticket-of-leave holders. In 1854, there were 263 Catholics in Toodyay, which amounted to almost thirty percent of its total population.
Raffaele Martelli
They had neither church nor chaplain, and Bishop Rosendo Salvado made it his business to move among the local people to serve their needs. He began organizing a parish in Toodyay and selected a site for its church. In November 1855, Canon Raphael Martelli was appointed the parish priest of both York and Toodyay.[1] He would celebrate mass in Toodyay, Northam, York and Bindoon. He travelled everywhere on horse-back. The journeys were especially arduous in the cold, wet days of winter. Regular trips to New Norcia were very dear to his heart.
For a while, Martelli lived in an unfinished Pensioner Guard cottage next to the new Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot located upstream from the townsite. When, in May 1856, he was asked to vacate, he moved to an old straw hut belonging to young Pensioner Guard, David Gailey.
Martelli's stay in the straw hut was relatively short. He was given permission to occupy the old superintendent's office at the new site of the Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot. By August he had moved in. The wooden office was in a very poor state, without windows, no lock and its walls riddled with holes. Gusts of icy wind regularly blasted through. But for a blazing fire night and day, Martelli would not have survived the winter, when nightly temperatures hovered around 0°C (32°F). The raging waters of the Avon River often isolated Martelli from his parishioners at the Toodyay townsite.[2]:173
On 8 June 1857, lots R51, R52 and R53 were registered on behalf of trustees for the Roman Catholic Church for the building of a Catholic school house, a priest's dwelling and a church. The church would stand on the corner of Charles St and River Terrace. On 8 June 1857, lot R67 was also registered on behalf of trustees for the Roman Catholic Church for use as a Catholic cemetery.[2]:173 The Cemetery was gazetted on 18 August 1857.[3] All lots were situated in Charles St, which is now known as Picnic Hill Road.
Construction and use as church and school
The foundation stone for the Church of Sancta Maria was laid on 8 March 1857, with a service witnessed with "the most heartfelt joy and sincere piety on the part of the faithful who flocked from every part of the district".[4] For the parishioners had little means, and most of the building was being achieved through the efforts of voluntary labour. Built of brick, it measured 8.5 metres (28ft) in length and 6.4 metres (21ft) in width. It contained a fireplace.[5]:135 The church building also contained a small schoolroom and modest accommodation for the parish priest.
In February 1858, whilst negotiating the shingles for the roof, Martelli was called upon to return to Fremantle. He did not oversee the completion of the building at Toodyay.[citation needed]
By the end of 1858, building was complete. In January 1859, Bishop Serra performed the blessing of the Church of Sancta Maria.[5]:136 That year the church opened its doors to the Toodyay Valley Catholic School. Their teacher was Darby Connors, otherwise known as Jeremiah O'Connor. Darby Connors was an Enrolled Pensioner Guard whose records describe him as "exceedingly good". Aged 41 years, he was married with four children.[6]
Connors had begun teaching children in a straw hut at the old Toodyay Pensioner Barracks. In 1855, he was required to take up his Pensioner allotment, lot S11, in Newcastle. In doing so, Connors reluctantly closed his school. He eagerly took up teaching once more when the Toodyay Valley Catholic School opened in 1859. He taught there until 1863.[2]:175
Transfer of the Catholic school to Newcastle
The floods of 1862 caused havoc in the district and the town of Toodyay was inundated yet again. By comparison, the newly established town of Newcastle remained comparatively undamaged, apart from the loss of its bridge. Soon, plans were afoot to build a new Catholic church in Newcastle, and in January 1863 the foundation stone was laid for St John the Baptist Church at Newcastle.[5]:173 Later, the Toodyay Valley Catholic School closed to reopen in Newcastle. The Church of Sancta Maria in Old Toodyay continued to serve the community until approximately 1867, after which it appears to have been no longer in use.[7]
In early 1872, Martelli was appointed parish priest for the St John the Baptist Church. He served the community well and was greatly loved. In June 1880, he became unwell while at New Norcia, and he died on 3 August 1880.[1]
Toodyay Valley government school
In 1885, the Toodyay Valley government school reopened in the building of the Church of Sancta Maria, after a social revival in the old town of Toodyay brought more children to the area. Elizabeth McKnight and her sister taught there until October 1898.[5]:288
Mary Ann Markey, a widow, made the old vacant church her home until her death, in 1907, at the age of 84 years. Thereafter, the church building fell into disrepair.[citation needed]
Related Research Articles
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Stirling Terrace is the main street of Toodyay, Western Australia, originally called New Road until 1905.
St John the Baptist Church is a former Roman Catholic church located on Stirling Terrace in Toodyay, Western Australia, built 1863–64.
The Roman Catholic Church Group, Toodyay is a site on Stirling Terrace in Toodyay, Western Australia, owned by the Catholic Church. This site was registered as Roman Catholic land in November 1861 in the newly proclaimed Avon District town of Newcastle. These buildings were erected here between the early 1860s and 1963:
The town of Toodyay, Western Australia, was not always known by that name. Initially Toodyay was located in what is now West Toodyay before repeated flooding caused the town centre to migrate to the area around the Newcastle convict depot creating the town of Newcastle. After approximately 50 years of confusion the name of Newcastle was changed to Toodyay and the original Toodyay became known as West Toodyay.
West Toodyay was the original location of the town of Toodyay, Western Australia. It is situated in the Toodyay valley, 85 kilometres (53 mi) north east of Perth. The Toodyay valley, discovered by Ensign Robert Dale in 1831, was opened up for settlement in 1836. The original site for the town of Toodyay was determined in 1836 and its boundaries were finalized 1838. The first survey of the town was carried out in 1849. After several serious floods, the decision was made to move the town of Toodyay to higher ground. In 1860, the new town of Newcastle was established 3 miles (4.8 km) further upstream. Newcastle was renamed in 1910 to Toodyay, and the original site became known as West Toodyay.
Canon Raffaele Martelli was Toodyay's first Catholic priest. He was a scholarly and gentle man who was much loved by settlers of all faiths. Martelli did not keep a diary, but his personality and humour shines through his regular correspondence with his friend Bishop Rosendo Salvado of New Norcia. His letters from Toodyay reveal the day-to-day travails of a priest who started out with no house or church. He had to rely on the goodwill of his parishioners for a roof over his head and food on the table, while a pair of woollen winter socks from Salvado brought him untold joy.
Owen Hackett (1809–1862) was one of a number of Enrolled Pensioner Guards (EPGs) that came to the Swan River Colony between 1850 and 1868. Their role was to guard and oversee the work of the prisoners transported to Western Australia.
Francis Kirk was one of a number of Enrolled Pensioner Guards (EPGs) who came to the Swan River Colony between 1850 and 1868, to guard and oversee the work of the prisoners transported to Western Australia.
David Gailey (1807–1881) was one of a number of Enrolled Pensioner Guards (EPGs) who came to the Swan River Colony between 1850 and 1868. Their role was to guard and oversee the work of the prisoners transported to Western Australia.
Charles Harper was Toodyay's first Anglican minister, and the first ordinand from Western Australia. While being a minister of the church was probably far from his intentions when he set sail for the Swan River Colony in 1837, his family's clerical background and his own disposition suited him well for this vocation. Harper served the Toodyay district for over 30 years, first as registrar of births, deaths and marriages, then from 1849 as an ordained minister.
Angela Browne was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1884. She would later become Mother Superior at the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Toodyay, Western Australia
In 1851, the Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot was set up in the original township of Toodyay, now called West Toodyay. Temporary accommodation for the Enrolled Pensioner Guards was also constructed and surveys were carried out to enable more permanent accommodation to be built close by. The Enrolled Pensioner Guards were men who had either completed their duty of service or who had sustained injury while on active service. They had then volunteered as guards on the ships transporting convicts to Western Australia. Once the men were released from permanent duty, other duties of a peace keeping or military nature were expected of them. Many of these men became warders in charge of convicts.
The Toodyay Valley School was the first government school in Toodyay. It opened on 1 October 1855 with 55 children enrolled. Boarders were received on moderate terms.
James Forbes (1828-1906) was an Enrolled Pensioner Guard who had arrived in the Swan River Colony in Western Australia aboard Pyrenees on 28 June 1851. Formerly a private of the 77th Regiment, he was 23 years of age. Soon after he was stationed at Toodyay, his pension expired and he was dismissed. A request for reinstatement was denied him. For a while, Forbes earned a living as a carter.
Construction of the new Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot began in February 1852 and was completed by 1856. The depot was closed in 1872. The site chosen, Avon Location 110, was an area of Crown land measuring just over 45 acres (18 ha). It was situated approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream from the site of the previous Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot (1851) located at the Toodyay townsite. The previous depot had only ever been a temporary arrangement born of necessity when accommodation was required at short notice. The new depot site was surveyed by Francis Thomas Gregory in 1852.
References
This article incorporates textby Alison Cromb available under the CC BY SA 2.5 AU licence.
1 2 John Kinder & Joshua Brown (2014). Canon Raffaelle Martelli in Western Australia, 1853-1864: Life and letters. Abbey Press. p.19. ISBN9781925208498.
1 2 3 Alison Cromb (2016). The Road to Toodyay: A History of the Early Settlement of Toodyay and the Avon Valley of Western Australia. Dianella, Western Australia: Alison Cromb. ISBN9780646951744.
↑ "Proclamation"(PDF). Western Australia Government Gazette. 18 August 1857. p.2.
↑ "Toodyay". The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News. 13 March 1857. p.2. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
1 2 3 4 Rica Erickson (1974). Old Toodyay and Newcastle. Toodyay Shire Council. ISBN0959831509.
↑ FH Broomhall (1989). The Veterans: A History of the Enrolled Pensioner Force in Western Australia, 1850-1880. Hesperian Press. p.B58. ISBN0-85905-103-X.
↑ Beth Frayne (April 2012), Sancta Maria Chronology, Toodyay Historical Society
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