St Michael’s Anglican Church, Wollongong
St Michael’s Anglican Cathedral
The church is located at the junction of Church and Market Streets, Wollongong.
1820 Charles Throsby Smith granted 300 acres located at present day North Wollongong
1826 Captain Bishop of the 40th Regiment and Charles Throsby Smith authorised to conduct Church of England religious services
1828 Smith’s barn near the harbour used as a church — Father John Joseph Therry celebrated Roman Catholic mass and Rev. Thomas Reddall took services for Anglicans
1833 Rev. Frederick Wilkinson appointed firdt chaplain to Illawarra
1834 The private town of Wollongong was surveyed on part of Charles Throsby Smith’s land and a 2-acre block on one of the highest rises reserved for the Church of England. Smith insisted that the church block be approached by a street on each of its four sides.
1847 First St Michael’s built in Corrimal Street. Consecrated 13 January 1848 and demolished in 1859.
1858 Edmund Blacket designs new St Michael’s Church
1859 Church consecrated 15 December
1877 Pipe organ installed. Built by Walker & Son, London, which with freight cost 300 pounds.
1884 Gas lighting replaced kerosene lamps and candles in the church
1887 Bulli mine explosion - 81 miners died. Special services were held and the interior of St Michael’s was draped in black
1893 Rectory foundation stone laid—completed in 1894.
1902 Mount Kembla mine disaster. The burial register of St Michael’s records the deaths of men and boys killed on that day.
1907 telephone connected to rectory
1908 Small hall opened 13 August
1909 rectory connected to town water supply
1914 1918 St Michael’s bell rang each day at noon to remind people to pray for soldiers and for a “speedy termination of the war”
1919 A memorial tablet “to the Fallen” erected in church
1921 Electricity installed in the church and rectory
1926 Main hall dedicated 14 February
1940 Stone fence erected to honour pioneers, surrounding roads paved and kerbed
1944 Laying up of the colours of the 34th Infantry Battalion in the Northern Transept
1946 St Michael’s Pre-school Kindergarten (the first pre-school in the Wollongong Area) began. Finished in 2005.
1958 war memorial vestries built, organ remodeled and choir stalls and sanctuary remodeled and curate’s residence built
1963 petrol station built on western end of church land - lease money used for church building improvements
1967 Covered way built, connecting office hall to church building
1968 Extended large hall dedicated 17 May
1969 Graham R. Delbridge appointed first bishop
1970 church inaugurated as pro-cathedral 13 March
1982 Church rededicated as a cathedral
Source:
Treasure in Earthen Vessels: a history of St. Michael’s Cathedral, Wollongong. M.Lamb, S Piggin, S. Radkovic.Wollongong, 1984
| St Michael's Church of England 1839-1859 | Original St Michael's located in Corrimal St |