Shamrock Trail

 The next stop is St Patrick's Church.  - I would like to acknowledge the work of Helen Lloyd and her book "Boorowa: - Over 160 years of White Settlement"

 Dr Paulding, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, had established a Catholic Yass Mission in 1838, which included Boorowa and beyond, incorporating Port Phillip. Fathers Brennan and Fitzpatrick were placed in charge of the mission and Father Brennan was the first to say mass in Boorowa prior to his departure from Yass in 1839. He was replaced by Father Lover in January 1840 and was followed by Father Pat McGinnis. Those who followed the Roman Catholic faith were a small minority during early settlement, as Dr Paulding and Dr Abbott Gregory found on their visit to Boorowa in 1853, while touring the southern districts. They stayed at Boorowa for some weeks because of the attitude towards the Church, noting that Boorowa had an exceedingly bad name for their irreligious life of its people, and only 28 people in the past years have approached the sacraments. 

The presence of the clergy was successful as more than 200 approached Holy Communion. Many had been away from the sacraments for 20 to 40 years. Most of this group were of convict background, ticket of leave men and drifters who had attempted to avoid the eyes of any authority by residing on the fringes of settlements.

 It was on this visit that Dr Paulding arranged for Father McGinnis of the Yass mission to build the first Roman Catholic Church in the village of Boorowa. Subscriptions were called for in August 1853 and Mr Hurley, who was related to Father McGinnis, was the treasurer of the fund. A list of subscribers to the Church appeared in the Yass Curia 10 December 1853. Edward Ryan contributed £200 towards the $2000 that the Church had cost to build.

The Church was built of rubble stone by Irish stone masons and the shell was near completion in April 1855. Building measured at 70 by 19 feet and 14 feet in height, all that was needed was a shingle roof. It was during Father's Birmingham and MacAlroy's term that the Church was completed by calling tenders to install the ceiling and for plasterers in December 1857. In 1858 the Church was nearly completed, with the school building attached, the Gothic carved timber windows and the Gothic doorway on the cast wall since closed in, with a cross placed on the roof above the doorway completed the Church. Mass had been held once a month in Boorowa until 1855. The first mass celebrated in the partially completed St Patrick's Church was in 1855. The next visit Bishop Paulding made to Boorowa in October 1863 was with satisfaction, as he was escorted into town by many requests. While in Boorowa Bishop Folding, along with Reverend Dean Hanley and Father Cook, had confirmed and given sacraments to nearly 100 people and many took the pledge of abstinence, on Monday 2nd November the bishop consecrated the Catholic cemetery which had been fenced three years before. On this occasion, seven Aboriginals were among those who were received into the Church of the Boorowa tribe and three of the children were attending school. A 58-acre block of land was purchased by Reverend Dean Hanley in 1863 as a glee to the Church. 

Father O’Neill was first resident priest in Boorowa, and he was present at the Fancy Bazaar held on the 23rd and 24th of January 1865. This event proved an outstanding success by raising £300 that was still owed on the Presbytery that stood in Queen Street. The first Presbytery was later destroyed by fire On Good Friday 1865, shortly before Mass. A portion of the ceiling fell in on a few worshippers in the Church as the walls had diverted from the perpendicular and several cracks appeared in the masonry. The Church was found unsafe, and Mass was then cancelled. The Church was repaired soon after and the plans were made to build a new church. 

The new Bishop of Goulburn was Dr Lanigan and on his first visit to Boorowa in August 1867 he was met by a large welcoming party comprising 24 vehicles and 400 people on horseback that stretch from the flour mill and art Marsden Street to the Church.

With the growing success of the Church came the need for a larger building. On Palm Sunday 1871, many people were excluded from the service due to lack of space. Under Father Dunne, who was appointed in Boorowa in 1872, churches were erected at Murringo House Creek and the beautiful Second St Patrick's Church was built in Queen Street, Boorowa, on the west side of town.

Dr Lanigan laid the foundation stone for the new Church on the 4th of June 1874. Work began soon after and Richard Short provided the 2000 bushels of lime needed. W Duncan, who had built St Patrick's College in Goulburn, was responsible for the excavation of masonry. William Keating oversaw the carpentry. 

A jubilee retreat was held in the first St Patrick's in September 1875, and the Church was filled, as with the temporary additional accommodation adjoining the Church. The new St Patrick's Church, built at a cost of £8,500, was blessed on the 14th of October 1877, and the last pair of stained windows were installed in July 1881 by Lyon Collier and Co. Tenders were called for in December 1890 for the new St Patrick's Presbytery. 

The old Catholic lands of the corner of Brial and Court streets were sold under the trustees after a bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly in 1884, with the proceeds going towards the new building. The old Church had defied all odds and was still standing up until 1997. The roof had been replaced with iron and the doorways and north side had been closed in. The church had been used for many purposes, as its hall has been decorated out from show nights for the annual agricultural shows and fancy fairs and for art unions etc. In 1997, expression of tender was put into the newspaper for the demolition of the old church. No one submitted a tender for that, and the council knocked it down overnight in 1997.

Jeremiah Corcoran donated an Italian marble high altar for St Patrick's Church in 1927 at a cost of £750. The foundation was laid for the editions in November 1928, which cost £12,000 donated by the parishioners. The church was reopened in September 1929 with the consecration of the beautiful Italian black and white marble altars. All so added in this year was a porch costing £5,500. 

The fence, built of blue stone obtained from the Blue Range, was built, blessed and dedicated to the memory of Father Sheen. A slab and weather board building once stood at the rear of the church. It was used as a garage and sleeping compartment for Michael O'Connor who worked at the Presbytery. This building was destroyed by fire in December 1932. 

In November 1954, a most spectacular pageant ever seen was held to celebrate the Queen of Boorowa or parish, with Anne Flannery's coronation ball. She had raised nearly £2,000 for St Patrick's building funds. Unlike the many Boorowa women who entered the church as nuns From the early days, it was as late as July 1948 that the first priest was ordained in Boorowa. He was Father Paul William Maloney, born in Sydney, the son of RW Maloney of Glenburnie Murringo. The first native of Boorowa to be ordained at St Patrick's was Father Edward Burke, the son of JP Burke, in September 1954. 

Of the 74 priests appointed to Boorowa between 1865 to 1977, father Sheen and Father Morrison stood as the most prominent. Father Sheen, known as Father Ned, was born in County Kerry Island in 1877 and arrived in Australia in 1902. He was first appointed as an assistant priest to Boorowa in 1908. He left for Koorawatha in 1911 and was returned to Boorowa in 1915 as a parish priest. 

Father Ned celebrated his jubilee on the 24th of May 1927 and in February 1952 he celebrated his golden jubilee, of which 25 years were spent at Boorowa. The function was held at the Guild Hall, where 60 priests attended along with 500 guests. Father Sheen was made an Archbishop by Pope Pius XII for his 50-year service, and he was the first priest in the Canberra and Goulburn Diocese to receive this honour. At the age of 83, he died in 1960 at the Boorowa at District Hospital.

Father Morrison, “Father John”, as he was called was born near Queanbeyan, was ordained in December 1930 at St Peter and St Paul's in Goulburn. He first arrived at Boorowa in 1942 and was absent on different occasions due to his outstanding ability to raise funds for building programs for troubled parishes. In 1961 he became parish priest at Boorowa, succeeding Father Sheen. He was a strong believer in his faith and abided by the laws of church, often delivering strong and fiery summits. 

Father Morrison was never backward when it came to hard manual work. He enjoyed farm work immensely and became an authority on sheepdog trials at the local shows, where he acted as judge on many occasions. He was also strongly involved in sport, where he played in the Maher Cup competition and was a referee in Group 9 Rugby League. Other involvements were as a member of the Hospital Board Show Society, and he even entered local government as a councillor in 1965 a position he held for three terms. 

Father John celebrated his silver jubilee in February 1956 with 300 dinner guests at the Guild Hall. He celebrated his golden jubilee in 1931. After 37 years at Boorowa, he retired in 1979 to the young retirement home where he died in 1988, aged 85.