St Mary of the Angels Basilica, formerly St Mary's Church, is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

located in Yarra Street,

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, a ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Since the completion of the

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...

building in 1937, St. Mary of the Angels has had the tallest bluestone spire in Australia, at , and has the fourth-tallest non-cathedral spire in Australia. In 2004 it became Australia's fifth basilica, after gaining

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

approval for the change of description. It is the tallest building in Geelong, with a total height of from the pavement, and is a major landmark in the city.

History

The first St. Mary's church was a small wooden chapel in Yarra Street, opened on 27 November 1842. The congregation quickly outgrew the chapel and a stone replacement was constructed in 1846. The optimism the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capita ...

brought to Geelong led to plans for a cathedral-like landmark church for the city. The architects were Dowden & Ross, and the foundation stone was laid in 1854. However, as Geelong's boom slowed, work ceased two years later, leaving Geelong with an incomplete landmark for over a decade. Construction was revived in 1871 when Archdeacon R. S. Downing contracted architect TA Kelly and builder Clement Nash to continue works, which ceased in 1872 with the bulk of the nave completed. Work on the remainder of the church, the front tower crowns, the transepts, the crossing and spire, and apsidal chapels did not begin until 1930. The completion was based on the original design, the supervising architects being Hennessy & Hennessy of Sydney, and the builder W J Kelly of Geelong. The completion of the church was celebrated in June 1937.

Architecture

The

phosphor bronze Phosphor bronze is a member of the family of copper alloys. It is composed of copper that is alloyed with 0.5–11% of tin and 0.01–0.35% phosphorus, and may contain other elements to confer specific properties (e.g. lead at 0.5–3.0% to form ...

cross at the top of the spire was cast by Evans & Co. in 1935, and is high.R. A. Vowels, ''Victoria's Iron lacework,'', Part C, Vowels, Melbourne, 2016, p. 1035.

References

External links

St Mary of the Angels Catholic Parish website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary of the Angels Basilica Roman Catholic churches completed in 1842 Mary of the Angels Basilica Buildings and structures in Geelong 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Australia Roman Catholic churches in Victoria (Australia) 1842 establishments in Australia Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne Heritage-listed buildings in Greater Geelong

History

Architecture

See also

References

Further reading

External links