St John the Baptist Church is a former

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Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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located on Stirling Terrace in

Toodyay, Western Australia Toodyay (, ), known as Newcastle between 1860 and 1910, is a town on the Avon River in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, north-east of Perth. The first European settlement occurred in the area in 1836. After flooding in the 1850s, ...

, built 186364.

History

Following the move from Old Toodyay to Newcastle, Father Francis Salvado called for tenders to build a new Catholic chapel to replace the Sancta Maria of Old Toodyay. The foundation stone of the Catholic Church of St John the Baptist was laid in January 1863 by Father Martin Griver. He was assisted by Fr Francis Salvado, the Parish priest, and Fr Venanzio Garrido from the New Norcia mission. By Christmas 1864, the church was completed and had been blessed. The church's

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

was used for a time as a school room for Catholic children until 1884 when the Sisters of Mercy came to Toodyay. In 1920, the west wing was added. In 1963, a new church with the same name was completed, next to St Aloysius (in the Catholic Precinct grounds), and the older church was de-consecrated and sold into private ownership. This is a rendered brick and corrugated iron building with tall pointed arch lancet windows. It has pointed pinnacles to the entrance porch and main facade. In the gable end a round window has been incorporated into rendered cross.

References

Buildings and structures in Toodyay, Western Australia Toodyay (1863–1963) Stirling Terrace, Toodyay Heritage places in Toodyay, Western Australia Roman Catholic churches completed in 1864 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Australia 1863 establishments in Australia 1963 disestablishments in Australia Toodyay 1863, St John the Baptist Church Toodyay 1863, St John the Baptist Church {{RC-church-stub