St Patricks Church is a heritage-listed

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

at 18 Pearson, Mount Perry,

North Burnett Region The North Burnett Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia in the northern catchment of the Burnett River. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the ear ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It was designed by F H Faircloth and built in 1904 by John Guthrie. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church was constructed in 1904 in the then important copper mining town of Mount Perry. The township of Mount Perry, about west of

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

, was established following the discovery of

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

in the vicinity in 1869. The first Roman Catholic priest to visit Mount Perry was Father James Horan who was based in

Gayndah Gayndah () is a town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre for the North Burnett Region. In the , the locality of Gayndah had a population of 1,949 p ...

in 1870. He is thought to have made arrangements for the construction of a church, although work did not begin until after he had left for

Peak Downs Peak Downs is a geographic area, and formerly a station, in the vicinity of Clermont, Central Queensland. In the 1860s and 1870s the area was known as "the Peak Downs". The morphology of this region consisted of numerous distinct peaks of bas ...

in November 1872. The church was completed under the direction of the succeeding priest at Gayndah, Father C Rossolini, though its form is not known. The population of the township quickly grew and 20 hotels sprang up in Mount Perry in the early 1870s, reflecting the high proportion of men without families on the field. However, the copper mine ceased operations in October 1877 and was sold by liquidators in January 1878 on the expectation that it would not be re-opened until the

Mount Perry railway line The Mount Perry Branch Railway is a closed railway line in Central Queensland, Australia. In 1869 copper was discovered at Mount Perry (approx 100 km west of Bundaberg) and the township grew rapidly. A railway to the coast was essenti ...

was completed. This occurred in 1884, linking Mount Perry with Bundaberg. Mount Perry became the railhead for the Upper Burnett and a major centre; now having nine hotels including 6 newly built ones, a courthouse, hospital and a

School of Arts School of Arts or school of arts may refer to: *Art school, an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts *Mechanics' institutes, Victorian-era educational establishments formed to provide education, particularly in technical s ...

. However, after a period of growth the town declined, until the mine closed in 1891 due to a fall in the price of copper. In 1893, Father Rossolini, by then based in Bundaberg, died. Father Mimnagh, who had assisted him, took over as parish priest in Bundaberg and continued to minister to Mount Perry. He served as Parish Priest of Bundaberg until 1917. Matters in Mount Perry soon improved as the London-based Queensland Copper Company bought the mine in 1898, sparking a revival in the town, and by 1904 the population in the field was 2000. In 1903 ,an Anglican church was built at Mount Perry reflecting the growth of the town and by this time, the early Catholic church had presumably become inadequate for the congregation. In August 1904 tenders were called for a new church to be built to the plans of Bundaberg architect F H Faircloth at an estimated cost of £500. Frederic Herbert (Herb) Faircloth was born in Maryborough in 1870 and was a pupil of German-trained Bundaberg architect

Anton Hettrich Anton Hettrich (1860-1946) was a German-born architect in Queensland, Australia. A number of his buildings are now heritage-listed. Hettrich emigrated to Queensland from Germany in 1870 when he set up in practice as an architect in Bundaberg. He ...

. Faircloth set up his own practice in Bundaberg in 1893 and was very successful, eventually being responsible for the design of almost every important building in Bundaberg, including extensions to the Church of the Holy Rosary. He was also responsible for much of the rebuilding of the town centre of Childers following a major fire in 1902. The first Mount Perry church was sold for removal in 1904 prior to the construction of the new church, which was completed by builder John Guthrie in 1905 for a cost, including furnishings, of £667. St Patrick's was consecrated on 12 February 1905 with over 400 people from the surrounding area in attendance. Soon after the building of the new church, Mount Perry was created a separate parish. Father Sullivan at first occupied the back of the church, using the choir loft as a bedroom and eating with a neighbouring family. A Presbytery was built by the Maynard Brothers in 1914, but has not survived. Soon after this, the peak demand for copper passed and many mines closed. The mining venture at Mount Perry collapsed and the smelters in 1915 closed with a consequent dwindling of population. Many buildings were demolished or removed and Mount Perry was placed in the parish of

. The parish was reopened with the arrival of Father Frawley in 1939 and in September that year

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

James Duhig Sir James Duhig KCMG (2 September 187110 April 1965) was an Irish-born Australian Roman Catholic religious leader. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane for 48 years from 1917 until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was the longest- ...

visited Mount Perry and the surrounding area. In later years, Mount Perry became at various times part of Gin Gin, Gayndah and Childers Parishes. It is now part of the Gin Gin parish and has a visiting priest from that town. The church building has changed little. Early photographs show a timber bell tower to the north of the church, but this did not survive and the bell is now mounted on a simple frame.

Description

St Patrick's Church is an elevated timber-framed building situated on a prominent ridge overlooking the town of Mount Perry and is a dominant feature of its townscape. The church is rectangular in plan, comprising a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and side

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s and is clad in weatherboards. At the western end is a projecting

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d section housing a stairwell that accesses the

choir loft A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church (building), church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the Sanctuary#Sanctuary as area a ...

. It is flanked by twin

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

es and

stairs Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical direction, vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps wh ...

. The twin entrance doors are arched and this motif is echoed in decorative open timber work to the porches and to the gables of the

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

and main roof. At the eastern end of the church is the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

and adjoining

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

with a separate entrance on the northern side. The roof is clad with

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...

and is steeply pitched over the nave with aisle roofs springing from below

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

windows. Crosses are located at the ends of the main roof and the gabled roof of the entrance

. The church is lit with timber-framed

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s placed alternately singly and in pairs. The triple lancet windows in the sanctuary are set with

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

. The interior of the church is very intact and the clear finish to internal lining boards and painted decorative trim appears to be that applied when the building was first constructed. Light fittings, hardware and furniture including

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

pew A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a synagogue, church, funeral home or sometimes a courtroom. Occasionally, they are also found in live performance venues (such as the Ryman ...

s, statuary and a small

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

are also original.

Heritage listing

St Patricks Church was listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. St Patrick's Church is important for its close association with the development of Mount Perry as a noted copper centre in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and with the development of Catholicism within the Diocese of Brisbane, both of which illustrate the pattern of Queensland history. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. St Patrick's is a good example of the Carpenter Gothic architectural style used in church construction. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. The building has considerable aesthetic and architectural merit, and through its form, scale, materials, detailing and plantings and makes an important aesthetic contribution to the Mount Perry townscape. St Patrick's Church survives reasonably intact, with much of the original furnishings and finishes being retained. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The place has a special association for local Catholics as a centre of Catholic worship and social gatherings throughout the 20th century.

References

Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patricks Church Mount Perry Queensland Heritage Register Mount Perry, Queensland Roman Catholic churches in Queensland Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Australia Roman Catholic churches completed in 1904 Wooden churches in Australia Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane 1904 establishments in Australia