Table of Contents

Our Annual Luncheon held on October 12, 2003 was one of our most successful. It was a grand occasion for which your Committee expresses its thanks to all. The venue proved popular and it is our intention to return to The Catholic Club on a similar date this year. We were honoured by the attendance of Patron, Father John Knight, the Provincial, Brother Paul O’Keeffe, together with Brothers Charles Barry, Bernard Bulfin, Joseph Guidera, Patrick Lovegrove, Mark Ryan and John Verhoeven.

The winner of the Guessing Competition was Frank Jackson, alumnus of St. James, Forest Lodge, 1944 Intermediate Year. Who was the first Principal at St. Patrick’s, Blacktown? The answer: Brother Gerard Histon. 

We express our sincere thanks to all who supported the Guessing Competition ensuring the viability of our Association for the coming year. 

Captured on camera at the Luncheon was our President Kevin Hilferty and our Patron, Father John Knight, PP of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish. Father Knight is also Chaplain to The Catholic Club.

Brother Charles K. Barry has provided another account of his many faceted experiences in his service as a Patrician Brother.

“Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron-bars a cage.”

Thus spoke the 17th century English poet Lovelace.

The Villawood detention centre in Sydney doesn’t have any stone walls but sure has plenty of wire - two rows of perimeter fences, five metres high and ten metres apart, with vicious looking rolls of razor at the top and bottom of each row. Security cameras and unsmiling ACM (Australian Management Services, a private U.S. Company) personnel abound while incarcerated inside is an extraordinary mixture of 350 odd detainees from about 40 different countries. It would be difficult to find a more depressing and inhospitable environment anywhere in Australia.

About eight months ago I was asked to visit, in a voluntary capacity, a number of detainees who suffered from anxiety, depression and related conditions and to befriend some of those who had no outside contacts in Sydney. The majority of them are genuine refugees while others have had their Temporary Protection Visas revoked. Others are economic refugees or simply over-stayers with no chance of obtaining permanent residency.

I spend up to four hours each week in these hostile surroundings and at least one third of that time is lost, between the two fences, queuing with dozens of other visitors in a drab unsheltered compound devoid of seating. Meanwhile, in an ultra violet lit room, two disinterested officials check the identification details; search the clothing, contents of bags, etc. before issuing a coded wrist band and stamping the back of one’s hand. Both inmates and visitors alike are treated no different to criminals.

Inside only a class-room size open shed provides any shelter from the elements. Umbrellas are not permitted and you either get soaked when it rains or scorched with the hot sun as only a few groups can get under the shelter. The others sit on stools or plastic chairs outside the shed in the dusty open area.

The trauma generated by the waiting, the uncertainty and the isolation is greater than the actual physical deprivations they endure. Added to this is that study and recreational facilities are mostly unavailable and only eight of the 34 children there are allowed out for schooling.

Surely there must be a more humane way by which this sorry refugee saga can be addressed?
 

Following  appear a number of photos taken seventy years ago at St. James’ Superior (Convent) School conducted by the Institute of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St. Benedict, more affectionately known as “The Good Sams”.

Some may ask, ‘why feature photos of the girls?’ Most alumni of the day commenced their schooling in the Convent school. Many of the girls were siblings of Patrician students and a goodly number married Patrician alumni. More importantly many were the mothers of the next generation of Patrician students.

Another point of interest is that ninety nine per cent of the girls are identified. Although most were perhaps seven or eight years ahead of the writer, the names recalled to his minds eye the families and younger siblings of a time gone by.

We hope that many will share this experience.

It is remarkable that so many are identified. Many of the names ring a bell, Eileen Hegarty from the shop on the corner of Hereford and Hegarty Streets; the Colleys ? lived in Hereford St towards Glebe Pt. Road ? had a younger brother, Henry. Nora McQuade had a younger brother, Pat; Mary Reddy ? her brother, known as “Miff” and his wife, Noleen, lived two doors up from us in Hereford St. Marjorie Dawson, her father was the Park Ranger, had two brothers, Tom and Ted, they lived in Wigram Rd towards Glebe Pt Rd. Remember the Booler family of Ferry Rd near the top end. Knew Margaret and grew up with Des and Mary. Recall Marie Watterson and her brother Maurice ? on Bridge Rd almost opposite Clare St. Remember the Hutchinsons, had a brother, Billy, about my age, in Glebe Pt. Rd. towards Parramatta Rd. The Neylons in Oxley St, off Glebe Pt Rd near the tram terminus. The Porters of Hereford St near Hegarty St. The McMillans moved to the Rozelle Bay end of Glebe Pt. Road. Paul Rogers had an elder sister, Valerie and a younger brother, Tony and lived in Wigram Road. Jim and Patty Stenning are siblings. I think the Stennings lived in Derwent Street. Helen Walsh, I fancy the Walsh’s ran a dry-cleaning business at the rear of their home on John St. Jeanie Snudden; I started school with her sister Audrey.  I shall never forget Audrey. I fancy it occurred in 2nd Class. Sister Louis Callaghan (RIP) read a story and referring to the story asked Audrey “Who is she? Audrey instantly responded: ‘She’ is the cat’s mother! The word ‘she’ was not used in the Snudden household. I am sure Mary Rochfort, nee Booler will remember them all. 

Seventy years or more have gone by. Many in the photos and those referred to in the above paragraph have sadly passed on. 

The photos appear in other pages. Our thanks to Phyl and Norma for these glimpses of the 1920s and 30s. 

Requiescant in Pace.

During the past ten years we have made a number of references to the life of Brother Baptist McGrath and his labours in NSW from his arrival, in the company of Brother Austin McGrath (unrelated), aboard the SS Cuzco on November 29, 1888 to his passing on February 13, 1945 at the Blessed Oliver Plunkett Monastery, 165 Pyrmont Bridge Road, Glebe in the Parish of St. James, Forest Lodge. It is my understanding that ‘St. James’ is more fully identified as St. James the Great.

On November 26, 2003, the writer received a letter from Brother Baptist’s grandniece, Joan Sokolich, nee Walsh, which began:

Two years ago I commenced researching family history for the first time and was lucky enough to trace some details which lead me to the Patrician Brothers Order.

At that time Brother Philip Mulhall [Superior General] suggested that I contact you, ‘as the man who could give me lots more information about the Sydney end of things.’ However, the idea got put on hold until I discovered the notes again today. lAdditions in brackets by writer].

My grand-mother was Ellen (Nellie) Mary Walsh, nee McGrath, whose brother, John McGrath, was Brother Baptist with the Patrician Brothers in Sydney. Ellen Mary was born in Cahir, Co. Tipperary and immigrated from either Ireland or Toulouse in France to New Zealand [some date prior to her marriage in 1902]. I have no emigration details. In fact, I have very little information on the McGrath family at all. I do not know where or when Brother Baptist was born.

Fortunately, Joan had supplied an email address and the writer immediately advised of all he knew of Brother Baptist particularly that obtained from page 20/1 of the Ryde Annals, entered therein by the then Provincial, Brother Stanislaus Bergin and headed ‘Brothers in the Province on March 17th 1909’ which is identified in the following Table as Source 1. He also informed her that he had been fortunate to come under Brother Baptist’s tuition in 1st and 2nd Year [7th and 8th Class] in 1943/4. His memory was that Brother Baptist had commenced teaching the Intermediate Class in 1945 prior to his death. 

However, Joan’s response gave details provided by the Patricians in Ireland and by Father Sean O’Dwyer of Cahir, Co. Tipperary which are identified in the Table as Source 2. 

The year of Brother Baptist’s birth has been a matter of doubt to the writer for some time. As a first step, a copy of his Death Certificate was obtained from the NSW Registrar of Birth, Deaths and Marriages. The informant was R.T. Bergin [Brother Rodan Timothy Bergin]. This is identified as Source 3.

Source 1 shows parents as Francis and Mary McGrath, maiden name of mother not stated. It seems Brother Baptist was unaware of his mother’s maiden surname.

Source 1 shows place and date of birth as Mountrath on June 3, 1872, date of entry to Order as September 1, 1885. However, age at entry is said to be 14 years. This may indicate Brother Baptist was born in 1871.

Source 2 identifies parents as Francis and Mary McGrath, nee O’Halloran or Halloran and that the father’s occupation was Sergeant of Police, RIC [Royal Irish Constabulary]. His father’s occupation provides the clue to the reason for the family’s movements, as a number of his siblings were born in Loughlohery or Knocka which are Townlands of Cahir. The family may have been at Mountrath during 1871-73.

Source 3 confirms his father’s occupation, but incorrectly identifies the parents. This could be explained, by the fact that the information was, in all probability, obtained following the stroke which precipitated Brother Baptist’s death. He seems to have confused his mother with his married sister. Brother Baptist clearly knew his parents Christian names in 1909 and such concurs with Source 2.

It is our hope that the Parish Priest of either the Roman Catholic Parish of Mountrath or Ballyfin, Co. Laois, will find a record of the baptism of John McGrath and of other siblings to assist Joan in her research and resolve our dilemma as to his year of birth. Both RC Parishes seem to embrace an area of Mountrath.

For a table showing more details on the mystery of Br Baptist click here.

Our president Kevin Hilferty and his wife Joan spent the last northern summer in the fine English city of Bath. He wrote this article about Bath and his observations of Catholic life there for Annals Australia. 

On July 1, 2003, the first day of the English summer, my wife and I again became temporary residents of the parish of Our Lady and St Alphege in Oldfield Lane, Bath. It is one of the three Catholic parishes in this city of 80,000 people about 160km south west of London in a valley beside the Avon River. We have been coming to Bath regularly over the past six years, as this is where our eldest daughter, her English husband and their four children, live.

I had never heard of St Alphege until we moved into the parish in 2001. Born near Bath in 953 he became a Benedictine monk in 970. In 984 be became Abbot of Bath then for 20 years was Bishop of Winchester. In 1005 he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Danish sea raiders captured Alphege in 1016 and took him to Greenwich. When he refused to be ransomed, they stoned him with ox-bones and killed him with an axe. 

The church named for him is a gem. It was built in 1929 as a station church served from St John’s in central Bath then staffed by Benedictines.  The superior of the community had been at the Benedictine school, Ampleforth, with the architect Sir Gilbert Scott, who designed the church for him. It is a replica of the sixth century Roman church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. 

To live for three months in a city is to experience life among the local community in a way not possible on a brief tourist visit. There are subtle differences in the liturgy between Britain and Australia. Some phrases in the responses are different, Holy Communion is always offered under both species, there is but one collection, community prayers are said slowly and reverently. Most of the English hymns are unfamiliar. 

A bell sounds as the priest leaves the sacristy and the congregation stands immediately. At the conclusion of Mass, everyone remains until the priest has left the church, usually to wait outside to greet people. They make time to talk to strangers.  It is all very well mannered. I observed similar respectful behaviour visiting another daughter in London. There we attended Mass at St Monica’s in the east end parish of Hoxton, staffed by Augustinian Friars. Reflecting the local population mix, the congregation is predominantly African.

St Alphege people are generous in support of their parish and special collections, such as one for a former curate who went to a poor parish in Peru 30 years ago. Another regular collection is for heating the church, essential in winter when the snow lies on the hills and icy winds blow. 

Bath owns its name and existence to hot springs far below the city, which each day produce a million litres of water at 46C. Their healing qualities were known to the Celts who named them after their god, Sulis, but it was the Romans who realised their potential. They named the place Aquae Sulis (The Waters of Sulis) and built a temple dedicated to Sulis and their goddess Minerva and a complex of baths, with the water channelled through pipes sealed with lead.

The temple and the baths flourished for 400 years until Rome recalled its legions and the baths fell into ruin, covered by rubble and mud.

But the hot springs still flowed and the town revived. In 603 St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great to Christianise the Anglo-Saxons, visited Bath and in 670 the first Abbey was established. A larger Abbey was built about a century later and in it in 973 the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Saints Dunstan and Oswald, crowned Edgar as the first effective King of England.

The first Norman bishop, John de Villula, was a physician and created the King’s Bath which won a reputation for curing skin diseases. He began a new Abbey and enclosed land in a valley south of the Avon for a farm and priory, which in time gave its name to one of Bath’s great houses, Prior Park. Between 1499 and 1513, Bishop Oliver King cleared away the 400-year-old Norman Abbey which had fallen 
into decay and began the present Abbey. It was the last great church built before Henry VIII’s break with 
Rome and was consecrated by the Bishop of Rochester, St John Fisher. 

The King’s Commissioners arrived at the uncompleted Abbey in 1535 and stole the library and other treasures. On the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, the Abbey and its lands were seized and sold. The local MP bought the Abbey and sold the stored building stone, timber and glass. Queen Elizabeth visited Bath in 1576 and gave money for the Abbey’s restoration. She ordered the closure of all the churches within the city walls; the Abbey was to be the sole Protestant parish church in Bath.

The tower with its high glass windows was once called the lantern of England. Some carvings indicate that it was once a Catholic church.  A recently restored chantry chapel honours William Birde OSB, the second-last Prior of Bath (1499-1525). Another recent restoration is a chapel dedicated to St Alphege.

Bath remained little more than a local market town until Queen Anne began to take its healing waters in 1702. This led to an upsurge in the city’s popularity and it became the nation’s summer capital, famous for its grand houses, fashionable shops and theatres and glittering social life built around balls and gambling at the Pump Room and Assembly Room.

The developer who changed Bath was Ralph Allen (1693-1764) who arrived as a young deputy postmaster and made a fortune from mail contracts. From his stone quarries he extracted golden Bath stone for buildings created by his architect, John Wood. When people questioned the quality of the stone, Allen commissioned Wood to create a great country house on the land enclosed by Bishop John and called it Prior Park. 

Wood began building his circle of fine houses, The Circus, in 1754 but died three months later. His son, also John Wood, completed The Circus. The younger Wood was responsible for the nearby Royal Crescent, one of the finest streetscapes in Europe. I enjoy walking around Bath looking at these fine buildings. 

Walking around Bath or viewing it from a high hill to the south, Beechen Cliff, was a favourite occupation of Jane Austen who lived there for five years. She did not much care for Bath or its social whirl but used it as the setting for her first novel, Northanger Abbey and her naval novel Persuasion. 

Her inspiration for Northanger Abbey came from a visit to the ruined Netley Abbey, a Cistercian foundation beside the Solent between Southampton and Portsmouth. Persuasion reveals Jane’s observation of Bath’s social life and her knowledge of the Royal Navy; two of her brothers became Admirals and made fortunes from prize money - the proceeds of the sale of captured enemy ships.

Bath was a favourite place for naval officers. Not only could they take the healing waters to recover from the fevers and wounds of war service, but it was convenient to London and the great naval ports of Portsmouth and Plymouth. A plaque on a house in Pierpont Street records that Lord Nelson lived in it as a young captain while recovering from a fever contracted in Latin America. 

Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet and first Governor of New South Wales, also lived in Bath. He saw the infant colony through its first five years before returning to England with severe arthritis and the effects of a spear wound suffered in a clash with Aborigines at Manly.  He settled in Bath but returned to the Navy in 1797 and retired as a Rear Admiral in l805.  In 1806 Phillip bought a handsome Georgian house in Bennett Street near the Assembly Rooms, paying 2,200 pounds - about $5 million in today’s terms. 

His death in 1814 is still a mystery.  He died after falling from a third floor window to the pavement below.  It is not clear whether this was an accident or a suicide prompted by intense arthritic pain. Perhaps for this reason, Phillip was not buried in the Abbey but in the parish church of St Nicholas in the village of Bathampton, about four km outside Bath. Australia has restored the grave in which he lies with his second wife and built The Australia Chapel. In the Abbey a wall plaque beneath an Australian flag honours Phillip. 

I usually take a bus to Bathampton. It is a pleasant walk back to Bath along the towpath beside the Kennett and Avon Canal, emerging near the Holbourne Museum of Art with its wonderful collection of silver and 
portraits of Bath society by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-89). 

Gainsborough lived for 14 years in a large apartment in The Circus, now owned by a friend, an Australian writer. She likes to sit visitors in a chair used by Gainsborough’s subjects, lit by a marvellous light streaming through a huge glass window extending over two storeys. Gainsborough would work across from his subjects, using a brush attached to a 6ft rod.

By the early 19th century Bath’s popularity waned as the rich and fashionable took up sea bathing.  But it revived when the engineering genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the Great Western Railway from London, in 1840. It then went on to Bristol where it was to connect with Brunel’s Great Britain, the first iron-hulled steamship, to take passengers to New York. It never quite worked. The ship carried troops to the Crimean War then took settlers to Australia and was a freighter until wrecked on the Falkland Islands. About 30 years ago the Great Britain was towed back to Bristol, passing beneath Brunel’s wonderful Suspension Bridge across the Avon Gorge. It is now on exhibition in the Great Western Dock, where it was built in 1843.

North country railwaymen built the non-conformist chapels that dot Bath, along with numerous Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches. When the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, broke from the Anglican church, his principal supporter was a wealthy Bath lady, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who funded his new churches in Bath and Bristol. She built her own chapel in 1765; it is now the Museum of the Building of Bath, with fascinating exhibits showing how the city was designed and built. 

Bath was badly damaged by two German air raids in April, l942 which killed 300 people and destroyed or damaged 19,000 properties. Almost as much damage was caused by ill-conceived post-war development until heritage controls were imposed. 

To an Australian eye, there are few Catholic churches and institutions. This reflects the statistical reality that in Britain Catholics form a small minority. The latest Catholic yearbook shows that in a population of 50 million, Catholics in England, Scotland and Wales number just 4.1 million. In Australia with a population of 20 million, there are 5.4 million Catholics.

Bath has many parks ? important in a city of apartments or houses with little, if any, garden space. When we lived for a summer below Beechen Cliff, we walked to St Alphege’s along the Linear Parkway, once the right of way of the Midland Railway between Bath and the Channel coast. When the line was closed, the Council transformed it into a narrow strip of park which retains the feel of embankments, cuttings and bridges. 

Another favourite walk is around Prior Park. This has links to the city’s Benedictine tradition. During the penal years, Benedictines cared for the spiritual needs of the Catholics of Bath 

In l839, the Vicar General of the Western District, Bishop William Baines OSB bought Prior Park and its grounds. He turned it into a seminary and school which was an academic success but a financial disaster. A fire caused much damage a few years later.  My wife was in Bath in 1991 for the birth of our second grandson and saw Prior Park go up in flames again because of an electrical fault in the library. 

In l993 the school, then conducted by the Christian Brothers, donated the gardens below Prior Park to the National Trust which has opened them to the public. Prior Park, now under lay administration for Clifton diocese, is a co-educational senior school for day students and boarders with 560 pupils. The Chapel of the Snows is a Mass centre for local Catholics. 

Just a few km from Bath is Bradford on Avon, which has a fine small Saxon church of the 10th century and a wonderful stone tithe barn, built for the local abbey in the 12th century. I often go to Bristol, 15 minutes by train from Bath. Its cathedral, once an Augustinian abbey, dates from 1140. I always visit St Mary’s, Redcliffe, a good example of a mediaeval parish church. In St John’s chapel is a piece of whalebone brought from Newfoundland in 1497 by the Bristol explorer John Cabot (an Italian, Sebastiano Caboto). 

In St Mary’s I always think of the last Catholic vicar of the parish, Blessed Edwin Powell. Born in Wales, he taught at Eton and Oxford and was executed at Smithfield, London, in July, 1540.
Similarly, when in Salisbury Cathedral I think of Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, daughter of the Duke of Clarence and mother of the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Reginald Pole
The Cardinal infuriated Henry VIII by writing an open letter critical of, his divorce, remarriage and policies: “Thy butcheries and horrible executions have made England the slaughterhouse of innocence…Lucifer alone may be fitly compared to thee.”  Unable to arrest the Cardinal, who was in Europe, Henry had his 80-year-old mother dragged to the Tower of London and executed.

Another favourite excursion is by bus to Wells, with its handsome small cathedral then on to Glastonbury to walk through the ruins of the great Abbey and to climb The Tor, where the last Abbot of Glastonbury, Blessed Richard Whiting, and two of his fellow monks were martyred in 1539. 

Most Glastonbury shops now belong to new age people who peddle an amazing variety of junk: crystals, pagan and even Satanist images, shrines and spells, incense and beads. It is sad to see these charlatans flourish near what was once a great abbey and pilgrimage place.

Bath’s biggest project for years is the $50 million Thermae Bath Spa - the old baths were closed 28 years ago when toxic amoeba were discovered in the water after the death of a child. 

The new spa uses filtered water from the ancient springs. There are treatment rooms and a rooftop pool, open to the sky and overlooking the Abbey. The project was due to open in December 2002 yet no one will forecast an opening date. But the local water supplier, Wessex Water, spent $5 million on a free concert by the Three Tenors: Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo to celebrate the spa. 

In the park below the Royal Crescent they built a huge stage modelled on the arches of the Roman Baths, installed seating and provided an overflow area with giant TV screens in Victoria Park.  Tickets were available through the Council and local newspapers.  I went to this event. 

The tenors were in good voice but the high point was the final sequence, with massed local choirs and the London Philharmonic. They played Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance synchronised with fireworks and everyone sang Land of Hope and Glory then Blake’s Jerusalem. As red, white and blue rockets burst overhead, we pledged in song to build Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land. It was pure magic. 

When we arrived in Bath, twilight came at 10pm. In August it was at 9pm and in September twilight was at 8pm and we felt the chills of autumn.  It was time to confirm our flights: to Rome for a week, then Hongkong and Sydney.

As the Heathrow Airport bus pulled out of Bath, our last glimpse of the city was the 47m spire of St John’s and the curve of Camden Crescent, high on Lansdowne Hill.  We’ll be back.

Editor’s Note: Brother Baptist McGrath (RIP) and Brother Nicholas Duffy (RIP), Kevin’s teachers of English during his 1943-45 secondary years, would have been pleased with the above example of the result of their labours.