St Joseph's Catholic Church

Statement of Significance

Social and Civic

Physical Description

• Simple gothic style influenced by Post World War Two austere
design;
• Brick walls, and;
• Tile roof.

History

Manjimup township was surveyed and real development began in 1912.
In accordance with government policy of the day all religious
denominations were provided with a land grant sufficient to erect a
church. Therefore in Manjimup just before World War One a half acre in
Rose Street was granted to the Catholic parish of Bridgetown (which
covered a large area including Manjimup and Pemberton).
Although with only limited finances, the small Catholic community
proceeded with the structure of a church hall. The timber was cut at
Joseph Johnson’s spot mill and the construction was carried out by the
Edwards brothers. Only the shell of the church hall was done as there
was not the money to fully complete it. Nevertheless the flock had their
church which was opened by Archbishop Clune on the 6 September 1914
(just after the outbreak of World War One). The opening ceremony was
attended by a congregation of 40 parishioners.
During the austere years of World War One non essential activities took a
back seat – this included church expansion. However, in the boom years
following the armistice the district flourished. The timber mills returned
to full capacity, the War Service Land Settlement Scheme established
hundreds of veteran soldiers on farms and the population of the district
increased dramatically. The church was faced with providing priests,
churches and schools for the significant sprinkling of Catholic
worshippers amongst the newcomers. In order to accommodate servicing
the parishioners Father Reidy suggested to Archbishop Clune that the
Bridgetown Parish be split and that Manjimup and surrounding district be
established as separate entity. He agreed and in March 1922 Father
Kearnan was appointed Parish Priest of the Manjimup-Pemberton area.
Dr Francis Kearnan was an excellent appointee. He was a devoted
Christian man, a tireless worker and became a legend in the district in his
lifetime. Much of his energy went into establishing a church school (now
Kearnan College).
After the building of the Catholic Convent the church hall was sold off
and mass was held in a classroom at the school. When numbers rose,
mass was moved to bigger premises but always with in the school
confines. In the years following World War II Australia embarked on a
massive immigration programme. The first of the newcomers were
displaced refugees with many thousands from Europe. A number of
these settled in the Manjimup area with a significant amount of them
being Catholic. The extra population put pressure on the need for a
purpose built Church to replace the school hall services that had sufficed
to this time. So began a fund raising project which centred on an
Australia Day carnival. The fundraising extended from 1947 until its
fruition in 1955 when St Josephs Church was completed. It was
consecrated in a ceremony led by Bishop Goody.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High
Authenticity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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