No. 257 - Our Lady of Lourdes at Devonport - Part 2

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The church of Our Lady of Lourdes is the third Catholic church which has stood on this site in West Devonport.

The first Catholic church at Devonport was established at Torquay on the east side of the Mersey River in 1870. Known as the ‘Star of the Sea’ this timber church was transported across the Mersey to West Devonport in 1899 and reassembled alongside the first convent established by the Sisters of St Joseph in 1893.

The rapid growth of Devonport meant that the old Star of the Sea was not adequate for the needs of the town’s Catholic population. Ten years after the church reopened it was replaced by an imposing brick church that was completed in November 1914.

This church was in turn replaced 55 years later by the current modern church that was built by Father Ron Lee-Archer. The new church was blessed and dedicated as a memorial to world peace by Archbishop Guilford Young on 5th November 1972.

The first church, the ‘Star of the Sea’ has long been demolished and it stood where the convent building opened in 1954 now stands. The second church still exists and now functions a facility for Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School.

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018
Sources:

Southerwood, W. T Planting a faith in Tasmania : the country parishes. [W. T. Southerwood], [Hobart], 1977.

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