No. 1631 - Tunnack - St Brigid's Catholic Church and School (1866-1894)
Tunnack is small rural town located about 20 kilometres south of Oatlands. The district around Tunnack was predominantly settled by Irish-Catholic migrants after the mid-19th century. Settlement was promoted by the passage of the Waste Lands Act (1863) which made available small lots of cheap land for clearing and farming. The original settlements centred around properties at "The Bluff" and "Brandy Bottom”. As the Irish population grew the district was informally known as Limerick. When a township was surveyed at the crossroads to Levendale the name Tunnack was adopted. Tunnack is derived from an Aboriginal word for "cold". Tunnack’s first Catholic church can be dated to 1866 when a 4 acre site at ‘The Bluff’ was granted for a church and burial ground. In June 1868 Father Marum wrote to the Board of Education requesting permission for “the temporary use of a chapel as a school building” and expressed his “desire to comply with the regulations of the Board”. ...