Held all year round:

History of early Sydney Church exhibited in St Mary's Cathedral Crypt

Entitled The First Australian Catholics - from convict ships to the great fire, this exhibition has been a very attractive reason to visit St Mary's.

It tells the story of the first eighty years of the Catholic Church in this country beginning with the arrival of convicts on the 'fatal shore'. The beliefs and presence of the first Catholics were supported by the uneven presence of an occasional visiting priest and several priests who were convicts themselves.

The exhibition consists of a 20 minute filmed account of the first years of the colony; some of the early Catholics; the arrival of the first officially appointed priest, Fr John Therry; the Benedictine dream of John Bede Polding, Sydney's first Archbishop; and the fire which destroyed the first St Mary's Cathedral.

Included in the exhibition are several display cases of some fascinating artefacts from those early days: The oaken tabernacle which housed the Blessed Sacrament left in the custody of lay people in the Colony in 1817; Convict Vestments, made about 1800 from damask silk which is dated as early as 1750; Candlesticks and crucifix which is believed to have been used in the first official Mass in 1803; The Marriage dollar said to have been loaned to financially embarrassed bridegrooms by Fr Therry to pay for their marriage service; artefacts of John Bede Polding, first Archbishop of Sydney.

The exhibition is currently closed. Will reopen after World Youth Day.