AS THE re-opening of St Brigid’s Catholic Church remains many months away, we thought it timely to ‘visit’ the gala event surrounding the first official opening of the building on Sunday, February 13, 1910.
Parish priest, Father Andrew Horan, in anticipation of a large crowd at the big event negotiated with the Railway Department to run special trains on the opening day from Toowoomba, Brisbane, Ipswich, Boonah and Toogoolawah to transport the multitudes in and out of Rosewood.
To gain assent from the powers-that-be in the department, he had to guarantee the ‘out of schedule’ trains would be adequately filled.
Fr Horan’s belief in his congregation and the people of the surrounding communities was fulfilled – the special train from Ipswich alone needed 22 carriages to accommodate the ticket holders.
No doubt his memory went back to the opening of the first St Brigid’s church which was built in 1885, when an estimated crowd of 600 to 700 attended the event.
ON SUNDAY, February 13, 1910, more than 2,000 people took part in the procession leading to the new church and witnessed the opening
On arrival, members of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society who had been part of the procession formed a guard of honour encircling the building.
The official ceremony of opening the church was performed by Bishop James Duhig and Fathers Horan, Brady and Wright.
Bishop Duhig later became Archbishop of Brisbane (1917) and in 1959 became the first Roman Catholic archbishop to accept a knighthood.
But that was in the future.
On that day in 1910, perhaps Bishop Duhig’s thoughts briefly lingered in the past as Rosewood was the first country place in which he had celebrated mass as a priest.
IN DESIGNING the church, Fr Horan had thought to accommodate 1,000 congregants but on that day, it’s believed that many more filed in while hundreds remained standing in the church grounds.
Father Murphy celebrated mass, Bishop Duhig gave the sermon and then it was Father Horan’s time to seek the attention of the crowd while he read the financial statement.
He reported it had cost £3,400 to build the church and £350 to buy an extra piece of land. Donations to meet the cost totalled £781. (Fr Horan later announced that the sale of tickets to the luncheon and a collection taken up on the day raised a further £520 after expenses.)
The hymn singing by the 35 member Rosewood choir was described by reporters as a “special feature of the day”.
After the service, the former St Brigid’s church, now doing duty as the church hall (as it continues to do today) was where the visitors sat down to lunch – there and under a huge marquee outside the hall.
The Catholic ladies and many other ladies from the community prepared and served lunch to around 1,500 people. Many of the ingredients were donated.
