Rochester – St Joseph’s Church

Rochester and the Echuca connection

Rochester is 17 km north of Elmore and many farms had developed there from the late 1860s. The earliest records of events are in the registers at St Kilian’s Bendigo and date from about 1863, when the Fathers O’Dwyer and Dr Hayes were based in Bendigo and after Dr Backhaus had left Victoria.[1] The story of the Church in Rochester is intertwined with that of Echuca which was formed as a separate mission from St Kilian’s by Dr Backhaus acting as Vicar General to Bishop Crane in 1874 about six months before the new bishop arrived. The association with Echuca is increased by the fact that both areas were staffed by priests of the Augustinian (OSA) Order from the late 1880s.

Earlier, in 1864, Frs O’Dwyer and Hayes had visited Echuca and offered Mass in a local hotel. The foundation stone for a church there was laid by Bishop Goold of the Diocese of Melbourne in 1865. By this time, the railway line from Bendigo had reached Echuca, which was growing in size due to this, and to the shipping traffic along the river Murray.

 Fr Daniel Francis O’Connel from Bendigo was appointed the first resident Priest in Echuca. By 1876, he had returned to Bendigo and was replaced by Fr James McGillicuddy who remained there until 1884.[2] Several other Priests had previously been active in the whole region including Fr Nicholas Bassetto [3]and Fr Duncan McNabb[4]

The early history of the Church in this region has been presented in considerable detail by Fr P J Hickey OSA in a history published in 1946.[5]

Rochester initially was part of the Echuca Mission and covered a large area including Bamawn, Lockington, Pyramid Hill, Tennyson Kyabram and Corop. The first Mass in Rochester township was probable offered by Fr McNabb in 1871 in a hotel and later in Tom Spencer’s granary.[6] The foundation stone for a church at Rochester was laid by Bishop Crane in March 1881 with the official opening later that year.

The year 1886 was an eventful one in the region as three Augustinian Priests from Ireland – Frs J A Knowles, J A Coleman and T A Meredith arrived in December to minister in the Echuca-Rochester region. By 1890, the Rochester area had been made a separate mission and there were also two additional Augustinian priests to the above – Frs H Allen, and F O’Hanlon to minister to the very large area with churches at Echuca, Torrumbary, Kyabram, Rochester, Corop and Panamoolo. In addition to the churches there were schools operating at Echuca and Kyabram. A boarding school and secondary school for girls at Echuca in the charge of the Sisters of St Brigid was also functioning. The convent for the Brigidine sisters had been opened in January 1893 and the report at the time said that agricultural conditions were improving with wheat bringing three shillings per bushell!

The original church at Rochester was demolished in 1909 and replaced by a large and very imposing structure that stands today, in excellent condition. The ceremony was performed by Monsignor Sylvester Barry, assisted by Frs O’Byrne, Stokes and Meredith. The ceremony was typical of those at the time- there was a procession around the church involving priests, school children, Hibernian Society members in full regalia and the congregation. Ther was a High Mass with choirs from Echuca and Rochester supported by an orchestra and a very detailed description of “the various choruses agreeably rendered and the solos very effective” according to the press reports.

The new church was designed by Melbourne architect A Fritch in Romanesque style, with dimensions 75 x 35 ft and a curved 30 ft high ceiling, a stark white interior and stained-glass windows.

A new presbytery was built in 1917. The site was then occupied by many impressive buildings and it is clear that the district must have been prosperous to be able to afford this.

There have been a number of ordinations to the Priesthood in Rochester. An early one was in1928 when Charles Gleeson a son of a pioneer family was ordained. Also, Fr Joe Dullard from Lockington was ordained in 1951. Prior to that Fr Alphonsus Tehan had been ordained in Rome in 1915. In a period of fifty years, the local Catholic school had educated ten students who became priests, four who became brothers and thirty who became religious sisters.

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[1] The O’Dwyers were probably cousins and had very similar names- Edward Augustine and Augustine Edward. The former was there only for a short period.

[2] Fr McGillicuddy had previously served in the missions at Williamstown and several other places but suffered from intermittent ill health.

[3] Fr Bassetto Was resident priest at Corop in 1869 and also involved with Rochester about 15 km away The Corop region now nearly deserted was a thriving area in 1888 with 328 people attending Mass there in one report.

[4] Fr McNabb was a relative of Mary Mackillop, founder of the St Joseph nuns

[5] A short history of the Catholic Church in Rochester 131 pp (Edited by K D Sargeant). See also Out where the dead men lie – the Augustinians in Australia 1838-1992, by Stan Arneil.

[6] Tom Spencer was a local Catholic with a farm at Bonn, between Rochester and Runnymede. He left the district in 1880, selling his 640 acre farm to Dr Henry Backhaus, who donated it to the three Victorian bishops as an investment to fund scholarships for students from Victoria and Paderborn to study at the Propaganda Fide college in Rome.