ADELAIDE, ARCHDIOCESE of. - Its centre is at A., capital of the province of the same name in southern Australia, and it now has two suffragan dioceses: Darwin and Port Augusta.
The “free” Protestant colony of southern Australia had been founded in 1836 by Colonel Light, with the exclusion, however, of Catholics and pagans. Yet some Catholics were among those first immigrants, and in 1840 A. received the first visit of Rev. Ullathorne of Sydney (the diocese to which A. belonged), who was unable even to obtain permission to celebrate in one of the schools; thus the first Mass took place in a shed, in the presence of 50 Catholics. A resident priest was already present in 1841. Erected as a diocese in 1843, its first bishop, Msgr. Francesco Murphy, had to struggle against the most extreme poverty and, above all, against the lack of clergy. Slowly matters changed; the number of priests increased; resources became available, and the very small secular clergy was assisted by male and female religious institutes; so that in 1887 A. was proclaimed a metropolitan see.
Area of the territory, 102,000 sq. km.; population 550,000, of whom 55,000 are Catholics. There are 106 churches and 43 parishes; the secular clergy consists of 67 diocesan priests, while the male religious orders and congregations number 13, with 90 members, and the female ones 45, with 579. There are 63 male religious educational institutions and 62 female ones, with a total of more than 8,000 pupils. There are also hospitals, orphanages, boarding houses, hospices, shelters, refuges, etc.