ADLAIDE, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — Its center is in A., the capital of the homonymous province of South Australia, and it now has two suffragan dioceses: Darwin and Port Augusta.
The “free” Protestant colony of South Australia was founded in 1836 by Colonel Light, though Catholics and pagans were excluded. Some Catholics, however, were among the first immigrants, and in 1840 A. received its first visit from the Rev. Ullathorne of Sydney (to whose diocese A. then belonged), who was not even permitted to celebrate Mass in one of the schools; thus the first Mass took place in a shed, with the attendance of 50 Catholics. Yet already in 1841 there was a resident priest. Erected as a diocese in 1843, the first bishop, Mgr. Francis Murphy, had to struggle against extreme poverty and especially against the lack of clergy. Slowly things changed; the number of priests grew; resources increased; the very scarce secular clergy were aided by male and female religious institutes; so that in 1887 A. was proclaimed a metropolitan see.
Territory: 102,000 sq. km.; population: 550,000, of whom 55,000 are Catholics. There are 106 churches, 43 parishes; the secular clergy number 67 diocesan priests; male religious orders and congregations number 13 with 90 members; female orders number 45 with 579. There are 63 male religious educational institutes and 62 female ones, with a total of more than 8,000 pupils. There are also hospitals, orphanages, boarding schools, hospices, shelters, refuges, etc.