AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIA. – The smallest of the continents (about three-quarters the size of Europe), the most distant from Europe, and the only one entirely situated in the Southern Hemisphere (excluding Antarctica).

SUMMARY:

I. Geography

II. Catholicism in Australia

III. Councils of Australia

I. GEOGRAPHY

Australia consists of an ancient landmass (like Africa), worn down by erosion and surmounted on its eastern flank by a folded mountain range, the so-called Australian Alps, stretching from Cape York to Tasmania. To the west, the plateau, averaging about 500 m in height, is broken here and there by higher granite ridges (up to 1,500 m), except near the coast (desert or sandy) or covered by low, impenetrable scrub; here and there it is hollowed out into closed basins (salt lakes). To the east, the Australian Alps, which culminate in Mount Kosciusko (2,241 m), slope steeply down to the sea, cut by deep valleys but with gentle, medium-mountain forms. Between the two stretches a long depression interrupted by hills and mountains (Mount Flinders), traversed by temporary watercourses (creeks); to the south it embraces the Murray-Darling basin (the only major river in Australia: 3,700 km in length and a basin of 90,000 km²) and Lake Eyre, which lies below sea level (–12 m).

Covering about two-fifths of the torrid zone and the rest of the temperate zone, with an extent of 32° in latitude (comparable to the distance between Cagliari and Lake Tana in Ethiopia), Australia has varied climatic conditions: the general characteristics, however, are strong thermal imbalances and an irregularity of rainfall that is even more pronounced than its scarcity. In the north and northeast, the climate is tropical with abundant summer rainfall (monsoons); in the east and south, subtropical with mild winters and hot summers (rainfall in the intermediate season); in Victoria and Tasmania, temperate, with well-marked summers and sufficient rainfall (winter). Aridity and continentality dominate more or less throughout the interior. Only slightly more than a third of the territory drains to the ocean; closed basins occupy more than two-fifths, and about a third consists of areas without surface drainage. The damage caused by drought is nevertheless mitigated by the use of underground water, tapped by numerous artesian wells, and even by the distillation of seawater (pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie).

The vegetation and fauna display marked archaic characteristics, with typical endemic forms. In the forests, which are particularly lush in the north and east, eucalyptus and tree ferns predominate; in the scrub, acacias and spiny shrubs. Monkeys, carnivores (except for the dingo), and ruminants were absent from Australia; by contrast, the monotremes (echidna, platypus) and marsupials (kangaroo) are typically Australian. Domestic animals were introduced by Europeans and spread rapidly.

Europeans arrived in Australia in 1778 (groups of English convicts); the first free colonists (Scots) in 1820. In 1851, the discovery of gold brought a significant wave of immigration; subsequently, the flow was contained.

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**Commonwealth of Australia.** – The Commonwealth of Australia is a federation of states, a territory, and a federal district, and constitutes one of the members of the British Empire (British Commonwealth of Nations), to which it is linked by a governor-general appointed by the Crown, assisted by a cabinet of 13 members and a bicameral parliament: the Senate (36 members) and the House of Representatives (74 members), both renewable (the former halfway through) every three years. Here is the division of the Commonwealth (in parentheses, the year of establishment of each unit; in thousands, the km² and inhabitants).

The Commonwealth of Australia covers 7.7 million km²; in 1938 it had a population of 6.9 million; in 1947, 7.6 million (less than 1 inhabitant per km² overall). There are also about 60,000 indigenous people (Australids), of whom more than two-thirds live a nomadic life in the least favored regions. The white population is almost exclusively (97%) of English origin; the Commonwealth of Australia is therefore, of all the British dominions, the most ethnically homogeneous. Foreigners number about 60,000, of whom 18,000 are Italians.

The vast majority of the population is Protestant; Catholics number 1.4 million.

Three-fifths of the population is concentrated in urban centers, two of which exceed one million inhabitants: Sydney (1.5 million) and Melbourne (1.2 million); there are four other cities with over 100,000 inhabitants (Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Newcastle). Since 1927, the capital has been Canberra, a small, modern center inhabited almost exclusively by government officials (12,000 inhabitants).

Only a tiny fraction (1.7%) of the immense territory is cultivated (especially in the southeast), producing cereals, sugarcane, grapes, and fruit in quantities exceeding domestic consumption. Forests cover only 1.1% of the total area and yield valuable timber, especially for cabinetmaking. Mineral resources are substantial (gold in the southwest, silver, copper, tin, lead, coal, especially in the southeast, etc.); petroleum, however, is lacking, but its products are mostly exported in raw form. The main source of national wealth is livestock; with 96 million head, the Commonwealth of Australia ranks first in the world for sheep, and by far first for wool production (one-quarter of the world total). There are also numerous cattle (13 million head), horses (1.2 million), and pigs (1.3 million); exports of butter, cheese, fats, cured meats, and hides are significant. Only livestock has given rise to an industrial activity of adequate scale; other industries (metallurgy, steel, cement), however, have made decisive progress in the last decade. In 1945–46, the value of manufactured goods exceeded that of agricultural products by more than three times.

The railways (44,000 km) serve the marginal eastern (especially southeast) and southwest sectors, from which numerous branches penetrate the interior, though not connected to one another; significant differences in track gauge between networks also hinder exchanges. In operation is the Transcontinental East-West line (from Sydney to Perth); under construction is the North-South line (from Darwin to Adelaide; currently extended 450 km from Darwin).

Foreign trade yields extremely high per capita figures (54 British pounds in 1946–47): more than one-third of exports and one-third of imports are absorbed by Great Britain. In 1946–47 imports reached 183.7 million pounds, compared with 246.7 million for exports. Among the former, textiles (silk and cotton), petroleum, chemicals, machinery, paper, electrical goods, etc., predominate; among the latter, wool (almost half the total value), flour, meats, hides, leather, lead, etc. In this trade the leading position is held by the State of New South Wales, which alone accounts for almost half the total; Victoria and Queensland follow.

The exchange between Italy and Australia is modest: in 1946–47 Italian exports to Australia exceeded imports by six times (2.4 million pounds).

Under the administration of the Australian Commonwealth are: 1) the Territory of Papua (since 1 Sept. 1906; 234,490 sq. km. with 302,000 inhabitants) on the island of New Guinea; 2) the Mandated Territory of New Guinea (since 17 Dec. 1920; 241,000 sq. km. with 675,000 inhabitants), comprising, besides part of the island, the Bismarck Archipelago; 3) the Solomon Islands (29,676 sq. km. with 95,000 inhabitants); 4) the atoll of Nauru (22 sq. km. with 2,321 inhabitants); 5) the tiny Ashmore and Cartier Islands in the Timor Sea south of the Malay Archipelago (1.89 sq. km., uninhabited); 6) the Antarctic Territory comprising all islands and the continent south of 60° S. and between 160° and 45° E. Greenwich (with the exception of Adélie Land), uninhabited.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. CATHOLICISM IN AUSTRALIA

In the 16th century the existence of a “Terra Australis incognita” was already known, its northern and western coasts having been sighted by Portuguese navigators. A century later the Dutch explored its southern coasts as well and gave it the name of New Holland, but the newly discovered continent remained a mystery for another century and a half, until Cook, in 1770, discovered the eastern coasts and the outline of the continent could be traced. However, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide had already established a mission for the Terra Australis as early as 1666, entrusting it to the French priest de Pomiers, a Sulpician, who intended to evangelize it; but the project was never carried out. Fifteen years later, the same mission was entrusted to the Apostolic Prefect of Formosa, who then resided in the Philippines, but he was unable to go there or send missionaries. After these two failed attempts, mention of the Terra Australis mission ceased until the end of the 18th century, when Australia became an English colony.

After the American War of Independence, England, no longer able to send its numerous deportees to the penal colonies in America (as it had done from 1716 to 1776), established the colony of New South Wales in the southeastern part of New Holland, reserved for deportees. These were not all criminals; indeed, given the systems then in force in England, most were people punished for minor offenses or for political reasons, and among the latter were many Irish, condemned for rebellion against the laws of their rulers. Thus it came about that the first white inhabitants to settle in Australia were the 696 deportees who, on 20 January 1788, disembarked with their escort at the site where Sydney would later arise.

This first expedition was followed by others for three-quarters of a century, at an average that at times reached about 6,000 deportees per year. The history of the Australian penal colonies, like that of those in America, is a history of horrors and depravity, oppression and brutality, which aroused great indignation and frequent protests. Deportation was abolished in New South Wales only in 1840 and did not disappear entirely from

the country until 1868. Almost from the beginning, alongside the colonies of deportees, nuclei of free settlers began to establish themselves, to which were added freed convicts. The free settlers had already become more numerous than the deportees when, around the mid-19th century, the discovery of gold attracted a very strong wave of immigrants to Australia.

Among the deportees there were also Catholics, but no freedom of worship was granted to them. On the contrary, they were forced, under severe penalties, to attend Anglican religious services, and their children were educated in the Anglican faith. In 1792 there were about three hundred Catholics among the deportees and about fifty among the free settlers; at the beginning of the 19th century there were almost two thousand, and among them were three priests, to whom the exercise of any sacred ministry was strictly forbidden. One of them, Fr Dixon, finally managed in 1803 to obtain, under parole, permission to celebrate Mass once a month. A year later the permission was revoked; then, one after another, the three priests were sent back to Ireland, and the conditions of Catholics became worse than before.

In 1816 the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda did not

send the Cistercian Fr O’Flynn as Apostolic Prefect of New Holland; but he was able to exercise his ministry only secretly among the 6,000 Catholics he found in Australia; after a few months he was arrested and sent back to his homeland, without being able to consume the Blessed Sacrament, which remained hidden for two years in the house of an Irish settler named Davis. A shrine was later built on the site, a destination of pilgrimages. The brutal and illegal treatment inflicted on Fr O’Flynn caused an uproar in England and shed light on the religious persecution suffered by Catholic deportees and settlers in Australia.

In 1819 the Congregation of Propaganda entrusted the mission to the Vicar Apostolic of the Mauritius Islands, who obtained that two of his missionaries be appointed by the government as chaplains for Catholic deportees. This occurred in May 1821, and that date marks the beginning of religious tolerance in Australia. The first Catholic priests in Australia, especially Fr Therry and, after him, the Benedictine Dom Ullathorne—who had been appointed by the Vicar Apostolic of the Mauritius Islands as Vicar General for all of Australia—had to resolve the problem.

In 1821, after having gained greater religious freedom, it was not until 1832 that a plot of land could be obtained to build a church; schools remained an absolute monopoly of the Anglican Church until 1836. Catholic chaplains were forbidden from receiving Protestant conversions, and deported Catholics were denied religious marriage. The number of Catholics, which stood at about 10,000 in 1821, had risen to 17,179 by 1833, more than half of whom were free settlers. This led the Holy See to separate Australia from the Vicariate of the Mauritius Islands and to erect it as an autonomous apostolic vicariate (1842), named the Vicariate Apostolic of New Holland and the Island of Diemen (as Tasmania was then called). By 1841, this vast vicariate already counted 40,000 Catholics and 28 priests, with a total population of 211,095 souls.

At the request of the apostolic vicar, Monsignor Polding, the first bishop of Australia, the Holy See proceeded in 1842 to establish the ecclesiastical hierarchy there, dividing the vicariate into three parts and erecting Sydney as a metropolitan archiepiscopal see with the two suffragan dioceses of Hobart and Adelaide. Soon after, other dioceses followed: Perth, capital of the colony of Western Australia, was erected as a suffragan diocese of Sydney in 1845; Melbourne, Maitland, and Port Victoria (now Darwin) in 1847. The extraordinary influx of gold-seeking immigrants increased the Catholic population from 60,000 in 1851 to 250,000 in 1861, necessitating the creation of additional dioceses: Brisbane in 1859 (which had become the capital of the new colony of Queensland that same year), Goulburn in 1864, Bathurst in 1865, and Armidale in 1869. Meanwhile, the mission of the Italian Benedictines, founded in 1846 for missionary work among the Aborigines and dependent on the bishop of Perth, was erected in 1867 as an *abbatia nullius* Norcia (v.).

Until 1874, all dioceses in Australia were suffragan to Sydney; in that year, the diocese of Melbourne was elevated to a metropolitan see for the entire territory of the colony of Victoria, with two suffragan dioceses: Sandhurst and Ballarat. In 1877, in an effort to evangelize the Aborigines of Queensland, the northernmost territory was detached from Brisbane and erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Queensland (later called Cooktown in 1887 and the diocese of Cairns in 1941), first entrusted to the seminary of SS. Apostoli Pietro e Paolo in Rome and later to the Irish Augustinian Recollects. Today, as a diocese, it is entrusted to the secular diocesan clergy. In 1882, the new diocese of Rockhampton was also detached from Brisbane.

The Catholic population continued to grow rapidly (there were 539,556 Catholics out of a total population of 2,245,448 souls according to the government census of 1881). Following the vote of the First Australian National Council held in 1885 (the same year in which Australia was honored by the appointment of Monsignor Moran, Archbishop of Sydney, as a cardinal), new dioceses were erected in 1887: Grafton (later called Lismore in 1900) and Williams-Cannia (later Wilcannia-Forbes) in New South Wales; Sale in Victoria; Port Augusta in South Australia; and the Apostolic Vicariate of Kimberley in Western Australia, created for the evangelization of the Aborigines. The dioceses of Brisbane (for the colony of Queensland) and Adelaide (for South Australia and Central and Northern Australia) were elevated to metropolitan archiepiscopal sees. The following year, Tasmania also received its see of Hobart, elevated to an archdiocese. The erection of the diocese of Geraldton marked the close of the 19th century.

On January 19, 1901, Australia ceased to be a colony and became a federation of six States under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia. At that time, it had a population of 3,782,182, of which 856,068 were Catholics; there were 5 archdioceses, 14 dioceses, 2 apostolic vicariates, and one *abbatia nullius*.

In the 20th century, there were few territorial changes in the Catholic hierarchy: in 1910, the mission of Drisdale River (v.) was established in the Kimberley for the evangelization of the Aborigines, entrusted to the Benedictines of the Abbey of New Norcia; in 1913, Perth was also elevated to an archdiocese and constituted a metropolitan see for the entire State of Western Australia; in 1914, the Apostolic Delegation of Australasia was established with residence in Sydney; in 1917, the new diocese of Wagga Wagga was erected in New South Wales; in 1929, that of Toowoomba, and the following year, that of Townsville, both in Queensland. In 1948, the diocese of Goulburn was elevated to an archdiocese under the name of Canberra-Goulburn.

Naturally, the number of parishes, religious houses, schools, and various cultural and charitable institutions multiplied, and seminaries and colleges were established for the formation of priests, who in the past century came almost exclusively from Ireland. New religious congregations were introduced, others were founded in Australia, and almost all opened novitiates. Following the First Australian Plenary Council of 1885, three more were held: in 1895, 1905, and 1937. The International Eucharistic Congress held in Sydney in 1928 remains a memorable event in Australian annals.

What constitutes the gravest concern of bishops and parish priests—and the pride of Australian Catholics—is their schools. The issue of Christian education for youth has been a burning question since the beginning of the colony, forcing Catholics into a continuous struggle. First, it was secured that Catholic children would no longer be compelled to undergo Anglican religious instruction; then came freedom of education, followed by government subsidies for Catholic schools, equal to those granted to Protestant schools. Finally, secular state schools emerged, and by around 1880, all subsidies to denominational schools were withdrawn. Since then, Australian Catholics, in addition to paying their share of taxes for state schools (which they do not use), bear the heavy burden of maintaining their own schools entirely. Today, Australia has a national system of parish schools, directly controlled by the bishops, which provides elementary education for almost all Catholic children. Even in remote small localities, where the priest can visit only once a week or month to celebrate Mass, a school is never lacking. In more important centers, there are secondary schools of various types, run by religious orders. In 1939, there were 1,065 parish schools and 62 secondary schools, with a total of 203,344 students.

In a country where Catholics are a minority and live scattered among Protestants, mixed marriages are unfortunately inevitable and often a cause of painful losses for the Church. On the other hand, a reassuring promise for the future is the verified fact that, although Catholics make up only one-fifth of the population, their birth rate exceeds two-fifths of the total Australian birth rate.

The central government in Canberra has no official relations with the Holy See, because the Apostolic Delegate, in accordance with canonical prescriptions, is not accredited to that government. Since 1947, the Apostolic Delegation has been renamed the Delegation for Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania.

Of the evangelization of the Aborigines, now reduced to fewer than 60,000 in Australia, much has been said, discussed, and planned; provincial and national councils dealt with it; the Holy See, as already noted, has established vicariates and missions; various religious congregations—Benedictines, Trappists, Jesuits, Missionaries of the Seminary of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Pallottines, Salesians, and secular clergy—have made repeated attempts, but the results have been unstable and meager. At present there are in Australia ten missionary stations for the Aborigines: three in the Apostolic Vicariate of Kimberley (Pallottines), two in the mission of Drisdale River (Benedictines), four in the Diocese of Darwin (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart), and one in the Diocese of Townsville (a secular priest). Altogether, however, the Catholic Aborigines do not exceed a thousand, while there are about three times as many catechumens.

According to the latest statistics, there are in Australia 1.4 million Catholics in 7 archdioceses (one for each State except New South Wales, which has two), 17 dioceses, one abbacy *nullius*, one Apostolic Vicariate, and one mission *sui iuris*, with 904 parishes and 2,319 churches. There are 2,455 priests (80 of whom are religious), 1,300 brothers, and 10,862 sisters. In seminaries and schools, 602 candidates are preparing for the priesthood. Among charitable works are counted 50 hospitals, 46 orphanages, and 65 other institutes and asylums. The Catholic press is represented by 9 weeklies and 21 other periodicals.

For the religion of the primitives, V. PRIMITIVI, religione dei.

The establishment in Australia of new dioceses, and above all of a second ecclesiastical province, that of Melbourne (1874), soon gave rise to the need for a first Plenary Council of Australia and New Zealand, which met in Sydney from 14 to 29 November 1885 under the presidency of Cardinal Francesco Patricio Moran, Archbishop of Sydney. It was attended by 15 bishops (including one Apostolic Vicar), 52 theologians, and other dignitaries. In 13 private and 5 public sessions, the council addressed the Vatican Council, ecclesiastical discipline, the education of youth, and other matters of urgency, issuing 274 decrees. During the council, the first diocesan seminary of Australia was blessed. This First Plenary Council, whose acts were approved by Rome with a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide on 1 March 1887, opened a new era in the development of the Church in Australia and New Zealand.

The Second Plenary Council took place from 17 November to 1 December 1895 under the presidency of the same cardinal-archbishop, with the participation of 20 bishops, 2 Apostolic Administrators, 49 theologians, and others. Fourteen private and 3 public sessions were held, in which the fathers issued 344 decrees, intended to confirm or expand previous legislation; the acts were approved by the Congregation of Propaganda with a decree of 22 January 1898.

The Third Plenary Council convened in 1905 under the presidency of the same Cardinal Moran, with the attendance of 6 archbishops, 22 bishops, one *abbas nullius*, and others (cf. H. W. Cleary, s. V. in *The Catholic Encyclopedia*, II, p. 117). At its conclusion, Pius X addressed a letter to the participants on 29 October 1905 (*Pii X P. M. Acta*, II, Rome 1907, p. 176).

The Fourth and final Plenary Council of Australia and New Zealand was held from 4 to 12 September 1937 under the presidency of the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Giovanni Panico, with the participation of 7 archbishops, 23 bishops, 22 theologians, 16 religious superiors, and others. There were 7 private, 3 public, and 2 general sessions, in which particular attention was given to adapting national ecclesiastical legislation to the new Code of Canon Law, to developing Catholic Action, and to combating the communist threat. To this end, 685 decrees were issued, arranged according to the order of the CIC. The council’s deliberations were approved by the Congregation of Propaganda with a decree of 14 March 1938.

In addition to these plenary councils, others have been held. In 1844, the Provincial Council of Sydney; in 1862, the first Provincial Council of Australia, in Melbourne, and again in 1869. Other diocesan councils were held in Melbourne, Maitland, and Sydney.

IV. SCHOOL SYSTEM

In Australia, education is regulated by the individual States that make up the Commonwealth of Australia. These States are particularly intent on reducing the number of illiterates, which has fallen to only 5%. For this reason, special care is devoted to elementary instruction, which is not always easy to provide because of the enormous distances and the scarcity of communications. In addition to regular elementary schools and full-time schools, there exist “half-time schools” where pupils spend only part of the day studying, while the rest of the day is spent working. There are also provisional elementary schools in small centers where the number of children reaches ten; if this number cannot be attained and the nearest center is too distant, elementary instruction is provided through the “house-to-house schools,” “schools with substitute teachers,” and “correspondence schools.” In the first case, the teacher reaches the pupils by train, carriage, or bicycle, gives lessons, and corrects assignments; in the second, instruction is provided by a substitute teacher who occasionally checks on the substitute’s work; in the third, instruction is given by correspondence. New South Wales has established “travelling schools,” and Queensland has two “railway car schools”: these are the so-called mobile schools that move from one center to another, stopping for six to eight weeks, and where children—and especially girls—learn not only to write but also the essentials of homemaking.

Secondary education is divided into two-year and three-year programs. The former includes “Farm-rural-schools” and “Higher primary small upper classes.” The latter includes “Intermediate-high-schools” and “High-schools.” These are lower secondary schools. From the two-year schools one may proceed to “Hawkesbury Agricultural College,” and from the three-year schools to “High-schools” lasting four or five years. At the end of the course the “Leaving certificate” diploma is obtained, which entitles the holder to attend a “Teachers College” or one of the six universities. The universities are as follows: the University of Sydney, founded in 1852; the University of Melbourne, founded in 1853; the University of Adelaide, founded in 1874; the University of Brisbane, founded in 1893; the University of Perth, founded in 1901; and the University of Hobart, founded in 1980.

Catholic emancipation in England in 1830 greatly improved the living conditions of Australian Catholics, to whom it was then permitted to found schools that were recognized by the State in 1912.

There are 532 “Boys-Colleges,” 201 “Girls-Boarding-schools,” 222 “Superior-Day-schools,” and 1,064 “Primary schools.” The education of the clergy is provided in nine ecclesiastical seminaries. — See Pl. XXX.