LISMORE, DIOCESE OF. - It is located in the State of New South Wales in Australia and was erected on 10 May 1887 under the name of Grafton, detaching its territory from the Diocese of Armidale. The first bishop was G. G. Doyle, who found there 8 parishes, 3 convents of nuns and 3 Catholic schools with 10 priests. On 13 January 1900 the see was transferred to Lismore and the name was accordingly changed.
Over an area of 17,600 sq. km it has 160,543 inhabitants of English and Irish origin. The Aborigines are very few and there are some Italians. The Catholics number 3,110, in the proportion of 1 to 5 compared with Protestants of various denominations. There are no true pagans and the Muslims are few in number.
It is entrusted to the secular clergy with 45 secular priests and 13 religious, distributed in 25 parishes and 85 churches and chapels. It has one hospital, one orphanage and one home for the aged. There are 38 elementary schools and 26 secondary schools with 5,915 pupils. Numerous are the Catholic associations.