NUOVA NORCIA, NULLIUS ABBEY. — In Western Australia. In January 1846, the first Catholic bishop of Perth, Mgr. G. Brady (d. 1871), arrived in the Colony of West Australia with two Spanish Benedictines, G. Serra and R. Salvado, sent into the heart of the Victoria Plains to found a mission among the Aboriginal peoples. This began on 1 March 1846.
At first the two missionaries followed the Aboriginal peoples in their movements; but they soon realized that they had to resume the Benedictine system of civilization and founded the abbey of N. N. on the banks of the Moore. In 1848, Fr. Serra returned to Europe in search of assistance; but in August he was appointed bishop of Port Victoria and, at the end of 1849, coadjutor to Mgr. Brady of Perth. Fr. Salvado remained alone, and on 19 August 1849 he was consecrated bishop of Port Victoria. But when this colony was dissolved, he was able, in May 1853, to return to N. N., which on 1 April 1859 became a true mission sui iuris under the interim administration of Mgr. Salvado, and was elevated on 7 February 1860 to an apostolic prefecture dependent solely upon its own Ordinarius pro tempore; on 12 March 1867 it received territory separated from the diocese of Perth and the erection of the “nullius” abbey, declared a suffragan of Adelaide on 10 May 1887; aggregated on 12 September 1900 to the Cassinese Congregation of the Primitive Observance, and constituted a suffragan of Perth on 13 August 1913.
It has an area of 45,000 sq. km., with approximately 12,500 inhabitants, of whom 2,165 are Catholics and 10,750 Protestants. Spanish priests, 27; Australian Benedictines, 5; Australian diocesan priests, 4; brothers, 30; sisters, 47. Parishes, 8; churches, 8; chapels, 9; orphanages, 2; elementary schools, 8; middle schools, 4; secondary schools, 2; vocational schools, 1.