PERTH, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - It is located in Western Australia and the city of Perth is the capital of the State. In 1842 the Catholics of Perth asked the Archbishop Mons. Giovanni Beda Polding (1794-1877) for a priest, and Father Giovanni Brady was sent. He arrived in Perth on 13 December 1843, accompanied by Father Giovanni Joostens and the Irish catechist Patrizio O'Reilly. The first Catholic church was dedicated on 16 January 1844.
The territory was erected as the Diocese of Perth on 6 May 1845, as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sydney, from which were also detached and declared internally dependent on the Bishop of Perth the Apostolic Vicariates of Essington and Sounde, which were suppressed on 25 June 1847. On 12 March 1867 the territory of the Abbazia Nullius of New Norcia was detached. On the same date the boundaries of the diocese were modified, and on 27 April 1903 a portion of the territory was ceded to the Abbazia of New Norcia. On 30 January 1898 territory was detached to form the Diocese of Geraldton. The progress of the new diocese was quite rapid, and on 28 August 1913 it was elevated to an archdiocese. There are about 60,000 Catholics out of a total population of 250,000.
The area is 210,051 sq. km. with 73 parishes, 180 churches, 122 secular priests, 32 religious priests, 63 brothers, and 967 sisters. There are 6 hospitals with 600 beds, 3 orphanages with 810 boys, and 1 home for the elderly with 170 residents. There are 87 elementary schools with 682 boys and 530 girls, and 27 secondary schools with 970 male and 1,200 female students. The periodical *The Record* is printed there with a circulation of 16,000. Catholic Action and the Legion of Mary are well developed.