St Mary's Church

The design of St Mary’s Church is yet another creation of Townsville’s Rooney Brothers. It was built in 1888 by contractors Cowell and Holt. The church construction was initiated by Father William Walsh, who was based at St Joseph’s Church and School on The Strand, which was established in the 1870s. The Sisters of Mercy who ran the school on The Strand, later opened a school adjacent to St Mary’s. The church was originally a simple rectangular structure with nave and entrance porch. A house was relocated to the site in 1917 to serve as a convent for the nuns. Major alterations were undertaken on the church by Doig and Ritchie, under the supervision of Ardel Rooney of Rooney’s Ltd in 1923. The building was widened to include transepts on either side of the main altar, side aisles and a sacristy. The marble altar, wooden side altars, baptismal font, altar rails, pulpit, pine pews in the aisles, and wood and plaster stations of the cross, date from this period. Cottage style gardens around the church were constructed in 1923. In December 2013, the former nuns house burnt down. St Mary’s Church remains an important place of worship for the local Catholic parish.