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Regina Coeli Parish Beverly Hills

1948 - 1988
A Concise History

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This is but a short history of Regina Coeli Parish Beverly Hills published to mark the 25th anniversary of our Parish Church which was officially opened on Coral Sea Sunday, May 5th, 1963.

This history was compiled by Mr Jim Kane assisted by the valuable contributions of a number of past and present parishioners, who provided much of the detail and most of the old photographs.

Foreword

The Parish of REGINA COELI BEVERLY HILLS is indebted to Mr Jim Kane the Compiler of this short history of our Parish. Of necessity it is a short history because ours is a relatively young Parish - 40 Years is its span. Future Historians will add further Chapters as future years unfold events and personalities that will merit recording. At least Jim has set the ball rolling supplying the foundation upon which others will build as time and circumstances require.

He has done well in providing us with the story of our first four decades.

To Jim, to his wife, Gwen, and to those who have assisted in the compilation of this history on behalf of the Parishioners and Friends of REGINA COELI, I say "WELL DONE! AND THANK YOU!"

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Chapter One: A Home for Ex-Convicts

The Catholic parish of Beverly Hills embraces the suburb of Beverly Hills and parts of the neighbouring suburbs of Punchbowl and Narwee, fifteen kilometres south-west of the centre of Sydney.

The imposing parish church, sited on a hill, dominates a suburban landscape of tiled roofs and busy roads very different from the forested vista of one hundred and sixty years ago, or the farms and orchards which followed the clearing of the native bush.

The parish buildings stand on part of a land grant of sixteen hectares made in 1823 to Christopher Coleman, an Irish ex-convict. Coleman was transported to New South Wales in 1804 for allegedly taking part in a rising against the British in 1796.

In 1834 Coleman sold his farm, "Snugborough", to another ex-convict, James Oatley. A clockmaker from Stafford, England, Oatley put his skills to good use in the colony. One of his clocks still adorns the wall of Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, while a grandfather clock made by him is on display in the nearby Mint Museum.

Before his purchase of Snugborough, Oatley had received several grants, including seventy hectares next to Coleman's property. Oatley was a man of conscequence in the colony, and the largest of his grants is now the site of the suburb which bears his name. (1)

Oatley preferred Snugborough to his other properties and it was his wish to be buried on the farm. He died in 1839, and his wish was carried out. A small plaque marks the site of his grave in Ponyara Road, a few hundred metres from the Church.

The Oatley and Coleman grants form only a small part of Regina Coeli Parish. Most of the Parish lies in an area granted in 1808 to Captain John Townson of the New South Wales Corps, and his brother, Doctor Robert Townson. Their grants totalled almost forty three square kilometres and covered the present day suburbs of Penshurst, Hurstville, Allawah and Carlton and parts of Beverly Hills, Narwee and Mortdale. (2)

In 1812 Captain Townson sold his main grant to Simeon Lord for $1,600, a good profit on property for which he had paid nothing, and which he had held for less than five years. (3)

Simeon Lord was one of the most successful businessmen and one of the most colourful characters in the colony. An ex-convict, he had interests in sealing, whaling, sandalwood cutting and the manufacture of pottery, clothing and glassware. Often short of ready cash, he resorted to lawsuits against his creditors to delay the inevitable settlement. Both he and Robert Townson had signed a petition urging Major Johnston of the New South Wales Corps to depose Governor Bligh. The petition helped Johnston to make up his mind and the Rum Rebellion of 1808 ensued. (4)

The property was bought by yet another ex-convict in 1850. Michael Gannon was an Irishman who gave employment to many of his fellow-countrymen in his timber and firewood business. In clearing the land Gannon was a pioneer of the great Australian tradition of cutting down every tree in sight.

The main road through Gannon's land was known as "Gannon's Forest Road", now shortened to "Forest Road". In 1855 Gannon gave two acres of land on Forest Road to the Catholic Church. On that land St. Michael's Church, Hurstville now stands.

The Irish Catholics of the convict period were mostly poor and ill-educated. They were far from their homes and their close-knit families, living in a strange land with a trying climate, ruled by a Government they regarded as oppressive and tyrannical. For most of them, their only possession was their Catholic faith, in itself a symbol of defiance of their oppressors.

Close settlement was slow in coming to the area and no church was built. The district's Catholics would have a long wait for ready access to the formal observances of their religion. As Irishmen, they may have taken some comfort from the opening, in 1854, of the "Little John and Robin Hood Inn" on Stoney Creek Road. More than just a place of refreshment for thirsty farmers, timbergetters and charcoal-burners, the Inn was a social centre and meeting place, where matters of local importance could be discussed. (5)

The area which was to be known variously as Hurstville West, Dalmorton, Dumbleton and Beverly Hills, drowsed comfortably for most of the second half of the nineteenth century.

Writing in 1937, a local resident who moved into the district in 1873, recalled the Inn on Stoney Creek Road. (6) He had further recollections that at the corner of Belmore (now King George's) and Stoney Creek Roads were "...six of the best orchards in the district." (7)

The railway reached Hurstville in 1884 and residential development began. A newspaper article in 1890 mentioned "...Dumbleton Farm... the old farm house is still standing, although the Estate now belongs to a Building Society, and portions have been built on."(8)

The Hurstville West Public School was built on the Dumbleton Estate and still stands, as Beverly Hills Primary School, on the corner of King George's and Stoney Creek Roads.

The school opened in 1892, with seventy eight pupils. The growth of the District was reflected by the increase in enrolments. By 1900 there were one hundred and ninety four pupils, and two hundred and eighty two in 1904. The name of the school was changed to Dumbleton in 1915. (9)

In 1899 a family who were destined to play an important role in the history of Beverly Hills settled in the district. William and Catherine Evans were Welsh immigrants who had lived on the Victorian coalfields before becoming shopkeepers in Wallsend, near Newcastle.

The great coal strikes of the eighteen nineties meant heavy losses for the Evans family business, so they tried farming at Jilliby, near Wyong. A truly Australian combination of drought, bushfires and floods put an end to that venture.

After her husband's death in 1908, Catherine Evans opened a store on their land between Broadarrow and Stoney Creek Roads. She expanded the business in 1910 to include the District's first Post Office. (10)

By the time of her death in 1943 at the age of ninety-one, Mrs. Evans had seen her suburb go through three name changes - from Hurstville West to Dumbleton to Beverly Hills. She had seen, also, many changes in the nature of her suburb. One of her grandsons, William David Evans, would play an important part in many of those changes.

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Chapter Two: Parish Priest, Paspalum Paddock

In the years up to the Second World War, Dumbleton retained an air of rural calm. A Hurstville resident described the area as having, in the nineteen twenties, ". . . beckoning woods, scrub and fields ... scattered homes about in isolated situations." (11)

It seemed that the quiet countryside would turn into a busy suburb when Dumbleton Station, on the new East Hills railway line, opened in 1931. Many a real estate agent quivered in anticipation of the profits to be made, but after a promising start the flood of sales dwindled to a trickle.

A newspaper reported that, along the new railway line, "in 1930 and 1931 much land was sold by auction at reasonable prices, but then financial depression commenced, putting a stop to all building activity." (12)

The Great Depression was followed by World War II, and it was not until after the war that the expected development got under way. Mrs. O'Neill of Ponyara Road remembers both the rustic atmosphere and the collapse of the building boom. When the O'Neills moved into their new home in 1938, a block of land could be bought for as little as $90, "if one had the money." Cattle grazed behind the 0'Neill's house and people rode horses across the paddocks.

One feature of the district is remembered vividly by members of the Walters family, who arrived in 1941, and the Bashalls, who arrived seven years later. They recall that the district was completely bare of trees. The property developers had done their work with devastating thoroughness. The "beckoning woods" of the nineteen twenties had disappeared. The clearing begun a century earlier by Michael Gannon's Irish labourers had finally been completed.

In 1940, this treeless wilderness, neither suburb nor countryside, suffered its last change of name. The chief entertainment at the time was provided by films, and the lives and doings of film stars were avidly followed by millions of enthusiastic fans. Beverly Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles, was the home of many of the most famous, or notorious, of the movie screen's stars. Simple, unsophisticated Dumbleton became the new Beverly Hills.

Despite the glamour of the new name, the suburb did not experience a rush of home-seekers anxious to share an address with their screen idols. The main building activity of the period involved the construction of two army camps. Neither men nor materials were available for the building of homes.

During and just after the war, few families owned cars, and petrol was still rationed. There was little in the way of public transport, so most Catholics in Beverly Hills walked when they attended Mass in the surrounding parishes. Mrs. Walters, for one, remembers with pleasure the Sunday morning walk to St. Declan's at Penshurst. Other destinations for these pedestrian church-goers included Lakemba, Bexley and Hurstville.

Pleasant as these expeditions were in good weather, they could be very trying at times, especially for families with small children. As the number of families slowly grew, moves were made to establish a parish in Beverly Hills.

A number of requests were made to the Archdiocesan Authorities for the building of a church in Beverly Hills. Speaking at the opening of the school and convent in 1951, His Eminence Cardinal Gilroy described a visit to the cathedral six years earlier by an Italian immigrant, the late Mr. Zuttion. (13)

Mr. Zuttion, who was worried by the lack of a Catholic church and school in Beverly Hills, had just built a new house in King George's Road and offered his old house to the church.

Another initiative was taken by a real estate agent, Sam Ticehurst, who called a meeting of interested persons to discuss ways of achieving a parish. A delegation was elected to approach the Archbishop of Sydney. The chosen delegates were Messrs. Jack Peacock, Con Collins and Ivan Tacon.

This approach was successful. In November, 1946, Father William Evans was appointed "rector amovobilis" of Beverly Hills. (14) Born in 1906, Father Evans was the grandson of William and Catherine Evans, who had contributed so much to the development of Beverly Hills.

After his ordination in 1930, the young priest had served in various parishes, including Penshurst, before becoming a Chaplain in the Royal Australian Navy, just before the outbreak of the war.

Father Evans served in "H.M.A.S. Canberra". He was present at the Battle of the Coral Sea, and was onboard when the "Canberra" was sunk off Savo Island in August, 1942. Father Evans was rescued by the U.S.S. "Paterson".

This experience naturally had a great effect on Father Evans, who developed a deep respect for Americans and a desire to commemorate the friendship between Australia and the United States.

Father Evans' new domain, far removed from the watery wastes he had known in his war service, inspired him to adopt the initials "P.P.P.P." - "Parish Priest, Paspalum Paddock". His task, to which he devoted the rest of his life, was to turn his paspalum paddock into a centre of education, social service and worship.

Records are incomplete, but one of the first things that seems to have occurred is a flurry of correspondence between the parish priests of Penshurst, Beverly Hills, Punchbowl and Belmore. The letters concerned the boundaries of the new parish. There was also a claim by Father Evans against Father Breen of Penshurst for rent paid by the tenant of a house left to the church by Mr. Zuttion.

A mediator appointed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney found in favour of Father Evans in the matter of rent, and recommended that Kingsgrove be amalgamated with Bexley North to form a new parish, and that Herne Bay (later to be known as Riverwood) be added to Beverly Hills. This was done in March, 1948. Herne Bay became a separate parish in 1949.

All this activity did not prevent attention being paid to affairs in the centre of the parish. The old Zuttion home became the Presbytery and a room was set aside for daily Mass. Sunday Mass was celebrated in the School of Arts in Hampden Road.

In January, 1947, approval was given by the Archdiocesan Authorities for a loan of $700 for the purchase of the land now occupied by the parish hall. In February and March negotiations were started to buy land next to the church property and to obtain loans to erect a hall and to modify part of the Presbytery for use as a school.

The school opened in two rooms of the Presbytery on May 29, 1947, with an enrolment of thirty nine pupils. Sisters Alicia and Jose travelled daily from Penshurst.

The task confronting Father Evans was not his alone, and the respectable achievements of these early years were due to the faith, loyalty and dedication of the parishioners as well as to the devotion and energy of the parish priest.

A parish committee had been established, the members being Messrs. R. J. Peacock, T. B. Stinson, H. Butel, M. Gribbling and I. Tacon. Parishioners cleaned the School of Arts, and men of the parish laboriously brought the portable altar from its storage place in a shed behind the Peacock's house, erected it, then dismantled it and replaced it after Mass each Sunday.

As the parish grew, the demands so gladly accepted by the members of the new parish, did not grow less, rather, they increased.

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Chapter Three: We Worked Solid

Mrs O'Neill says of the parishioners in those early, pioneering days, "We worked solid." They did indeed, leaving a solid legacy of bricks and mortar, as well as a moral and spiritual legacy which is their true monument.

On April 17, 1948 Bishop Eris O'Brien laid and blessed the foundation stone of a building which would serve as both church and school. He spoke at length about the history of education in New South Wales, with special reference to the history of State aid to denominational schools. (15)

The foundation stone blessed by Bishop O'Brien bears not his name, but that of Cardinal Gilroy who had intended to perform this function. The stone was left unchanged at the request of Bishop O'Brien, thus setting a snare for unwary local historians!

This function was the first public gathering of parishioners to witness a tangible step in the development of the parish. The importance of the occasion was emphasised by the presence of the State Premier, Mr.J.McGirr, who, with other guests was welcomed by Frank Mclnerney. Mr. Mclnerney modestly attributes his prominent role at this and similar occasions to the fact that he owned the only available public address system.

In June of the same year the first Beverly Hills Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was formed, with Bob Peacock as President, Norm Hinder as Secretary and Mick O'Connor as Treasurer.

There was great need for the services of the Society. The army camps in King George's Road and Bundara Street and the United States Hospital Camp in Herne Bay had been converted to emergency housing. Most of the efforts of the Society's Brothers went towards alleviating the distress of the camps' inhabitants, many of whom lacked permanent employment. They needed food, clothing, furniture, firewood, money and, in many cases, friendship and a simple chat.

The charitable works of the Conference were financed by salvage drives. Using a truck belonging to the Society, and as many vehicles as they could coerce parishioners into lending, the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul collected clothing, furniture, bottles and old metal (from bathtubs to toothpaste tubes). Two of the Brothers set something of a record by collecting seventy dozen beer bottles from one house in one day.

On October 18, 1948, His Eminence Cardinal Gilroy made up for his absence from the blessing of the foundation stone of the hall by blessing and opening the building. He celebrated the first Mass in the hall, which followed a procession of the congregation along King George's Road from the School of Arts.

The new building meant no saving of labour. Every Saturday the school furniture had to be removed to storage under the hall, and the premises had to be cleaned and prepared for Mass. On Sundays, the class­rooms had to be prepared for school the following day.

Bishop O'Brien's first Episcopal Visitation took place in 1949. (16) His report showed a Catholic population of seven hundred and sixty eight in a district population of four thousand five hundred. There were three sodalities, or pious societies, those of the Holy Name, the Sacred Heart and the Children of Mary. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Legion of Mary and the Catholic Youth Organisation were all active.

The school had an enrolment of fifty five boys and seventy six girls, and the staff had increased to three Nuns. Accommodation of the Nuns was a problem, for the Convent in Belmore, where they were then staying, was limited in space. The steadily rising enrolment in the school was also testing the available classroom accommodation.

Expansion was expensive. The parish had to pay for its success. The raising of money was a constant problem to priest and laity alike.

The forties and fifties were a much simpler and less sophisticated time than the nineteen eighties. There was no television, many families had no car, licensed clubs were only beginning to play their role in society and the habit of dining out was not yet a feature of suburban life.

Simple entertainments were popular and it was through simple entertainments that much money was raised. Concerts in the hall drew crowds willing to pay money to enjoy local talent. Parishioners took turns in throwing open their homes for house parties, when chocolate wheels, housie and ample suppers were the chief attractions.

The hard work brought its own rewards. The Beverly Hills Catholics saw their parish growing around them, while their efforts brought them together in a sort of extended family. The parish was small enough for most people to know each other, and they constantly met in shared labour and enjoyment at one or another of the parish activities.

Plans to form a licensed club to raise funds and provide a meeting place lapsed for want of capital. The opening of the Illawarra Catholic Club in Hurstville in 1959 eventually filled the need for a social centre.

There was, however, an organisation to provide opportunities for men to meet socially. The Ponyara Social Club grew out of a proposal by Mr. George Willmott in the late fifties. Mr. Willmott had access to otherwise hard to obtain refreshments, and suggested the holding of social evenings for men.

There was a guest list of about two hundred. Over fifty evenings were held, on an invitation only basis, and not without some opposition within the parish. Various games were conducted, and by the time the Club's affairs were wound up in 1960, $8,450 had been turned over to the parish funds.

Not all ventures were so successful. Attempts to establish a regular income from housie failed, despite repeated efforts and an investment of $800. Distance from public transport was one explanation for this failure. Perhaps people were losing interest in going out to attend fund-raising functions.

By 1959, changing circumstances made a new approach to fund-raising necessary. The school was over­crowded, the hall was inadequate for the congregation and there was already a substantial debt. Plans had been drawn up for a new church and a model of the new building was displayed outside the hall every Sunday.

Professional help was sought, and a firm of professional fund-raisers was called in to start a programme of planned giving. A rising standard of living and the impact of television may have lessened the attraction of community social activity but, whatever the reason, the old methods of raising money were no longer adequate.

A specially prepared brochure was published before the canvass. In it, Father Evans outlined the existing financial commitments of the parish and the plans for future activity.

The brochure revealed that the parish had an existing debt of $48,000, a commitment to pay $22,000 towards the cost of the De La Salle Brothers' school at Kingsgrove and a need to spend $50,000 on a new junior school building to accommodate the one hundred and thirty children crowded into two rooms of the old Presbytery. (17)

There was also a need to make provision for enlarging the Convent to house a larger community. The new kindergarten had to be furnished and equipped, a school canteen had to be built and there were plans to provide catering facilities in the hall.

All of these commitments were in addition to the plans to build a large memorial church at a cost of over $200,000. The size of the task was daunting, and it took courage to build for the future.

As well as Mr. Bruce Barton, the professional organiser, there was a Chairman for each aspect of the campaign. Under the general Chairmanship of Dr. G. Quin, the panel consisted of Mrs. R. Daly and Messrs. J. O'Sullivan, A. Connolly, T. Kearney, N. Hinder and A. Mowle.

Canvassers visited every home in the parish, inviting members to pledge themselves to make a regular„ weekly payment of an amount they could afford.

The canvass was a success. Modern business methods proved more efficient than the more traditional means of gathering revenue. The canvass dinner organised by Mrs. Daly and her team of hostesses helped engender a feeling of togetherness and co-operation which showed itself in the generous and sacrificial giving of the parish.

Mr. Frank Mclnerney was appointed monitoring chairman of the follow-up committee. His records show that the weekly income of the parish increased from $180 to $624.

It was a condition of the canvass that existing methods of raising money should be replaced by the new scheme. In the process, many of the older parishioners believe, something was lost. Some of the sense of family, the community spirit, had disappeared.

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Chapter Four: Friendship in War and Peace

Father Evans' wartime experiences left him with a desire to commemorate, in some permanent and visible way, the friendship between Australia and the United States of America.

In 1954 permission had been given to change the name of the parish from the original "Queen of Peace" to "Regina Coeli", a title which had recently been proclaimed. It was his hope to build a large church in honour of Mary, Queen of Heaven which would also serve as a memorial to "Australian-American Friend­ship in War and Peace".

The dedicated priest believed, rather naively, that he would have only to announce his plans in America to receive donations towards the cost of his dream. Accordingly, he went to America in search of the support he so confidently expected.

His confidence was misplaced. American Catholics had their own problems in coping with the demands of building projects disrupted by the war effort. Their generosity had been tested to the utmost by mendicants from all over the world. Apart from a donation of $1,000 from Cardinal Spellman of New York, he received no help. Even ordinary hospitality in the form of invitations to stay in Presbyteries was denied him, although he did preach in the parish church in Beverly Hills, California.

Father Evans returned to Australia a disappointed man but the plans for the new church went ahead. The foundation stone was blessed by Cardinal Gilroy on Coral Sea Sunday, May 6, 1962. On Coral Sea Sunday, May 5, 1963, the Church was officially opened.

Present at the ceremony were His Eminence Cardinal Gilroy, the Minister for the Army, Mr. J. O. Cramer and Captain C. E. Roemer of the United States Navy. Captain Roemer was a survivor of a sinking during the Battle of the Coral Sea, and was in Sydney in command of the U.S.S. "Coral Sea". He presented to the Church a replica of his ship's crest. His gift is now on the wall of the American Chapel. (18)

Mr. K. Yorston, President of the Australian-American Association presented Father Evans with two credence tables, one for each of the chapels. Sailors of the Royal Australian and United States Navies formed a guard of honour, and the band of the Royal Australian Navy's Eastern Command played the national anthems of the countries whose friendship was being celebrated.

This splendour and ritual were witnessed by a congregation of a thousand inside the church, while hundreds more listened to loudspeakers in the church grounds.

The Church, the culmination of so much planning and sacrifice, was built in the Romanesque style. Towers, pillars, rounded arches and high small windows are characteristic features of this style, which originally employed much heavier and more ponderous materials than are available today.

Modern methods and materials permitted the style to be much lighter and more spacious than was possible in the past. The airy interior of Regina Coeli Church is an excellent example of the combination of past and present methods of construction and design.

The facade is dominated by towers which reach ninety five feet, or nearly twenty nine metres above the street. The towers bear on their bases plaques commemorating "Australian-American Friendship in War and Peace". Above the doors is a large rose window. The whole facade presents an impressive entrance to the Church.

FRONT VIEW
REGINA COELI
MEMORIAL CHURCH

THE AUSTRALIAN PLAQUE ON THE BASE OF THE LEFT HAND TOWER

THE AMERICAN PLAQUE ON THE BASE OF THE RIGHT HAND TOWER

The interior of the Church shows a high, vaulted ceiling and a dome over the sanctuary. Behind and above the main altar is a life-sized statue of Mary, Queen of Heaven, "Regina Coeli".

The Australian and American flags hang in the sanctuary, and their installation did not pass without comment. There were dark suspicions of Protestant infiltration, with confident predictions that a new parish priest would soon have the flags down. This has not happened, and the flags are now more of a conversation piece than a source of scandal.

The Western Chapel is known as the "Australian Chapel". The Australian coat of arms appears on the rear window and on the gate in the communion rail. On the wall of the chapel is a replica of the crest of H.M.A.S. "Canberra", presented to the Church by the survivors of the ship's sinking.

A Celtic Cross above the altar in the chapel bears a mosaic design depicting Australian native flowers and the Southern Cross.

The Eastern Chapel has the American coat of arms on the rear window and the communion rail gate. The large Celtic cross over the altar has a design of Australian native flowers and the North Star.

On the wall is a replica of the crest of the U.S.S. "Coral Sea", presented by the ship's Commander, Captain Roemer. Below the ship's crest is a manuscript copy of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, donated in 1978 by the Parish Priest, Father W. Malone.

The Chapels are divided from the nave, the main body of the Church, by rounded (Roman or Norman) arched, borne by stone Roman Tuscan columns. The nave gives the best view of the fine rose window, which shows a portrait of Mary and the legend, "Regina Coeli".

The Church is a splendid realisation of Father Evans' dream. It is not, however, a frozen memorial, but a living place of worship, for which there was a real need. Known disparagingly as the "cathedral" to a few who regretted leaving the more intimate surroundings of the old hall, the new Church was hailed with relief by the Church Wardens. In the words of the late Jim Bashall, they could now, "seat the congregation without a shoehorn".

In the twenty-five years that the Church has been standing it has undergone change and modification to meet the changing needs and requirements of contemporary life and modern liturgy.

The opening of the Church marked the end of one period and the beginning of another, not only for the parish, but for the Catholic Church as a whole.

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Chapter Five: A Time of Change

On August 1, 1965, Father Evans died on one of his rare breaks from his parochial duties, on a fishing trip on the George's River. It was not his first heart attack, and his condition had not been helped by the enormous effort he had expended in achieving so much in his nineteen years at Beverly Hills.

A man of deep and genuine piety, with a particular devotion to Mary, he was also a very vigorous and active worker. Parishioners remember him as "very direct in his speech", "knew his own mind", "could get on with anybody" and even, "always got what he wanted".

The funeral drew a congregation larger than any other in the history of the Church. Cardinal Gilroy presided at the Requiem Mass, priests of the Archdiocese sang the Office of the Dead and the mourners included the United States Consul General and the President of the Australian-American Association.

Only fifty-nine years of age, Father Evans was survived by a brother and three sisters, Father James Evans of Wollongong and Sisters Bride, Beatrice and Clotilde of the Order of Sisters of St. Joseph.

A police escort led the funeral procession through a guard of honour of school children. Beverly Hills said goodbye to its first Parish Priest. A new era was about to commence, one which would bring many changes.

In October, 1962, the Second Vatican Council had begun its deliberations. By 1965 its decisions were being communicated to the Church at large. Without making changes in doctrine or dogma, the Council announced sweeping changes to liturgy and the everyday observances of the Catholic faith.

Mass and other services would now be said in the vernacular language of the country: Emphasis was to be placed on the role of the laity. The role of music in worship was to be emphasised and hymns relevant to the needs and tastes of the community were to be sung.

Over the next few years changes seemed to come thick and fast. The traditional meatless Friday disappeared except during the season of Lent, and the obligation to abstain from eating and drinking from midnight until after receiving Holy Communion was relaxed. The new law required abstinence from food and drink for an hour before receiving the sacrament.

A new spirit of ecumenism, the seeking of common ground with other denominations, was encouraged. Many older Catholics could remember sterner times, when religious tolerance was often regarded as a weakness rather than a virtue. Many parishioners recall receiving, anonymously, anti-clerical literature in their letter boxes. There is no evidence to suggest that reciprocal action was taken by the recipients.

Lay readers, or lectors, began to read the scriptural lessons at Sunday Mass, clear evidence to many a person of traditional mind that Protestantism was rampant. Notice boards bearing the numbers of the hymns to be sung sprouted in sanctuaries and confirmed the darkest fears of people who had seen such contrivances only in Protestant churches. There were many who had never entered a Protestant church and knew of such matters only from hearsay.

Many of the older forms of worship were dropped. The monthly "Holy Hour" (known to the irreverent as the Holy Hour-and-a-Half) became a thing of the past. High Mass with full choir and elaborate ceremony became almost unknown. Processions in the church grounds, with a priest bearing the Host in a glass monstrance protected by a silken canopy held aloft by four men, preceded by another priest with incense and by white-clad flower girls strewing petals in the path of the priest - these, too are mere memories in most parishes.

Changes had to be made within the Regina Coeli Church to cater for these new trends. In 1972 a second altar was installed in the sanctuary. The priest can now say Mass facing the congregation, sharing the sacrifice with them, rather than leading them.

The Baptismal Font was brought in from the Baptistry in the East Tower and placed in the Australian Chapel, a task remembered ruefully by Kevin Sisson and Chris Byrne, who "volunteered" to carry it in.

Other changes are visible in the Church building. Father Evans had held firm views about personal memorials, apparently believing that they would conflict with the concept of the Church as a memorial to international friendship and co-operation.

In 1979, the second Parish Priest, Father W. Malone, after consultation with the parishioners, had six stained glass windows installed one in each of the Chapels and two in the sanctuary. These commemorate families and individuals, and do much to add to the beauty of the Church as well as being in keeping with the style in which the Church was built.

THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH TODAY

Also in 1979, the Church was consecrated. Traditionally, this ceremony only took place in buildings which were unlikely to be used for any other purpose. A church to be consecrated, therefore, had not only to be built of durable materials (usually stone or brick), but had also to be out of debt. There must be no question that the building might be seized by creditors.

Regina Coeli Church met the first requirement easily, and the debt had been paid off by 1975. On May 12, 1979, Bishop David Cremin consecrated the Church. As part of the ceremony, four candles, one on the wall of each Chapel and two on the rear wall of the nave, were lit. They are lit on the anniversary of the consecration.

The parish school continued to expand, giving cause for both satisfaction and concern. A feature of Catholic life after the nineteen fifties has been a sudden and dramatic decline in religious vocations. The second Canvass Brochure, produced in 1961, noted that a lay teacher had been appointed to the school. In 1983, there were two nuns at the school out of a total staff of thirteen.

Early in 1983 it was decided that the nuns would leave the school altogether, ana in September a lay principal was appointed. Miss P. McFarlane was selected, to take up her duties the following year.

The issue of State aid became important due mainly to the increasing reliance on lay teachers. When Bishop 0'Brien spoke in 1948 about the history of State aid he was merely drawing attention to the role played by the churches in education in the nineteenth century and to the fact that their efforts had been subsidised by the State. Within the next few years the State aid question became a matter of concern to parents of children attending Regina Coeli School, and by the nineteen eighties had become a rallying point.

Other changes have occurred in attitudes towards worship. The lessening of emphasis on elaborate ritual and complex ceremonies has led to the decline of the sodalities. No longer do the men and women of the parish sit behind their banners and receive Holy Communion in the company of their fellow sodality members.

Instead of these practices there has grown a renewed interest in personal prayer. A Family Prayer Mission launched in the parish in 1983 organised a framework within which participating families can pursue a programme of prayer in their own homes while still enjoying the support of a larger group.

Two events in the nineteen eighties have epitomised both the changes within the Church and its continuing tradition. In November, 1981, four parishioners, Ron Nicholls, Chris Byrne, Noel Smith and George Darrell­Edwardes, received from Bishop Cremin their commissions as acolytes.

The duties of the acolyte are to assist the priest in liturgical celebrations, especially in the celebration of Mass, and to distribute Holy Communion as an auxiliary minister.

In contrast to this enlargement of the participation of laymen in the liturgy, which would have been unthinkable thirty years earlier, was the ordination to the priesthood of Paul Evans, great-nephew of Father Bill Evans and great-great grandson of William and Catherine Evans.

The ordination took place on June 10, 1983, in Regina Coeli Church. Not only did the ordination continue the associat­ion of the Evans family with the parish and the suburb of Beverly Hills, it was an example of traditional ceremony at its most colourful and splendid.

Bishop Cremin and twenty six priests filled the sanctuary after a procession through the nave which was lined by a guard of honour of Boy Scouts, with whom the young man had been associated. The young Father Evans was ordained as a member of the Salesian Order, whose members devote them­selves to work among young people. Boys from a Salesian school in South Australia read the lessons, and two chairs from Sutherland parish sang the service.

This traditional and colourful occasion, especially moving because of the new priest's association with the district, is a reflection of the nature of the parish, a combination of old and new. When Sisters Bride, Beatrice and Clotilde formed the Offertory procession at the ordination of their great-nephew in the Church built by their brother, the torch of faith was being handed from one generation to another.

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Chapter Six: The Story Continues

In the nineteen eighties the story of Regina Coeli Parish, in common with the rest of the Australian Church, has been one of gradual adjustment. To the demands of Vatican Two, emphasising the importance of the laity has been added a realisation that the clergy and religious nuns and brothers can no longer be taken for granted by lay Catholics.

Having lost the nuns from the parish, parishioners of Beverly Hills have been reluctant to accept the probability that there may soon be a time when there will be insufficient priests to staff existing parishes, let alone new ones.

To meet the need for greater lay participation in the rites and administration of the Church and to permit a full and vibrant parish life there had to be a re-kindling of the community spirit that marked the parish in the early years of struggle. An important step in this process became possible, oddly enough, because of the departure of the Sisters. The former Convent became the new home of the Priests, and it was necessary to decide what use was to be made of the recently vacated Presbytery.

THE FORMER CONVENT NOW THE PRESBYTERY

Early in 1984 a meeting convened by Father Malone decided that the former Presbytery should be used as a parish Community Centre. A committee under the Chairmanship of Alan Delaney was elected to administer the Centre.

The men's and women's Conferences of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Parents and Friends and Sports Associations of the school and adult religious education classes found a home in the newly established Centre. The adult education classes, conducted by Alice Nelson and Audrey English, not only benefited by the founding of the Centre but were symptomatic of the gradually developing realisation that the laity had a responsibility to be active in their own development as Catholics, to meet the demands of the eighties.

The Centre's Committee soon found that simply maintaining the building and seeing fair play with bookings by various groups was not enough. The Centre became the venue for parish barbecues and older parishioners began to reminisce about the parish picnics of Father Evans' day. Encouraged by the success of the barbecues, the Committee organised annual picnics at St. Patrick's College, Manly. Such functions, bringing together parishioners of all ages and varying interests, were a start to the process of building a family spirit among parishioners.

Only the most determined of optimists could believe that all parishioners responded to the call for greater participation or that they all felt part of the parish community. Three years after the establishment of the Centre, meetings were still interrupted by callers either at the door or on the telephone expecting to speak to a priest, unaware of their move.

Despite this, the Committee had its successes. The facilities of the Centre made possible, for example, the establishment of a weekly social morning for older parishioners: crafts, games, morning tea, the company of friends - all of these are enjoyed by some of those to whom the parish owes a debt which cannot really be repaid.

The facilities also make possible another innovation, community breakfasts. The Antioch group, formed originally under the guidance of Eileen and Jim Gallagher and supported by Clare and Jim Spratt, caters for young people aged from sixteen to twenty and meets weekly for breakfast in the Community Centre after attending Mass and before going on to school or work.

Antioch is an important feature of parish life, appealing to young people with its strong emphasis on community worship and activity. As well as their weekly Masses and Sunday night meetings, the members of Antioch enjoy several communal weekends a year. Billeted in groups in houses in the parish, the young. people spend the time in prayer, group discussion and sport, eating their meals (supplied by parishioners) as a group.

This combination of spiritual and social life in a community context is an indication of one way in which Catholic life seems to be heading. A caring, supporting community is the end to which much parochial activity is directed. Dinner dances and parish outings help bring the people closer together, but the Family Prayer Movement, the Liturgy Committee and similar groups help cement spiritual bonds. The Community Centre provides outlets for social contact, but it also provides a room for the catechists, who carry their faith into state schools, to store their equipment and to meet in mutual support.

THE FORMER PRESBYTERY NOW THE COMMUNITY CENTRE

The Church, too, continues to grow: every generation of parish children who are baptised, receive their First Communion and are confirmed adds a new host of associations and memories. Families whose members are married in this Church and those whose members are farewelled with a Requiem Mass, have spiritual and emotional bonds with the Church.

Other ceremonies bind the parish to its church; the final profession of Sister Rosemary Mitchell of the parish and the first Mass of Father Peter Smith in 1985, the fourth member of the parish to be ordained, the first being Father John McCulloch in 1966, Father Bill Stevens in 1968, then Father Barry Tunks in 1969.

As the building reaches its Twenty-Fifth Anniversary it has already become the centre of an active and forward-looking community and has a tradition to which the future can only add.

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PRIESTS STATIONED AT BEVERLY HILLS PARISH
1946-1968

PARISH PRIESTS

SHORT TERM ADMINISTRATORS

ASSISTANT PRIESTS

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Footnotes

1. Parish map, Prish of St. George, County of Cumberland, 1924, State Archives of N.S.W.
2. IBID
3. B. J. Madden, THE TOWNSON GRANTS, Hurstville Historical Society, 1971, Page 5.
4. AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY, Vol. 2, Melb., M.U.P., 1967, Pages 128-131, 536-538.
5. B. J. Madden, BEVERLY HILLS - SOME SNIPPETS FROM ITS HISTORY, Hurstville Historical Society, n.d., Page 2.
6. F. G. Gates in THE JUBILEE HISTORY OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF HURSTVILLE, 1887 - 1937, Hurstville Municipal Council, 1937.
7. IBID
8. HURSTVILLE ECHO, October 23, 1890.
9. EDUCATION IN BEVERLY HILLS, notes from N.S.W. Department of Education, apparently written in 1959.
10. D. J. Hatton, "Mrs. Catherine Evans" in ST. GEORGE PICTORIAL, March 19, 1975.
11. A. D. Smeaton, HURSTVILLE - REMINISCENCES OF THE 20's, Sydney, Hurstville Historical Society, 1981, Page 24.
12. HURSTVILLE PROPELLER, October 11, 1934.
13. CATHOLIC WEEKLY, June 5, 1951.
14. Beverly Hills LIBER BAPTIZATORUM.
15. CATHOLIC WEEKLY, August 21, 1958.
16. Copy of Bishop O'Brien's report in parish records.
17. REGINA COELI PARISH BROCHURE, 1959.
18. DAILY TELEGRAPH, May 6, 1963.
    SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, May 6, 1963.
    CATHOLIC WEEKLY, May 9, 1963.

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Sources

SECONDARY

• Anonymous, THE JUBILEE HISTORY OF HURSTVILLE, Hurstville Municipal Council,1937.
• AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY, Melb., Melbourne University Press, 1967.
• Hurstville Historical Society, Monograph No. 1, n.d., JAMES OATLEY.
• Larcombe, F.A., CHANGE AND CHALLENGE, A HISTORY OF CANTERBURY, N.S.W., Canterbury Municipal Council, 1979.
• Madden, B.J., THE BACKGROUND TO THE TOWNSON GRANTS, Hurstville Historical Society Monograph No. 5, 1977.
• Madden, B.J., BEVERLY HILLS - SOME SNIPPETS FROM ITS HISTORY, Hurstville Historical Society, 1977.
• N.S.W. Dept. of Education, EDUCATION IN BEVERLY HILLS, about 1959.
• Smeaton, A.D., HURSTVILLE - REMINISCENCES OF THE 20'S, Hurstville Historical Society, 1981.

PRIMARY

Archives of Archdiocese of Sydney; Monsignor C. J. DUFFY, Archivist.
Records of REGINA COELI PARISH; Father W. MALONE, P.P.
Parish Map, Parish of St. George, County of Cumberland, State Archives of N.S.W.
Architect's drawings of REGINA COELI CHURCH, Sydney G. HURST & KENNEDY Milson's Point, Architects. Brochures prepared for Parish Canvasses, 1959 and 1961.

NEWSPAPERS

PHOTOGRAPHS

CATHERINE EVANS' SHOP
Original in possession of Mrs. J. Poulter, Blakehurst, grand-daughter of
Mrs. Evans, cousin of Father W. Evans.

FATHER EVANS IN NAVAL UNIFORM
Original in possession of Sr Clotilde, Panania, sister of Father Evans.

FIRST COMMUNION GROUP, 1948, Mr. & Mrs. F. Mclnerney, Beverly Hills

FIRST COMMUNION GROUP 1964, Mrs. H. Sturgess

REQUIEM MASS FOR FATHER EVANS, Sr Clotilde

SECOND CLASS 1953, Mrs. A. McDowell

THIRD CLASS 1958, Mrs. G. Lefevre

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People

The following people have all contributed to this History, mostly in interviews, in some cases supplemented by written notes.

In addition to these, it must be recorded that this History started as a team effort. Unfortunately, Pat Kirton and Margaret Sutherland left the parish in the early months of the endeavour. Margaret, especially, had already done some excellent work in the files of the Catholic Weekly and in St. Mary's Archives before her employment took her away from Sydney. Her efforts are neither forgotten nor unappreciated.

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Reference