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About Us |
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11/22/08 |
     
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Welcome to St Eddies website
To find us in Daisy Hill drive in off the freeway to Chatswood Road.
/' Fr Paul Murphy is our Parish Priest, he attended the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for 14 weeks during his sabbatical in 2005. The course drew 15 people from Scotland, America, India, Ireland, the Philippines and Australia. The impromptu singing by the participants in Paul's group at the Sermon on the Mount Church beside the Sea of Galilee can be experienced here - obviously they were not only talented in scripture but could sing as well. To learn more about Fr Paul click here
HISTORY OF OUR THREE CHURCHES
St Declan’s – 1865 Further information about St Declan’s Church is available in a book “Logan River Tinnie Trail: a heritage trail along the Logan River”, written by Mary Howells, illustrations by Darren Johnson. The Church was originally located at Logan Reserve. The Logan City Council Libraries have copies. Mary has also written another book “Irish Catholic Cemetery: Logan Reserve Road, Logan Reserve”. It is worth checking out. There is also attached (at the end of this history) an essay written by Ian MacKenzie on the History of St Declan’s and St Edward’s. When Fr Rollo Enright took over the Parish of Rochedale in 1974 there was one little church in the Parish – the historical St Declan’s Church. St Declan’s was built in 1865 for the early Irish immigrants of Logan and was initially called the Church of the Assumption and began the Catholic pioneering spirit of the Logan district. The Church changed names and sites in its interesting career – in the 1940’s it was known as St James Church. From its original site of 1865 it was floated down the Logan River about the turn of the century and from there it was shifted to Eight Mile Plains in the 1950’s where it eventually served the new Parish of Rochedale and Daisy Hill.
The new parish of Daisy Hill used St Declan’s for worship when the Parish began in January 1978 with Fr Leo Burke as its first Parish Priest.
St Edward the Confessor Log Cabin Church – 1978 Before Fr Leo Burke arrived to take over the Parish, Fr Rollo Enright realised a dream he had when he first arrived at Rochedale. That dream being to use timber in the Daisy Hill area to build a Church. The slab of the new Church was laid before Fr Leo came to Daisy Hill and trees had been felled and cleaned and were in the process of being prepared for the unique log cabin church. A plan was drawn up in 1977 by Pat Grosvener, Mike De Sousa Roque and Paul Lambert. Many Parishioners were involved in the process of preparing the logs and Harry Vlug was engaged to build the new Church. After many working bees and lots of Parishioners involvement the new St Edward’s Church was opened by Archbishop Rush on April 30th 1978.
The Log Cabin Church of Daisy Hill was known throughout Australia and witnessed the growth of one of the most active Parishes of the Brisbane Archdiocese. The unique log style aroused a closeness in worship and a warmth that reflected the welcoming style of the Daisy Hill parishioners. As the numbers of Catholic families in the Daisy Hill area continued to grow towards 1,000 the little log cabin had to be expanded. The first extension was completed in 1985. In 1987 Bill Byrne, architect, designed another extension to include a verandah / gathering area to allow the congregation to gather after Mass. Work on the verandah began and weekend working bees set about completing the colonial style addition which complemented the log cabin building. Before Christmas of 1987, Gary Bell had half completed the paving of the verandah area.
At the Parish Masses on the weekend of January 9th/10th 1988, the Parish celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Parish. These were the last Masses to be celebrated by the Daisy Hill family in the now famous Log Cabin Church.
Fire – 11/1/88. After midnight, a nearby resident returning home after work noticed the destructive flames leaping out of the windows of the much loved church. The fire brigade could not save the Church which was totally destroyed. The news of the Church’s destruction spread rapidly receiving wide media coverage throughout Australia. From the youngest to the oldest in the Parish, there was great sadness at losing a treasured part of our life. The Parishioners were consulted as to how we should build again and wisdom, plus the fear of a similar fire, prevailed and saw the decision made to rebuild a larger church.
Open Air Masses. With no church to celebrate Mass, the Parish began celebrating Mass in the school assembly area under tarpaulins using borrowed and donated Mass-kit and furniture. From there our Mass Centre moved from the parade ground of St Edward’s School to John Paul College. Every Friday afternoon the students of the college moved seats into the Mass Centre and staff arranged altar furniture and sound equipment. For five months Mass was said at John Paul College until their annual art show necessitated a move to the partially completed new Church on June 25th; (the roof was finished that afternoon).
St Edward the Confessor – new church 1988 Again, a unique Church was built being about twice the size of the original Log Cabin Church with wide verandahs to accommodate overflow crowds. A few parishioners came up with the idea of using what nature provides in the form of mud bricks. Dave Peebles and Dan Cooper led a large number of parishioners who worked tirelessly every Saturday for months to produce the unique concept of a mud wall in the chapel of the new church. There were not discouraged even when rain and vandals ruined some of the bricks. (Vandals eventually destroyed this wall with a fire hose in 2000.)
The altar of the Log Cabin church was retrieved from the burnt out shell, and is still in use today in the prayer chapel. This altar was constructed out of a single slab of red stringy wood and supported on a base of tallow wood which had grown on the original site.
All the concepts of the Vatican Council’s renewed vision of liturgy are incorporated in the new Church: a Eucharistic Chapel for the reservation of the Eucharist and for quiet prayer, a baptistery large enough for child and adult immersion, screens on the walls to project hymns to encourage everyone to join in the singing of hymns, comfortable seating and warm colours. The design of the Church is to keep everyone included in the celebration. The ‘new Church’ was opened on 26th August 1988. Parish of St Edward the Confessor 2008 The Parish of Daisy Hill has come a long way since its humble beginnings. Many original Parishioners still celebrate Mass here, many have moved on, and many more ‘new’ parishioners enjoy the atmosphere, spirit and hospitality that has grown to be part of St Edward’s Daisy Hill. It is through all the hard work, dedication and commitment of the Parishioners of St Edward’s over the years that we can now enjoy what we have today. We sincerely thank all past and present priests, staff and parishioners for your generosity, and we look forward to the future. St EDWARD THE CONFESSOR PARISH, DAISY HILL Below is a typed copy of Ian McKenzie’s handwritten essay on the History of St Declan’s and St Edward the Confessor. Minor transcribing errors may exist.
HISTORY OF St DECLAN’S By Ian P McKenzie, B.A., B.Ed.ST.
The little Catholic Church of St Declan’s near the Pacific Highway at Springwood has an absorbing history that has been lost in the hustle and bustle of the moving times. It’s story is one of fulfilling the needs of pioneering people from 1865 to 1978. To fulfil these needs the Church has existed in four different locations. The origins of the church can be traced to the 1860’s when the Irish Immigration Commission financed a number of shiploads of Irish migrants to Queensland. These people endured eight long and distressing months aboard such vessels as “Erin-go-broch” and “Fiery Star”. Such well known family names as Ryan, Cusock, Egan, Walsh, Plunkett, Yor and McDonald settled at Logan Reserve. In 1865 the settlement was large enough to warrant the building of a church. The timber for the Church of the Assumption was brought up the Logan River, unloaded at Pettigrew’s Wharf, and delivered to a block of land donated by the Coglan family. Most of this timber is still in the present building – including the six inch beech floor boards. The building with its shingled roof gave protection to a capacity congregation of eighty people. The first known priest to cater for the people was Fr Connolly. He and other priests made the journey from Brisbane on horseback, leading a pack-horse bearing the Mass vestments. In 1874 Fr Scortechini was appointed as the first parish priest of the Logan and Albert district. In 1884, the Italian botanist was seconded by Sir Samuel Griffith to carry out scientific experiments in New Guinea. Fr James Enright (grand uncle of Fr Rollo Enright) succeeded Fr Scortechini who later died of malaria.
In 1885, Fr Enright moved to the newly established railway centre of Beaudesert. His parishioners included people in Beenleigh, Cleveland, Pimpama, Mudgeeraba, Tallebudgera, Coomera, Coopers Plains, Hemmant, Southport, Logan Reserve and numerous cattle stations. He was supported by many curates in his 37 years of work. These priests were Fathers J. O’Reilly (1886-1891), P. Grady (1892-3), R.D. O’Shea (1893-4), J. Healy (1894-7), R. Walsh (1897-1900), J.P. Bergin (1900-1909), W. Byrne (1909-10), J. Robinson (1915), O. Hayes (1918-20).
By the early 1870’s the Irish settlers conceded defeat to the bandicoots and moved onto Tamborine and Waterford. The Church of Assumption was rarely used. By the turn of the century the resourceful Catholics at Waterford had dismantled the church and had it floated down the Logan to a block of land donated by the Leo family. The site chosen was on the present vacant block near the Caltex Service Station. Virgil Kenny remembers Masses being said once every three months in the renamed St James’ Church. With improvement in communications that was increased to once a month! In rainy weather parishioners dreaded the experience of walking across the swampy church grounds.
Fr Enright continued his pastoral work until he was struck by lightning in 1921. He was succeeded by Fr John Hennessy. In 1925 Waterford was attached to Yeronga only to be rejoined to Beaudesert in 1947. By this time St James’ had fallen into disuse. The one last recorded duty the church performed was to shelter some of the 1947 flood victims just as it had done last century at Logan Reserve.
On hearing of the need for a church in the Eight Mile Plains area, Fr Owen Steele offered the church to Fr David Dee (Parish Priest of Holland Park). The parish curate, Fr John Rosenskjar called on the assistance of Mr Jack Tierney to move the church to the present site of St Martins. In late 1949 when Jack and his band of willing workers arrived at Waterford they found a near dilapidated building resting on posts of varying angles and levels. Once again, the old building suffered the indignity of being stripped down to be moved. Some alterations were necessary. The building was lined and the front porch was ‘redesigned’.
By 1950 the church was opened as St Declan’s in honour of a hermit who lived near the Irish town of Waterford. The accelerated growth in population in areas adjacent to the Pacific Highway can be clearly exemplified by the following dates parishes were established since 1950. 1952 – St Agnes of Mt Gravatt 1969 – St Martins of Eight Mile Plains 1969 – St Catherines 1974 – St Peter’s of Rochedale 1978 – St Edward the Confessor of Daisy Hill.
With his upsurge in population the little church was becoming inadequate in coping with Sunday Masses. In the 1960’s St Martins was built. Jack Tierney, the church builder, as directed by Fr Aspinall, moved the church to its present site. In this move the roof was to come off so as to allow the building to move unobtrusively along the highway to Springwood. With the building on concrete stumps and with a bricked porch, Jack left St Declan’s to cater for another growing area.
In 1974 with the inception of St Peter’s Parish, Fr Rollo Enright found his only church too small, the building of the church and school at Rochedale Road centred the parish at Rochedale. St Declan’s was to serve the people of Daisy Hill with Sunday masses said by Fr Enright and his curate Fr Terry Collins.
By the 8th January 1978 a new parish was formed at Daisy Hill. Fr Leo Burke as its parish priest found his only church too small. However, Fr Enright had the foresight to initiate the building of a larger church at Chatswood Road.
On April 30th 1978 St Declan’s will again outlive its usefulness in the Parish. Although Fr Burke and the parishioners do not see St Declan’s being used as a church at its present site, they will not see it used as anything else. It will stand at Springwood until someone with a need for a church requests its use.
ST EDWARD THE CONFESSOR (Log Cabin Church)
The log cabin style church situated off Chatswood Road, Daisy Hill blends in with its bushland setting. It brings to fruition an idea Fr Rollo Enright had in 1974. He had just taken charge of the densely populated parish of St Peter’s at Rochedale. The number of parishioners equalled the size of many country dioceses of Queensland. He saw the need for two churches to cater for this pressing problem. The only church in the parish held eighty people! With the building of the church and school at Rochedale, he was in no financial position to stretch his resources to the building of another church at Daisy Hill. He saw, however, the possibility of building a log church from the trees being bulldozed in a nearby housing estate! Immediate action was required. He called on Laurie Fitzpatrick who worked tirelessly selecting, cutting and collecting logs that the bulldozers were knocking down around him. The logs were dragged onto the land that Fr Aspinall had purchased when he was responsible for the area. Dennis Pokarier drew up a building based on the log cabin concept. To comply with Local Government requirements Pat Grosvener, Mike De Sousa Roque and Paul Lambert combined their engineering skills to produce the submission which received approval in late 1977.
The parish took on the building of the church in the capacity of an owner builder. Mr Harry Vlug became the supervisor with Laurie as log expert. By Christmas 1977 the (60ft x 40ft) concrete slab had been poured. With his arrival in January of the first Parish Priest of the new parish of St Edward the confessor, Fr Leo Burke has taken over the responsibilities of furnishing the new building.
It is estimated that when completed the church will have cost less than $30,000. It is expected to seat 350 people comfortably. The church will be opened and blessed on April 30th by his Grace Archbishop Francis Rush.
When one considers the final product with its rugged exterior and spacious homely interior built at such a low cost one can only thank Fr Enright for his timeless efforts. Father Enright, we thank you.
All images, webpages, documents and photographs are the property of St Edward the Confessor Catholic Parish, unless otherwise stated. Permission must be requested to copy or use any content on our site
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This site was last updated 11/22/08