Archdiocese
of Sydney

History of the Archdiocese

Geographically, the Archdiocese is bounded on the East by the Tasman Sea, on the North by the Diocese of Broken Bay, on the West by the Diocese of Parramatta, and on the South by the Diocese of Wollongong. The area of the Archdiocese is 1264 square kilometres.

Historically, from the year 1819, when two Priests were officially authorised by the British Government of the day to minister to the Catholics of the Colony, until the year 1834, the territory now forming the Archdiocese of Sydney, and indeed that of the entire Australian Mainland and the Island of Tasmania, was a distant outpost of the Vicariate Apostolic of Mauritius.

On 12th May, 1834, the Vicariate Apostolic of New Holland was erected and Father John Bede Polding, an English Benedictine was appointed as Vicar Apostolic with jurisdiction over what is now the Commonwealth of Australia. On 28th February, 1842, the Diocese of Sydney was erected with Bishop Polding as its Residential Bishop. Some weeks later (14th April, 1842) Sydney was made a Metropolitan See, with Hobart and Adelaide as suffragans. At that time, the Archdiocese of Sydney included the whole of the Eastern portion of the Continent, comprising what are now known as the States of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

At present, the Archbishop of Sydney is Metropolitan of all the Dioceses of New South Wales, with the exception of portions of the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, which are geographically situated outside the Australian Capital Territory. The suffragan Dioceses are: Maitland (1847), Armidale (1862), Bathurst (1865), Lismore (1887), Wilcannia-Forbes (1887), Wagga Wagga (1917), Wollongong (1951), Parramatta (1986) and Broken Bay (1986).

Key Dates and Facts:

The "Vicariate Apostolic of New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land" was erected in 1834. The "Diocese of Sydney" (Latin Name: Sydneyensis) was elevated on 5 April 1842. Just two weeks later, the Diocese was elevated to an Archdiocese (on 22 April 1842) and a Metropolitan See. It is a Latin (or Roman) Rite Diocese in the country of Australia, with an area of 1,264 km² (488 sq. miles).

Currently there are some 589,000 Catholics in the Arcdhiocese, with a total population of 1,825,000. The Catholic population is 32.3% of the total. There are 138 parishes, in the pastoral care of around 190 diocesan priests. There are some 450 priests in total, including religious priests, working within the Archdiocese, including those on lesser duties and retired priests.