Two hours north of Perth, lies the town of New Norcia - town like no other! A visit here is like stepping back in time, to another place,and with such a Spanish influence, thanks to one of the many Spanish Monks and one time, Abbot, Father Torres, who was the instigator and designer of much of the architecture, and responsible for a large part of the infrastructure of New Norica.
Arriving here in 1901, he employed artisans to assist him in the design and implementation of many of the buildings within the town.. he sold land, to fund many of his projects.
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| The Gates Of The Monastery |
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| The Front Of The Monastery |
Part of the Monastery is now a Guest house and very affordable accommodation is available. Would be great to spend a bit of time there. There are only 8 monks living there now, when once there were upwards of 64.
The first fifty years of New Norcia’s history are dominated by the
towering figure of Bishop Rosendo Salvado (1814 – 1900). Salvado spent
54 years of his life making New Norcia one of the most progressive and
successful missions in Australian history. Salvado’s original vision was
to create, among the indigenous peoples of the Victoria Plains, a
Christian, largely self-sufficient village based on agriculture.
However, after the decimation of the local populations by introduced
diseases in the 1860’s, he concentrated his activity on giving a
practical education to the indigenous children who were brought to New
Norcia from all over the state. Like other missionaries of the
nineteenth century, his aim was to ‘civilise and evangelise’ according
to the European ideals of the time, but he did so with sympathy for
indigenous culture that was rare in his day.
Salvado led a monastic community which, at its height, numbered
seventy men, most of whom were Spaniards and lay brothers. His several
fundraising trips to Europe provided him with the means to acquire land,
to construct buildings and to purchase books, vestments, art works and
ritual objects as well as stock and equipment. Practical success and
his own personal charm combined to make Salvado both a notable Western
Australian and an international figure in the Benedictine world.
Sadly, in 1900 during a trip to Rome, Salvado became ill and died at
the age of eighty-six at the Monastery of St Paul Outside the Walls.
His body was brought back to New Norcia by the Community and interred in
the Abbey Church where it rests today. It is a reported that when news
of Salvado’s death reached New Norcia the local Aboriginal people cried
and wailed for three days.
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| The Monastery Abbey |
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| Spanish Influenced Architecture Of The Monastery Abbey |
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| The Largest Pipe Organ In Australia - 2000 pipes |
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| One Of The Many Sculpture Inside - Thought The Crow An Unusual Touch |
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| Bell Tower - Chimes Every 15 Minutes - Prayer Times With the Monks 6 Times A Day |
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| Salvado's Tomb |
Torres, personally designed and supervised the building of St Gertrude’s
Ladies College (opened 1908), and St Ildephonsus’ College for Boys
(opened 1913), staffing the former with Josephite Sisters (Mary McKillop) and the latter
with Marist Brothers. In his fourteen years as Superior, Torres carried
out significant improvements throughout the town. He paid particular
attention to the interior decoration of the town’s buildings, bringing
the Spanish woodcarver Juan Casellas and the monk-artist Fr Lesmes Lopez
to New Norcia to create the many fine works that are now part of its
rich heritage.
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| St Illdephonus's School |
At the rear of St Illdephonus's school, is some old handball courts. Made of all hand made bricks - some 750,000 of them, and just amazing to see them in still in such amazing conditon.
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| Some Of The Beautiful Handmade Bricks |
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| Hand Ball Courts |
During Torres’ period as Abbot, Rome
sanctioned the Bishop of Perth’s proposal to extend the area
administered by New Norcia Abbey to cover 30,000 square miles.
Torres led explorations to the North West
and in 1908 established the Drysdale River Mission (later Kalumburu) in
the far north of the State.
Torres died in 1914, his health undermined by his travels up North.
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| Abott Father Torres |
St Gertrude's was completed in 1908, and St Ildephonsus' was opened in 1913. Until 1964 inclusive, St Ildephonsus' was run by the Marist Brothers. From 1965 onwards, it was run by the Benedictines as St Benedict's College. In 1972, St Benedict's and St Gertrude's became co-educational, with the boys and girls sharing most of their lessons. In 1974, the two colleges became known jointly as Salvado College, but were still referred to individually as St Benedict's and St Gertrude's. In 1986, Salvado College became New Norcia Catholic College, which closed at the end of 1991. Interesting to note, that it was St Gertrude's the girls school that was the first to open - certainly different for those days.
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| St Gertrudes |
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| The Magnificence Of The Chapel Inside St Gertrudes' |
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| The Alter |
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| The Facade Of St Gertrude's |
There were also two aboriginal orphanages, St Mary's (for boys) and St Joseph's (for girls), which closed in the early 1970s. They were called orphanages but the parents of the children were often still alive. The two buildings still exist. St Mary's is next to St Ildephonsus', and St Joseph's is next to St Gertrude's.
St Joseph's now houses the Museum and Art Gallery, which contains works by Australian and overseas artists, and displays describing the history of the area. In 1986, twenty six paintings were stolen by two robbers. Several weeks later, all but one of the stolen paintings were returned. They were badly damaged, but were eventually repaired.
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| Recognition Of The Aboriginal Heritage Now In The Education Centre |
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| The Aboriginal Orphanage |
Built in the 1860s for an Aboriginal family, the cottage on the northern
side had various uses during its time; accommodation, an occasional
police station in the 1940s and by the 1960s a public toilet block.
Over the years it had fallen into a significant state of disrepair and
restoring it was a challenge, however work was finally completed in 2008
and it is now open for the public to view along with interpretative
material. There were at one stage, 22 of these cottages within the town.
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| Restored Aboriginal Cottage |
There are two very interesting pipe organs located within the monastery buildings. In the Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity is a large 35 rank German organ, built in 1922 by Albert Moser of Munich. The organ was designed in consultation with the Abbey Organist Dom Moreno.
The second pipe organ, of 13 ranks and much more modern in style, is located in the Oratory Chapel. This organ was built in 1983 by Belsham Pipe Organs.
The second pipe organ, of 13 ranks and much more modern in style, is located in the Oratory Chapel. This organ was built in 1983 by Belsham Pipe Organs.
Change has also come in the shape of a growing tourism business and
since the 1980s, hospitality at New Norcia has flourished and
diversified. Today the town attracts thousands of visitors each year and
the Community offers guided tours of the town where you can see (and
hear) the history of New Norcia brought to life. In addition to the
Hotel, the Monastery Guesthouse provides accommodation for those seeking
an experience of quiet and refreshment. The former College buildings
are now used for school and music camps and adult workshops and
conventions. In 1996 the monks established an Education Centre to
further interpret the site for visiting students. The Education Centre
offers schools a range of programs, including Aboriginal studies.
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| The Beautiful New Norcia Hotel - A Great Place To Get Lunch |
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| The Cemetery Lays As Testament To Times Past |
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| All The Nuns and Monks All Remembered By A Simple Cross |
New Norcia’s traditional crafts of self-sufficiency, bread making and olive oil production have also been revived.
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| The Old Stables |
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| Old Flour Mill |
Many of the buildings within New Norcia are on going restoration projects, including the old stables, The blacksmiths, The flour Mill- will all be great to see them finished and up and working.
Many of the towns buildings are under the care of the National Trust, and so they are continually reliant on government funding during the restorations.
For those with a few days to wile away, New Norcia is for you. Down by the towns oval is free camping (self sufficient only) and is one that we will be availing ourselves of again, one day soon.
All photographs are the copyright of the photographer and express permission must be obtained prior to use.
Some parts of this blog are courtesy of http://www.newnorcia.wa.edu.au/, where you can go to read more of this wonderful place in history.
