Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Rockhampton is a city of considerable charm. Its public buildings reflect the history of Central Queensland and Rockhampton as its administrative centre. There are magnificent sandstone and colonial buildings such as the Customs House, the Supreme Court, Criterion Hotel and a stunning post office—probably the best in Australia. There are also two beautiful cathedrals, St Paul's and St Joseph's. It is St Joseph's I want to talk about today.

This glorious sandstone edifice with its twin steeples was built from 1894 and opened in 1899 by Cardinal Moran of Sydney. It is the only sandstone Gothic cathedral in the northern half of Australia. As such, it is a religious, cultural and architectural icon. Why my interest? The seats of Dawson, Capricornia, Flynn, Maranoa and Hinkler are all parts of the Rockhampton diocese. The cathedral is the mother church for Central Queensland Catholics and the administrative and religious headquarters for the diocese. The cathedral is also a cultural adornment for the city of Rockhampton. As with many buildings like this, the ravages of time and weather have taken their toll and the sandstone is desperately in need of restoration. The church was built in the late 1890s, as I said, on a clay pan and there have been movements of up to 150 millimetres over the years. In 1918, there was a magnitude 6 earthquake, and in 1949 there was a cyclone. The Second World War saw the temporary removal of the stained glass windows, which were up for cleaning and re-leading in England in the late 1980s.

As part of this latest restoration, the mullions have to be repaired, and the metal screens replaced by protective hardened glass to keep the hoons away. The top three metres of each of the spires have to be rebuilt and the northern tower needed extensive work. A comprehensive engineer-designed drainage scheme was put in place, more downpipes connected, and a complete reflashing covered out over the roofing areas—in some cases with lead. Stonework was repaired, and almost the entire building was repointed. There was 60 kilometres of masking tape required—just imagine how much work that involved. The grounds were re-landscaped and new cobblestone was laid, creating a very professional finish.

All this came at a price, and a price that cannot be avoided. If you do these jobs, you do them properly. It took $6.2 million to do this job and about half of that is in hand. The diocese is large in area, 414 square kilometres, but relatively small in population—400,000 people, of whom 25 per cent are Catholics. It is a monumental challenge which comes on top of running 38 schools, five Mater hospitals, several nursing homes, 31 parishes and 81 mass centres. It is a big job to run a diocese like that and an even bigger job to take on these extra works. The responsibility has been taken by Bishop Brian Heenan, who has shown exemplary faith and leadership, along with his vicar-general, Father John Grace, and the two coordinators at various times, Father John Daly and Father Don White.

The church is working constructively with the government in seeking some Commonwealth assistance with its very important heritage building. I support the application strongly. I urge the minister to give the diocese's application for funding generous consideration. My wife, Margaret, and I were privileged to be guests at the restoration thanksgiving ceremonies—a climactic event of faith, optimism and progress. There was a sacred concert on Saturday night, while nine bishops from across Australia joined Bishop Heenan and the priests of his diocese at a thanksgiving mass on the Sunday morning.

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