Parish News
On a chilly but fine Sunday morning of May 18, 2025 the Gordon community had many things to celebrate. The Parish was 150 years old, St Patrick’s Catholic Church was opened in the same year, 1875 and it was the 50th Anniversary of the Ordination of one of our favourite locals, Fr Wally Tudor, conducted in St Patrick’s Church in April 1975. It was also the 50th Anniversary of Bishop Paul Bird’s Ordination to the Priesthood.
Bishop Paul celebrated Mass with Frs Justin Driscoll, Wally Tudor and Garry Jones concelebrating. The community was led in the singing by our resident vocalist, Monica Eastwood. Many parishioners from Gordon, Ballan, Springbank and students from our two schools, participated in the Readings and Offertory Procession. One of the highlights of the day was at reflection time, when there was a presentation of memories and reminiscences from some of our treasured parishioners Joan Egan, Pat Barry, Mary Bendeich and Judy Toohey. A video from Gerard Simpson was also shown. This was enjoyed by all present, bringing back many wonderful memories.
After Mass and much talking and catching up, we moved to St Patrick’s Primary School Hall to enjoy a luncheon. There was a photo display from the parish and Ballan community and there was also a video playing in a classroom which was produced for the 125th Anniversary of St Michael’s Springbank Church, held earlier in the year. Going on the noise level, everyone had a great time with much conversation, laughter and reminiscing with old friends. There was also a cake to commemorate Bishop Paul and Fr Wally’s 50th Anniversary of their Ordination to the Priesthood.
In 1875 the Gordon parish was extensive comprising of Gordon, Millbrook, Mt Egerton, Ballan, Mt Blackwood and Bacchus Marsh districts, served by priests whose only mode of transport was by horseback. Our parish, like so many others, has been through many changes. Most notable in recent years these would be:
- The closing of St Francis Xavier Church in Mt Egerton in1970;
- The Sisters of St Joseph taught their last class in the parish in 1985;
- In 1980 the Gordon Parish was transferred from the Archdiocese of Melbourne to the Diocese of Ballarat;
- The closing of St Michael’s Primary School Springbank in 2014;
- 2024 Ministry District was formed combining our parish with Ballarat East and Bungaree parishes.
Reflections:
Memories from Joan Egan
I am Joan Egan and I am 93 years old. I have been a parishioner of the Gordon Parish all my life and a member of the St Brigid’s community (Ballan) as part of that parish up until the present time.
My ancestral family was also part of the Gordon Parish for many years before my birth and was always involved with the Church and the old St Brigid’s School. My siblings and cousins among them.
In our school days at St Brigid’s, learning the Catechism was a daily routine taught by our teacher, Miss Kitty O’Kane. We were reminded of all major Feast Days and certainly were aware of, and celebrated, Holy Days of Obligation. The month of Mary was a special time for Our Lady with flowers and candles adorning the schoolroom.
First Communions were held in December each year, followed by a Communion Breakfast, which also served as the annual school break-up. My own First Communion was in 1938, but in 1939 owing to sickness among the pupils, there was no First Communion Day.
Confirmation was conferred every three years in St Patrick’s Church, with the Bishop coming from Melbourne for the occasion.
Later on, in teenage years, girls became Children of Mary up until the time of their marriage. In those days there were Sodality Sundays for Children of Mary and the Catholic Men’s society. Children of Mary wore a blue cloak and a veil to Mass on those days.
This part is my story and I place the future of the parish in God’s hands.
Memories from Pat Barry
My name is Noreen Patricia Barry nee Winter. I am 92 years old. My father, Bill Winter, was baptised in this church at the age of twenty-eight, prior to his marriage to my mother Mary at St Brigid’s Church Ballan.
I, along with my eights siblings, have all received sacraments here at St Patrick’s and attended St Patrick’s Primary School.
My First Communion was on December 4, 1939 early in the morning.
I was taught by the Josephite nuns through all of my school years until Grade 8. On the Feast of St Joseph, parishioners would have a collection of essential items which were given to the Sisters for their personal use.
I was a member of the Children of Mary Society. We had an annual gathering at Salesian College, Sunbury, where we would march around the oval, praying.
I have been a member of St Patrick’s Parish in varying roles from Mother’s Club, church cleaning and singing with the choir. My role at the moment is laundering the Church linen.
Before I was married, monthly dances were held at St Pat’s school and many a romance was formed at these dances. I met my late husband Bill at one of these dances.
The parish has always been an important part of my family’s life, with five generations of our family baptised in this Church.
Memories from Judy Toohey and Mary Bendeich
Judy and myself were born in the Depression years – Judy in 1928 and Mary in 1935. Our memories of the parish of our childhood are the years around the 1930s onwards to around the early 1950s.
There have been huge changes in society and likewise in the Church since then. It was not until some years after World War II that cars were gradually bought by local people. The few families who had cars before the War used them only once or twice a week. Very few families had a telephone and families outside the town did not have electricity. Children walked to school, rode bikes or ponies.
Before 1950 the parish was made up of four distinct communities, each having their own history and sometimes rivalries when it came to sport. Springbank was almost entirely a farming community, whereas the Gordon, Mt Egerton and Ballan communities were made up of townsfolk and farming families.
There was Sunday Mass in the four churches as the parish had a Parish Priest and an Assistant Priest. Judy remembers one of the Assistant Priests, Fr Lynch, and his little car.
Seating arrangements in the Church were a little unusual in those days, as families did not sit together. Children sat at the front of the church in front of the nuns (to see that they behaved), men sat on one side of the aisle and women on the other (no distractions were allowed!!). I think the first to challenge this custom were Joe and Mary Donegan who had just married.
Sunday Mass was an obligation in those days and a very important part of the practice of our faith. Our identity as Catholics within the community, was tied to our faithfulness to Sunday Mass and to not eating meat on Fridays. Changes in Church practices saw the Mass being said in English and not Latin and the priest facing the congregation, rather than facing away and towards the East.
The nuns, the Sisters of St Joseph, were our teachers. They came to Springbank in 1907 and to Gordon in 1915. The first Convent in Gordon was down near the former Anglican Church. I remember I was taught by Sr Hyacinth and Sr Alrid. The nuns were financially dependent on the Parish Priest and at times more than grateful for gifts of eggs, meat, vegetables, etc., from parishioners.
Sunday Mass was also a social occasion. It was a time when people were much less mobile and might not have seen any or very few of their fellow parishioners since the previous Sunday.
Much social activity revolved around the Church. There was the need to raise money for the schools (there was no government support for Church schools then) and to provide opportunities for young people to meet, as the Church very much discouraged marriage with a non-Catholic. The monthly Parish Dance in the Gordon school helped both situations – live music, supper and a highly polished floor for dancing, guaranteed a large crowd. Quite a few tales could be told about these dances such as Fr Lande’s efforts to regulate behaviour, so to speak. In addition to the monthly dances there was an Annual Ball in the Wallace Hall, with many from outside the parish attending.
From the early days of the parish, race meetings were important fundraisers. They were held at the Bungaree and Ballan racecourses and continued to be held until racing came under strict government control. As with the monthly Parish Dances, there was much work required by the parishioners. These fundraising events brought people from all parts of the community, working together to provide funds for the education of the children.
A number of men belonged to the Holy Name society, a society which sought to develop reverence to God and a personal spirituality. For the young men there was the CYMS (Catholic Young Men’s Society). It also had a spiritual basis. The Gordon parish had very good football and debating teams, competing very successfully against teams in and from Melbourne parishes. Bus trips with female supporters even travelled to these matches.
The first Confirmations in the parish were held in 1876. Judy, and our brother Frank, were confirmed in 1940 – 75 children were confirmed by Archbishop Mannix on that day. I was confirmed in 1946, with 52 other children. These first Communions and Confirmations were big celebrations for the children and their parents. White dresses and veils for the girls, new shirts and pants for the boys. A big Communion breakfast followed at the school as all had been fasting since midnight.
The Gordon parish has a rich history for which we, here today, can be proud. We owe much to the hard work and faith of our parents, grandparents and even great grandparents and particularly to the dedication of the many priests and nuns who served the parish. Thank you.
