Small part of facade of St Ildephonsus' college for Catholic boys at New Norcia Western Australia. The college is one of many fine buildings in the complex.
New Norcia.
The founder of this monastic town was Rosendo Salvado (1814-1900.) Salvado was born in Spain and became a
Benedictine monk, missionary and ordained priest from 1839. With Brother Serra he later sailed to Fremantle in January 1846 to set up a system of education for Aboriginal children. His mission at New Norcia was established in March 1846 and was named Norcia after the birthplace in Italy of St. Benedict. Hunger soon drove Brother Salvado back to Perth to give a one man piano concert to raise money for his mission. He returned to New Norcia with his bullock cart where he felled trees, ploughed, sowed and planted corn, vines for wine and established hives for honey. He set himself high standards of work which Brother Serra also met. The other monks were less able to work so hard. Brother Serra left the mission in 1848. Brother Salvado set about building an Abbey and a small village. He gathered the Murara and Victoria Plains Aboriginal people to the mission and began teaching them about Christianity. Through their spears and boomerangs he taught them the value and meaning of property and ownership. Soon his pupils were adept in animal husbandry, handicrafts, ploughing, horse husbandry and general farm work.
A papal decree gave Brother Salvado the title of Lord Abbot of New Norcia for life. After developing his mission for over fifty years Salvado died when he was visiting Rome in 1900. His remains were brought to WA for reburial in 1903 in the tomb of Carrara marble behind the altar in the church at New Norcia. His rule of New Norcia was followed by that of Abbot Fulgentious Torres, another Spanish brother. He brought with him eleven new recruits and set about transforming the mission station from a small village into a monastic town. He had erected two new boarding schools for the children of Catholic farming families and new accommodation for Aboriginal boarders. He added a campanile to the church. In 1904 he commissioned Teresian Sisters from Spain to run an Aboriginal girl’s orphanage. He invited Josephite Sisters to run the secondary college of St. Gertrude for Girls which was opened in 1908; and he enlisted the Marist Brothers to run St. Ildephonsus College for Boys which opened in 1913. Torres died in a Perth hospital in 1914 and was buried in New Norcia. As the mission expanded other services and structures were added to the settlement including a police station, a hotel, and a Post Office. They complemented the flourmill, the monastery, the abbey, the guesthouse, and the two colleges. Today the settlement also includes the museum and shop. You can walk around the complex and visit the cemetery and see the buildings or you can opt to join a tour of a particular building if available. You can join the monks for prayers in the Abbey Church at 12 pm (free) and you can have lunch in the New Norcia Hotel from noon or the roadhouse. Admission to the Museum, an essential place to visit, is $10 for concessions or $12. The Museum was formerly St. Joseph’s Aboriginal Girls Orphanage. Apart from the museum exhibits on Aboriginal education and the like, the art gallery part has some real treasures, including a cartoon by Renaissance artist Raphael. The European collection is mainly post Renaissance Spanish and Italian art but it has paintings by one Renaissance painter, Guido Reni 1575-1642. In 1986 the gallery was robbed and paintings damaged but they have all been returned and restored now. Such a collection of European art in the browned wheat belt of WA is so anachronistic and such a surprise. You can grab a map and do a 1.7 k walk along the creek if you want but the complex is large and interesting and takes considerable time for a mere amble.
Major Buildings at New Norcia.
The monastery. The current building is located on the site of the original 1847 monastery but it is now much changed and enlarged. This mainly occurred under Abbot Torres between 1903-1914. In the 19th century New Norcia’s Aboriginal population was often around 130 people but by the time of Abbott Torres (1903) this had declined substantially. He saw the need to revitalise the monastic community by adding colleges for farming boys and girls. New Norcia currently has about 10 monks and a workforce of about 50 people including members of several Aboriginal families who still live on the hill overlooking the Benedictine community. There is no access to the monastery which is where the monks live.
The Abbey Church. This fine building was made from local stones, mud plaster and rough-hewn tree trunks and wooden shingles. It opened in 1861 but has been added to several times. Abbot Torres altered the Georgian style of the church in 1908 by giving the façade a Spanish Baroque appearance. The church contains a massive pipe organ brought from Germany. Abbot Salvado’s tomb is in the church and the walls are adorned with European paintings.
St. Ildelphonsus Boys School. Opened in 1913 this boy’s college was of a simpler design than the girl’s college as the monastery was running low on funds by then. It is a revival of a Romanesque style with rounded windows, good symmetry and small turrets along the roofline. The statue in front of the building is of the founder of the Marist Brothers, Blessed Marcellin Champagnat.
St. Gertrude’s Girls School. This Gothic Revival building was opened in 1908. The Josephite sisters used the college as their convent as well. In 1970 the girl’s college amalgamated with the boy’s college as a co-educational boarding college, Salvado College. This in turn ceased operations in 1991. St. Gertrude’s is now used for weekend and conference accommodation.
New Norcia Hotel. Hospitality is an important part of the Benedictine tradition and the word “slave” on the front steps of the hotel means “welcome.” This imposing structure with a massive internal divided staircase was designed by Father Urbane Gimenez and built in 1927 as a hostel for parents visiting their children in either of the two boarding schools in the monastic compound. It is a great and atmospheric place for lunch.
Small part of facade of St Ildephonsus' college for Catholic boys at New Norcia Western Australia. The college is one of many fine buildings in the complex.
New Norcia.
The founder of this monastic town was Rosendo Salvado (1814-1900.) Salvado was born in Spain and became a
Benedictine monk, missionary and ordained priest from 1839. With Brother Serra he later sailed to Fremantle in January 1846 to set up a system of education for Aboriginal children. His mission at New Norcia was established in March 1846 and was named Norcia after the birthplace in Italy of St. Benedict. Hunger soon drove Brother Salvado back to Perth to give a one man piano concert to raise money for his mission. He returned to New Norcia with his bullock cart where he felled trees, ploughed, sowed and planted corn, vines for wine and established hives for honey. He set himself high standards of work which Brother Serra also met. The other monks were less able to work so hard. Brother Serra left the mission in 1848. Brother Salvado set about building an Abbey and a small village. He gathered the Murara and Victoria Plains Aboriginal people to the mission and began teaching them about Christianity. Through their spears and boomerangs he taught them the value and meaning of property and ownership. Soon his pupils were adept in animal husbandry, handicrafts, ploughing, horse husbandry and general farm work.
A papal decree gave Brother Salvado the title of Lord Abbot of New Norcia for life. After developing his mission for over fifty years Salvado died when he was visiting Rome in 1900. His remains were brought to WA for reburial in 1903 in the tomb of Carrara marble behind the altar in the church at New Norcia. His rule of New Norcia was followed by that of Abbot Fulgentious Torres, another Spanish brother. He brought with him eleven new recruits and set about transforming the mission station from a small village into a monastic town. He had erected two new boarding schools for the children of Catholic farming families and new accommodation for Aboriginal boarders. He added a campanile to the church. In 1904 he commissioned Teresian Sisters from Spain to run an Aboriginal girl’s orphanage. He invited Josephite Sisters to run the secondary college of St. Gertrude for Girls which was opened in 1908; and he enlisted the Marist Brothers to run St. Ildephonsus College for Boys which opened in 1913. Torres died in a Perth hospital in 1914 and was buried in New Norcia. As the mission expanded other services and structures were added to the settlement including a police station, a hotel, and a Post Office. They complemented the flourmill, the monastery, the abbey, the guesthouse, and the two colleges. Today the settlement also includes the museum and shop. You can walk around the complex and visit the cemetery and see the buildings or you can opt to join a tour of a particular building if available. You can join the monks for prayers in the Abbey Church at 12 pm (free) and you can have lunch in the New Norcia Hotel from noon or the roadhouse. Admission to the Museum, an essential place to visit, is $10 for concessions or $12. The Museum was formerly St. Joseph’s Aboriginal Girls Orphanage. Apart from the museum exhibits on Aboriginal education and the like, the art gallery part has some real treasures, including a cartoon by Renaissance artist Raphael. The European collection is mainly post Renaissance Spanish and Italian art but it has paintings by one Renaissance painter, Guido Reni 1575-1642. In 1986 the gallery was robbed and paintings damaged but they have all been returned and restored now. Such a collection of European art in the browned wheat belt of WA is so anachronistic and such a surprise. You can grab a map and do a 1.7 k walk along the creek if you want but the complex is large and interesting and takes considerable time for a mere amble.
Major Buildings at New Norcia.
The monastery. The current building is located on the site of the original 1847 monastery but it is now much changed and enlarged. This mainly occurred under Abbot Torres between 1903-1914. In the 19th century New Norcia’s Aboriginal population was often around 130 people but by the time of Abbott Torres (1903) this had declined substantially. He saw the need to revitalise the monastic community by adding colleges for farming boys and girls. New Norcia currently has about 10 monks and a workforce of about 50 people including members of several Aboriginal families who still live on the hill overlooking the Benedictine community. There is no access to the monastery which is where the monks live.
The Abbey Church. This fine building was made from local stones, mud plaster and rough-hewn tree trunks and wooden shingles. It opened in 1861 but has been added to several times. Abbot Torres altered the Georgian style of the church in 1908 by giving the façade a Spanish Baroque appearance. The church contains a massive pipe organ brought from Germany. Abbot Salvado’s tomb is in the church and the walls are adorned with European paintings.
St. Ildelphonsus Boys School. Opened in 1913 this boy’s college was of a simpler design than the girl’s college as the monastery was running low on funds by then. It is a revival of a Romanesque style with rounded windows, good symmetry and small turrets along the roofline. The statue in front of the building is of the founder of the Marist Brothers, Blessed Marcellin Champagnat.
St. Gertrude’s Girls School. This Gothic Revival building was opened in 1908. The Josephite sisters used the college as their convent as well. In 1970 the girl’s college amalgamated with the boy’s college as a co-educational boarding college, Salvado College. This in turn ceased operations in 1991. St. Gertrude’s is now used for weekend and conference accommodation.
New Norcia Hotel. Hospitality is an important part of the Benedictine tradition and the word “slave” on the front steps of the hotel means “welcome.” This imposing structure with a massive internal divided staircase was designed by Father Urbane Gimenez and built in 1927 as a hostel for parents visiting their children in either of the two boarding schools in the monastic compound. It is a great and atmospheric place for lunch.