Choirs from the provincial Cathedrals together with St Patrick’s Cathedral lead the singing as we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Foundation of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Dioceses of Melbourne.

The Dean of St Paul’s Melbourne, the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, will preach. The service will be attended by members of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

It was a desire to consecrate a bishop that saw Melbourne named a cathedral city on 25 June 1847, by Letters Patent from Queen Victoria. Four days later, evangelical Charles Perry was consecrated.

Six months later, he arrived in Melbourne itself. The town’s settlement by Europeans dated from just 12 years earlier. For tens of thousands of years, the area had been home to the people of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation

Read more about this significant anniversary in The Melbourne Anglican. 

What a joyous occasion it is to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of Melbourne’s Anglican and Roman Catholic dioceses on Sunday at St Paul’s Cathedral, such a dignified and reassuring presence in the centre of our city. I also look forward to the musical ministry of St Paul’s choirs, augmented by singers from Victoria’s Anglican cathedrals, and our Roman Catholic colleagues from St Patrick’s Cathedral. I welcome the participation of Catholic Archbishop Peter Commensoli, plus Victoria’s Anglican provincial bishops. Archbishop Philip Freier

Watch the service online here