The first church was erected in Sydney in the 1830s after plans to start building began in the 1820s. Unfortunately, the church got burnt in 1865. The oldest surviving churches are St John’s, Richmond, Tasmania which was completed in 1837 and St Brigid’s in The Rocks, Sydney which was completed between 1834 and 1835.
Most of the early churches adopted the Gothic revival architecture style which was started by Augustus Pugin in England. In fact, William Wardell, his disciple was the one who designed two of the premier Catholic cathedrals in Australia, the new St Mary’s in Sydney and, St Patrick’s in Melbourne. St Mary was started in 1865 and finished in 1928 with spires added to it in 2000. It is built with Sydney sandstone and has a Medieval French style.