St Brigid’s Catholic Church, Tunnack

Tunnack St Brigids RC 2

22 Scotts Rd, Tunnack. Google Maps.
Opened 1894.

TUNNACK R C. CHURCH
Thriving Community
Convent and School
About 70 years ago, when Father Keohan was parish priest, the first Roman Catholic Church was built in the Tunnack district. It was only a small structure, measuring 30ft by 15ft. It was used as a church and school combined, and was erected more than a mile from the centre of’ Tunnack, though within the town boundary, for here, as in other centres in the Midlands, the pioneers made every preparation for expansion, which has not yet been realised fully. The church was erected on a glebe block of land granted by the Government in the early days, and adjoining it were a cemetery and a three-roomed residence in which the school teacher resided until the arrival many years later, of the Sisters of the Church.

In the last decade of the nineteenth century it was decided to build a new church at Tunnack, and on blocks of land donated by the late Mr. Charles Owen O’Conor (whose two sons, Messrs. Alex and Patrick O’Conor, and three daughters still reside in the district) a church and convent were erected. It was considered that the convent would be of more service at Tunnack than at Oatlands, where it had been previously, owing to there being a larger Roman Catholic community in the Tunnack district.

The present church is a weatherboard structure which recently has been re-roofed with galvanised iron. On the same block is a portion of the old church which was moved from its original site en bloc, and is now used by the sisters as a washhouse. Nearby are the convent and school, erected just after the war and both of weatherboard. The school consists of two, rooms, and accommodates over 60 children, who are taught by the three sisters residing at the convent. Tunnack, at present, has not a parish priest of its own, but its needs are cared for by Father Barry, of Oatlands; who makes frequent visits to the district.
The Mercury, 28 July 1930

Tunnack St Brigids RC 1
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