History+of+St+Patrick's+Cathedral

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In 1848, the Augustinian friar James Goold was became the first bishop of Melbourne and the fourth bishop in Australia. Goold decided to build his cathedral on the Eastern Hill site, due to the majority of the catholic population being mostly Irish, they decided to name the cathedral after the patron saint Patrick. Construction started in 1858 although the cathedral was finished within 10 years.  Construction slowed in 1891 due to the depression in Melbourne. Under the leadership of Archbishop Thomas Carr the cathedral was consecrated in 1897, even then the cathedral was not finished. Only 16 years after the foundation of Melbourne the Colonial Secretary of Victoria granted the site to the roman catholic church.The cathedral was designed in the Gothic Decorated style of the fourteenth century.

The cathedral is 103.6 meters long, 56.4 meters and 25.3 meters across the nave. The nave and transept are 28.9 meters high. The central spire is 105 meters high and the flanking towers and spires are 61.9 meters high. The Cathedral was closed in 1994 to be upgraded. Nothing was added to the main building but the Cathedral's stained glass windows had buckled and cracked , and required the full year to restore to their original state. The bells of the cathedral were acquired by Bishop Goold, Melbourne’s Roman Catholic leader at the time, when he visited Europe in 1851-1852. He bought a peal of eight bells for £500 with some records showing that it cost £700. They arrived in Australia in 1853. The peal of eight is in f natural with the tenor weighing approximately 700 kilograms. The peal set weights around 3556 kg