St Saviour's Anglican Cathedral

The corner stone was laid on 15/1/1874 by the Bishop of Goulburn, the Most Rev Mesac Thomas. The text of the corner stone is not known. Information/photographs are invited.

An information board records: St Saviour's Cathedral is the second church built on this site. The first was erected in 1939 but in 1863 the Diocese of Goulburn was founded which meant a worthy cathedral was needed. It was not until 1874 however, that the foundation stone was laid. The new cathedral was built around the old St Saviour's Church from 1874 to 1884. It was originally hoped the old church could be used during construction, but this proved impractical and the Church Hall was built for interim use. - St Saviour's Cathedral is one of the finest white sandstone cathedrals in the southern hemisphere. Both the Cathedral and Hall were designed by one of Australia's most famous architects, Edmund T Blackett....The Cathedral has a facinating and colourful history. The Comte Francis Robert Louis Rossi was one of the hot heads in Goulburn's history. He was generous to the Anglican Church but in constant conflict with the Bishop. The strangest of all happenings was Rossi's two seizures of the Cathedral in 1887 and 1891. In the old St Saviour's Church, was a tablet erected by Rossi to the memory of his parents. This was removed to the Church Hall during the construction of the Cathedral. When sought, the Bishop refused permission to erect the tablet in the new Cathedral. - Rossi took possession of the Cathedral and re-erected the tablet by force. Subsequently the Bishop removed it. History repeated itself; Rossi re-erected the tablet for the second time, remaining there to protect it. Eventually Rossi was dispossessed by force, and photographs are still in existence of him lying in the gutter. One account that captured the popular imagination was of Rossi being fed by tube through the keyhole and the squeezing of bread under the main door of the Cathedral. - An interesting phenomenon is seen twice each year in the Cathedral in March and September at the time of the equinox when, at 3pm EST the sun shines directly through a window on the face of Christ in the carving of the Last Supper above the high altar. - There is one remaining feature of the Cathedral still to be added in order to complete Blackett's design, and that is the tall spire that will crown the 1988 bell tower. St Saviour's Cathedral remains the Cathedral for the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn and is an active place of worship and an inspiration to the needy.