St Malachy's Catholic Church

No Foundation Stone or Memorial Plaque details are known. Information/photographs are invited.

A plaque records: St Malachy's Catholic Church - 1875 - From 1842, travelling priests from as far afield as Hartley, Sofala and Gulgong attended to the needs of the local Roman Catholic community. Father Dunphy served the Dabee/Rylstone area until he drowned crossing the Cudgegong River near Mudgee in 1845 after performing a baptism.

Father Callaghan McCarthy, the first priest at Mudgee, was responsible for having a timber slab church erected on this site in the 1850s. A large parcel of land was set aside for a future school, never built. The slab church stood until 1911 when it was moved to Coomber Street to become a home. 

This lovely Victorian Gothic stone church was built by Dean O'Donovan to cater for 19 local families who provided their own seating. The soaring steeply pitched roof, ornate timber lace fretwork, masonry courses and Italianate belltower give it great appeal.

The western end of the nave was added in 1960 in a matching style. The stone came from a private chapel on 'Monivae', a sheep and cattle grazing propery 21 kilometres from Rylstone.

Mary and George Holland, who built the adjacent Globe Hotel in the 1880s and who provided free accommodation to the travelling priests, are commemorated in stained glass windows.