To mark the 150th anniversary of the St Liborius Church, Aylene Kirkwood OAM has spent the last year documenting its rich history within Eaglehawk.
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Mrs Kirkwood has created a book which required her to conduct significant amounts of research into the church and town’s history.
“I’ve read countless newspapers and magazines and worked with several parishioners who were able to provide me with details about the church’s history,” Mrs Kirkwood said.
“The church is very important to Eaglehawk’s history, back when it was built in the days of gold mining, religion was a large part of society.”
“There were a lot of the miners who helped construct the church and donated bits of gold to help build it.”
Fr George Henry Backhaus from Germany was appointed to oversee the Catholic community within the Victorian goldfields and named the church after his home parish St Liborius in Paderborn, Germany.
The church opened on July 5 1868 and the Bendigo Advertiser reported there were more than 1000 people in attendance.
Within the book Mrs Kirkwood also documented the importance of the church to St Liborius Catholic Primary School and the various identities who had been involved over the 150 years.
“The school has become a part of the church,” Mrs Kirkwood said.
One of Mrs Kirkwood’s goals is to share the church’s history with subsequent generations within the community and highlight the importance of religion.
“Unfortunately, in my view, religion is fading out a little bit and I hope it never does because we all need religion,” Mrs Kirkwood said.
“I hope some of the younger generation take an interest in the history and be proud of what we have achieved over the last 150 years.”
St Liborius Primary School principal Alistair Stewart said it was an opporuntiy to create a snapshot in time of St Liborius.
“There’s a section in the book regarding the history of the primary school and why it was created and then through to modern day,” Mr Stewart said.
“It looks at changes within the design and the way we teach to be conducive to contemporary times, highlighting how we need to reflect and respond to our past.”
St Liborius parish priest Rev. Fr Antony Pedickattukunnel said it was a great milestone for the church.
“It’s great to say thank you to Our Lord for the past 150 years,” Fr Pedickattukunnel said.
The anniversary book was launched at a special mass attended by members of the St Liborius and Eaglehawk communities.
