The Roman Catholic group of buildings, Cobargo

The Roman Catholic group of buildings, Wandella Road, Cobargo.

Several Roman Catholic buildings are prominently and distinctively located on the crest of a hill on the outskirts of Cobargo village – a Roman Catholic Church and Presbytery, a Roman Catholic School and a Roman Catholic Convent. Together they form an impressive streetscape, whilst also demonstrating the strength and nature of Catholic practice in the Cobargo region during the early twentieth century.

Cobargo village was established during the 1860s at the junction of Narira and Bredbatoura Creeks. It was initially called The Junction, then Wattle Town or Wattleton, reflecting the wattle bark industry that operated in the area until the mid-1960s.

The presbytery was built in 1892 at a cost of £837 and it was first occupied in 1893. The contract included provision of fencing, a coach-house and a stable.

The church was designed by the Sydney firm of Sheerin and Hennessy and was built by the Bega-based firm of Underhill and Thatcher in 1896. It cost £817. Local bricks were used, made from clay from the ‘Woodburn’ property behind the Church. The beautiful stained glass sanctuary windows in the church were manufactured in London by John Hardman and Sons at a cost of £110, and some of the original varnished cedar pews are still in use in the church today.

Apparently a school had operated on the site of the Roman Catholic School (now a house) from around 1870. Construction of the surviving Roman Catholic school building started in September 1917 and was completed in December of that year. The contract price was £574 and the builder was R.W. Thatcher of Bega. The school’s one acre of land was donated by prominent local resident, Mr James Tarlinton. The Sisters of St Joseph opened the school on 28th January 1918 with an intake of 55 pupils. The school operated until the end of the 1969 school year.

The adjacent convent was also built in 1917 by R.W. Thatcher to accommodate the Josephine nuns who ran the school and to provide boarding accommodation for pupils at the school. The school and the church were blessed on 14th September 1919. In 1969 both were sold to the Dominican Fathers who later on-sold them to private owners.

Image: The Roman Catholic Convent building in Cobargo. The school is to the left of the photograph, the Church (not included in the photograph) is to the right.