Sacred Heart Cathedral, Townsville
| Sacred Heart Cathedral, Townsville | |
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Sacred Heart Cathedral, 2007
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| Location | 266 Stanley Street, Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 19°15′32″S 146°48′42″E / 19.2589°S 146.8118°ECoordinates: 19°15′32″S 146°48′42″E / 19.2589°S 146.8118°E |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1896 - 1902 |
| Architectural style(s) | Gothic |
| Official name: Sacred Heart Cathedral, Church of the Sacred Heart | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600939 |
| Significant period | 1890s-1900s (historical) ongoing (social) 1902 (fabric) |
| Significant components | tower, cathedral, views to |
| Builders | Dennis Kelleher |
 Location of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Townsville in Queensland
Location of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Townsville in Queensland
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Sacred Heart Cathedral is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic cathedral at 266 Stanley Street, Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1896 to 1902 by Dennis Kelleher. It is also known as Church of the Sacred Heart. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The Church of the Sacred Heart at Townsville was erected in at least two stages between 1896 and 1902, to plans prepared by Melbourne architects Reed, Smart & Tappin in 1894. Queensland architects Eaton, Bates and Polin of Brisbane, Townsville and Rockhampton supervised the work, and the contractor for the superstructure was Denis Kelleher.
The first Roman Catholic church in Townsville, St Joseph's, was erected on the Strand in the 1870s. Townsville itself had been established in the mid-1860s as a port to service the pastoral lands of the interior. Following the discovery of gold at Ravenswood and Charters Towers in the 1870s, the town boomed, and by the 1890s was the principal port of North Queensland. As the population of the town expanded and settlement moved west along Ross Creek, a more prominent, substantial and centrally-located Catholic church became a priority for the parish. In January 1884 Father William Mason Walsh, Townsville's second parish priest, acquired title to a half acre block in Stanley Street on the slopes of Castle Hill, above the main business district of Townsville, in anticipation of erecting a fine new church. However at this period the parish of Townsville was part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton, and was neither large nor wealthy, so did not commence a building programme for the church on Stanley Street until the 1890s.
An 1894 design competition for the new church was won by prominent Melbourne architects Reed, Smart & Tappin. Their design was for a substantial brick building of Gothic style, comprising a large basement space, a superstructure consisting of naive, aisles, transept, sacristy, chapters and sanctuary, and an imposing front tower and spire rising 162 ft. There is some suggestion that the design for the Townsville church was a smaller version of the Sacred Heart Cathedral at Bendigo, Victoria, designed by the same architectural firm.
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