Coolangatta-Tugun Catholic Parish

Timeline of Parish History

The parish of St Augustine’s, Coolangatta, began with the appointment of Fr Leo Carlton
as the first parish priest.  The following represents a timeline of our Parish history. 
Please click here for a more detailed historical account. 

 

October 1924 Fr Carlton said his first Mass in the parish at the surf pavilion, Greenmount. 
Easter Monday 1925 Archbishop James Duhig laid the foundation stone of St Augustine’s church.
December 1926 Archbishop Duhig blessed and opened St Augustine's.
1926 Daughters of our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Kensington, arrive in Coolangatta to establish their rest home and to open a primary school and boarding establishment for small boys.  (Prior to this, the children of Coolangatta attended St Joseph’s parish school, Tweed Heads)
1940 Fr Leo Carlton is appointed Administrator of St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane and is replaced as parish priest by his assistant Fr Dudley Boland.  Father Frank Douglas is appointed assistant priest.
1949 Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart withdraw to do missionary work overseas.  They are replaced by the Franciscan Sisters.
1956 Burleigh Heads becomes a separate parish .(Infant Savior Church had been built and paid for by the Coolangatta Parish.)
1959 A new church dedicated to St Augustine’s mother, St Monica, is built at Tugun to house 150 people. It was fully furnished by the generosity of parishioners.
1963 Archbishop Duhig blessed and opened the extensions to St Augustine’s church including a magnificent Sanctuary and Transepts.
1968 Fr Dudley Boland was replaced by Fr Patrick Martin Brady as parish priest
1970 Fr Brady enlarged St Monica’s by half.
1982 Franciscan Sisters withdraw from St Augustine’s school to be replaced by the first lay Principal.
1980’s Final stages of original specifications of St Augustine’s Church completed.
1985 Land for the site for St Augustine’s primary school in Currumbin Waters was purchased.
1987 St Augustine’s school Coolangatta moved to Currumbin Waters after Archbishop Francis Rush blesses and opens the new building for 147 students.
1992 St Monica’s extended by half again and reoriented on the site.
1993 Fr Brady retires, and is replaced by Fr Leo Wright until September 1993, when Fr Kevin Smith is appointed parish priest.
1995 The parish purchased a property adjacent to St Monica’s .It is known as St. Monica’s Samaritan Centre and  leased to Centacare as a base for respite care and skills development for people with a disability.
2000 The Jubilee chapel blessed and opened at St Augustine’s school.
2007 New library, pre-school/infants’ precinct and 5 new classrooms at St Austine’s school.
2010 Renovations to St Augustine’s school
2011 The opening of the Mary MacKillop multi-purpose centre at St Augustine’s school .
2012 Fr. Kevin Smith is appointed the Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Caloundra and Fr. John Scarrott is appointed Parish Priest of the Coolangatta Tugun Catholic Parish

 

 

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St Augustine's Church
McLean Street,
Coolangatta  Q  4225
click here for location map
Coolangatta -Tugun Catholic Parish
42 O'Connor Street, Tugun  QLD  4224
PO Box 117, Coolangatta QLD 4225
Phone:  07 5598 2165  |  Fax:  07 5525 6251
Email: augmon@bne.catholic.net.au
St Monica's Church
485 Golden Four Drive,
Tugun  Q  4224
click here for location map
     

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