Building a Local Church with Global Networks: James Goold in Colonial Victoria1

James Goold was appointed first Roman Catholic Bishop of Melbourne at a time when the diocese – extending across the whole of nowadays State of Victoria – counted two churches, one only partially built, and a chapel. For almost forty years he busied himself in laying strong foundations for the establishment of the Catholic Church in Victoria, his legacy eventually including an infrastructure of almost one hundred ecclesiastical edifices, most prominently the nearly completed grand Cathedral of St Patrick’s dominating East Melbourne. The Bishop formed an extraordinary partnership with William Wardell, the brilliant Catholic convert architect who designed St Patrick’s and a dozen parish churches in city suburbs and rural townships large and small. A strong administrator, Goold shaped his diocese exploiting both global and regional networks, contributing significantly to the built environment of colonial Victoria.