Bishop Francis Murphy arrived in Adelaide in 1844 to find his ‘cathedral’ was a warehouse. By 1845 a bishop’s house had been built at West Terrace and a church-school opened behind it.

The diocese was established during a depression. The exodus to the goldfields in Victoria circa 1851 added to the financial woes of the bishop. The Cathedral was designed to be constructed in three stages so that the Diocesan finances would not be unduly stretched.

140 years after the Cathedral’s foundation stone was laid, the cathedral was completed with the building of the tower. It then became possible to dedicate the Cathedral. This was done on 11 July 1996. July 11 was chosen as this had been the date of the 1858 opening.

The Cathedral’s patron saint, St Francis Xavier, is one of the patron saints of missionary endeavor. Bishop Murphy came to the then mission field of Australia. His own patron saint was St Francis Xavier.

In the Cathedral sanctuary, statues of the two saints of the missions, St Francis Xavier and St Therese of Lisieux, look down on to the altar and the adjacent grave site of the bishop-founder of the diocese.

 

http://www.adelcathparish.org/History/history.htm