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Australia and the Popes

The Popes from the European discovery of Australia in 1606
to the founding of the Australian nation in 1901

The Popes from the time of Captain Cook's
arrival on the East Coast in 1870 to Federation in 1901:

Click the name of the Pope to go to the Wikipedia webpage for further information about that Pope.

1846-1878 Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti ) Longest reigning Pope ever. Most remembered for calling the First Vatican Council (1870) and for His Syllabus of Errors. Victoria was created as a separate colony from New South Wales in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1863 as part of the Province of South Australia. Victoria and South Australia were founded as "free colonies"—that is, they were never penal colonies, although the former did receive some convicts from Tasmania. Western Australia was also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts due to an acute labour shortage. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868. A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854 was an early expression of nationalist sentiment. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire.

1831-1846 Pope Gregory XVI (Bartolomeo Alberto Mauro Cappellari) The last Pope elected who was not already a bishop. Most remembered for the development of ultra-montanism and for banning railways in the Papal States as "ways of the Devil". South Australia was created as a separate colony from New South Wales in 1836.

1829-1830 Pope Pius VIII (Francesco Saverio Castiglioni) A brief pontificate during which the Catholic Emancipation in the United Kingdom and the July 1830 Revolution in France. Britain claimed the Western part of Australia in 1829.

1823-1829 Pope Leo XII (Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiore Girolamo Nicola della Genga) Leo XII's domestic policy in the Papal States was one of extreme reaction. He condemned the Bible societies, and under Jesuit influence reorganized the educational system. Severe ghetto laws led many of the Jews to emigrate. He hunted down the Carbonari and the Freemasons. He took the strongest measures against political agitation in theatres. A well-nigh ubiquitous system of espionage, perhaps most fruitful when directed against official corruption, sapped the foundations of public confidence. When he died in 1829 the news was received by the populace with unconcealed joy.

1800-1823 Pope Pius VII OSB (Barnaba Nicolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti) From the beginning of his papacy to the fall of Napoleon I in 1815, Pius VII would be completely involved with France. He and Napoleon would continually be in conflict, often involving the French military leader's wishes for concessions to his demands, while the Pope, although he almost always gave in to Napoleon, wanted only the return of the Papal States, and later on the release of the 13 Black Cardinals along with several exiled or imprisoned clergymen, monks, nuns, priests, his various supporters including his secretaries of state, and his own release from exile. In Australia the first public Mass was not allowed by the British authorities until 1803 – a permission that was withdrawn after the Castle Hill uprising in 1804 and remained in abeyance for sixteen years.

1775-1779 Pope Pius VI (Giovanni Angelo Braschi) The man who was Pope when the First Penal Colony was established at Botany Bay in 1788 by Captain Arthur Phillip. Pope Pius VI is best remembered in connection with the establishment of the Museum of the Vatican, begun at his suggestion of his predecessor and with an unpractical and expensive attempt to drain the Pontine Marshes, something later successfully achieved in the 1930s by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

1769-1774 Pope Clement XIV (Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli) Pope Clement XIV was Pope when Captain Cook arrived on the East Coast of New Holland on 20 April 1770. Pope Clement XIV died on 22 September 1774, execrated by the Ultramontane party, but widely mourned by his subjects for his popular administration of the Papal States.

The Popes from the European discovery of the Australian
continent in 1606 to the time of Captain Cook's arrival
on the East Coast in 1870:

1758-1769 Pope Clement XIII (Carlo della Torre Rezzonico)

1740-1758 Pope Benedict XIV (Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini)

1730-1758 Pope Clement XII (Lorenzo Corsini)

1724-1730 Pope Benedict XIII (Pietro Francesco Orsini,
                                               later Vincenzo Maria Orsini)

1721-1724 Pope Innocent XIII (Michelangelo dei Conti)

1700-1721 Pope Clement XI (Giovanni Francesco Albani)

1691-1700 Pope Innocent XII (Antonio Pignatelli)

1689-1691 Pope Alexander VIII (Pietro Vito Ottoboni)

1676-1689 Pope Innocent XI (Benedetto Odescalchi)

1670-1676 Pope Clement X (Emilio Bonaventura Altieri)

1667-1669 Pope Clement IX (Giulio Rospigliosi)

1655-1667 Pope Alexander VII (Fabio Chigi)

1644-1655 Pope Innocent X (Giovanni Battista Pamphili)

1623-1644 Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini)

1621-1623 Pope Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi)

1605-1621 Pope Paul V (Camillo Borghese)

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The textual material on these pages was sourced from a large number of places all of which can be found through the links on each page. The material was researched, assembled and produced by Brian Coyne for Catholic Australia. The images used in the Flash animations are in the public domain. Other images used are in the public domain or sourced from the webpages to which they are linked.