A HISTORIC SPOT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 46, 16 November 1899, Page 10

A HISTORIC SPOT.

THE FIRST MASS IN AUSTRALIA.. THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

His Eminence Cardinal Moran had an unique experience on his return from Rookhampton, where he had assisted at the opening of the new Cathedral. On his way south (says the Catholic Prett) he arrived at Gladstone, accompanied by all the other prelates, priests, and distinguished laymen who had been to Rookhampton. The Rev. Father Plormel and the oitizens of Gladstone had made all arrangements for the entertainment of the party An address was was presented to the Cardinal on Auckland Hill, overlooking the harbour, and commanding one of the most charming views to be found on the Australian coast. It was here, about the dawn of the seventeenth century, that the first prayers of a Christian people ascended from the shores of Australia, and, curiously enough, the Cardinal in whose honour the gathering was held was the discoverer of the unquestionable fact that Port Curtis is the habour of Holy Cross mentioned by the Spanish navigator, Admiral De Quiros, in his annals. Among those present were the Right Rev. Dr. Murray (Bishop of Maitland), Right Rev. Dr. Corbett (Bishop of Sale), Right Rev. Dr. Doyle (Bishop of Graf ton), Right Rev. Dr. Reville (Coadjutor - Bishop of Sandhurst), Hon. W. G. Grey, M.L.C., his Honour Judge Real, Mr. J. L. Blood-Smyth (Registrar Supremt Court), Mr. P. W. Crowe (Brisbane), Dr. and Mrs. M'Neal, Mr. E. Parr-Smith. The beautifully-illuminated framed address said, among other things : — ' The presence here of your Eminence, and of so many venerable prelates and devoted priests from all parts of our Continent, the object being to assist at the solemn opening of our Cathedral, awakens in our minds the remembrance of another celebration of similar import enacted on this spot 300 years ago. This is the harbour of Holy Cross of the Spanish Admiral De Quiros. There is the wide bay described in his narrative ; there are the eternal mountains ; you have crossed the rivers with their crystal waters glittering ever under our bright sky. The sturdy mariners landed where we stand — that was a great day for Australia. The little shrine is erected in honour of our Lady of Loretto ; the royal standard of chivalrous Spain floats on high in the breeze that has swept among the smiling islands of the Pacific ; the children of Catholic Spain kneel in front of the altar on the herbage that still clothes our hills, bending their heads low and striking their breasts in sentiments of religious awe. as the chiming of the little bell and the roar of the culverin announce to the prostrate multitude that the most Holy Saorifice has sanctified a newly-discovered portion of the globe.' In the course of his reply the Cardinal- Archbishop Baid there were special features in connection with the Bpot on which they stood. The mind went back 300 years to the days when De Quiros landed there. The great commander set out with the special blessing of Pope Paul V., and special reference is made to this in the report which the Admiral furnished to the king. It was on the Feast of Pentecost, a pledge of the beßt gifts of heaven, that De Quiros landed in the great Southern land, and this it was that induced him to name the country Tierra Austral de Espiritu Sanoto, and he trusted that every cherished wish of the early discoverer would be borne oat. Some of our literary men hesitated to assign to the scene which lay before them, that it was the one marked out by De Quiros. It was only lately, however, that the officials had been published. He (the Cardinal) had the good fortune to secure a copy of the original Spanish despatch as well as a French trans* lation of the originals published in 1616. De Quiros not only described the spacious bay and its surroundings, but also stated that its water would shelter the united navies of the world. The seven islands which sheltered the bay, with the special island, which he described as 50 leagues in circumference, were before them, and the report harmonised in every detail with the spot. He had just been informed that in 1875 Mr. Nesbitt, in reporting upon the harbour of Port Curtis to the Queensland Government, had stated that the harbour offered Bafe anchorage for 1000 of the largest vessels afloat. This was a wonderful confirmation of the remarks of De Quiros in his memorial to Philip 111. of Spain. The one great point of argument made by the opponents was that the latitude and. longitude set down did not correspond. But we know from what haa been set down by the chaplains to the Spanish fleet that that was one of the arts of the Spanish Admirals. They purposely concealed the proper situations of land they had discovered lest Drake and his confreres would follow in their track*, and, except in Royal despatches, such details were not given correctly, in order that they might be the better secured for future Spanish explorations Thus the discrepancy of latitude and longitude strengthens the opinions that Port Curtis is the Harbour of the Holy Cross. He sincerely congratulated the Catholicß of Gladstone, and their fellow oitizens, on the prominence whioh this place had played in the early history of Australia. Here for the first time the Mass has been celebrated on Australian soil almost 300 years ago. The Spanish troops had assembled, the royal banner of Spain was unfurled on this very spot, here the culverins had thundered a welcome, and the assembled chaplains of the fleet had invoked the blessing of Heaven upon the whole of Australia — a blessing whioh had already borne fruit as seen in the virtue, the enlightenment and devotion of the sons and daughters of the land. He was looking forward to the time when that blessing would be multiplied a hundredfold in our united Australia, and he hoped that the Federal Government would ereot a monument here as a memorial of the most interesting religious and historical event in our history.