The Monastery of New Norcia

New Zealand Tablet, 11 October 1906, Page 13

The Monastery of New Norcia

The Rev. Father O'Connell, who, recently -with the Very Rev. Dr. Barry, of ' paid .a. visit to West Australia, writes as follows to tfae Melbourne ' Advocate ' regarding the work of the • Benedictine monks at New Norcia :—: — , Among the very many places of interest seen by the Very Rev. Dr. Barry and myself in .West Australia, we had 1/he pleasure of paying a , visit ,to ,the famous monastery of the". Benedictines „at New Norcia. It is distant about eighty miles .from Peitii, and fifteen from the nearest railway station. One of the Fathers kindly met us .. at the station, and, after driving through a country for the most part barren and uninteresting, we reached the monastery between four and five o'clock on a bright Saturday afternoon. We received a hearty welcome from the Lord Abbot, who treated us during our stay with the greatest hospitality. On approaching the monastery .you commence to see signs of civilisation, and the -howling wilderness transformed into a smiling garden. You find yourself, as if by some magic spell, gazing on green fields of excellent pasturage, stretching away in the i(ar distance, while nearer home you see extensive ivineyards in full bearing, and orchards producing fruit of every description, from the olive to the apple, and all, says the Lord Abbot, ' representing the work of sixty men for sixty years.' Truly, it is a mo^t interesting place, and the monks have accomplished wonders in the way of reclaiming the soil. But, all this is only a means to an end, namely, the- ciyilising and converting of the aboriginals, the dusky'children of the wilderness. For those sixty years the Benedictine Fathers have labored at their .great work with an untiring patience and a zeal well deserving the great success which has crowned their efforts. The blacks who have come under their care have been fairly educated ; they are trained in every kind of manual labor ; they can even drive machinery ; and, above all, they are well grounded in the principles of the Catholic faith. Here I can only give the merest /outline of what has 'been accomplished under the Benedictines at New Norcia, but even this brief sketch would be incomplete without mention of their latest work— the grand college which they have just 'built, capable of accommodating 200 boarders. As a building, there are ,not many equal lo it in Australasia, and few', if indeed any, excel it. One portion of it is intended for the education of 100 girls, aboriginals, and the other portion for the daughters of -.the scattered farmers throughout that part of the country, all under the care of a community of Sisters. The Fathers have also determined to build, in the near future, another college, but less elaborate, for the -native ('black) boys. Our visit, all too short, to allow us to take in more than a moiety of the -good' which the Fathers are accomip listing in educating and Christianising the dark children of the wilderness, came to a close on the Monday, when we had to say good-bye to the monastery and return to Perth. I must add that if anyone is desirous of seeing what can be done for the -black race, I would recommend him to visit New Norcia, for nowhere else in Australia have the same results been achieved. The Lord Abbot, who goes to Rome next year, informed us that, on his return, he intends to establish a new mission for the wild and untamed .blacks in the" far-west, of the 'State, and when that is done the -best I can wish it is that it may, in some measure, equal the grand results already accomplished in New Norcia.