World War I started almost at the door of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Queenscliff, the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s newest Pilgrim Place, which has witnessed some of Australia’s most remarkable military history intertwined with a rich Indigenous heritage.
Holy Trinity is a handsome building, an early-Romanesque structure that was opened in 1867 and blessed by the first Archbishop of Melbourne, James Goold. It’s built high on a hill overlooking Port Phillip Bay in arguably one of Victoria’s most picturesque towns.
‘It’s a little town with a fascinating history,’ says Sr Nola Morrissey, who oversees pastoral care in the parish.
Queenscliff played a pivotal role at the onset of World War I. It was, in effect, the site of the British Empire’s first shot of the war.
Sr Nola’s account of the events that unfolded on 5 August 1914 is backed by official Australian government historical documents.
As tensions mounted in 1914, a German cargo ship was poised to escape through Port Philip heads when the garrison at Fort Queenscliff got word of the official declaration of war. When the ship ignored warnings to turn back, a shot was fired across its bow from Point Nepean, less than four hours since war had been declared on the other side of the world.
While its military history extends well past World War I—the Fort of Queenscliff protected Port Phillip until 1946 and remained a military base until the 1980s—Queenscliff also boasts a rich Indigenous heritage. As Sr Nola explains, the landscape holds spiritual significance, including locations of prayer circles, a connection with nature largely lost due to the impact of colonisation.
‘Right back in the day, when it was a colony, they were bringing convicts through here. The famous one is William Buckley,’ Sr Nola says. She tells the story of Buckley, who escaped from the Port Phillip settlement near Sorrento with another convict, and ended up across the other side of the bay in Point Lonsdale. Buckley lived with a local Aboriginal clan on the Bellarine Peninsula for about 20 years, learning their language and customs.
He eventually gave himself up to colonial authorities, Sr Nolan says. ‘When he came in, he could tell them everything that they wanted to know about local Aboriginal life [including] their art, their traditions, their lifestyle. And they didn’t want to know about it.’ She laments what has been lost because of that remarkable lack of curiosity, noting that Buckley’s insights could have enriched our understanding of Australia’s Indigenous heritage.
Queenscliff has a significant Catholic history too. Parish priest Linh Pham says Holy Trinity is one of Victoria’s older churches with close connections to Catholic leaders—first with Archbishop James Goold in the 19th century, then with Archbishop Daniel Mannix, arguably Australia’s most influential Catholic leader, in the 20th century.
Fr Linh explains that Archbishop Mannix made Queenscliff his mensal parish for about 40 years, which meant the parish was under his jurisdiction, with the parish priest serving as an administrator. He resided in the seaside town from late January each year, returning to Melbourne for St Patrick’s Day on 17 March.
Sr Nola recalls seeing the famous Archbishop Mannix in person when she was a child on a family holiday in Queenscliff. ‘It was about 1952,’ she says when she went to Mass and saw ‘this strange man in his top hat, his frock coat, his stove pipe pants and his white hair’.
‘That’s Archbishop Mannix,’ her father told her.
‘It didn’t mean a thing to me when Dad said who it was. But that vision of him has sort of stayed in mind because you never saw people dressed like that, not in the country.’
Fr Linh is proud that his church has been chosen as a pilgrimage site this Jubilee Year—the only one in the Geelong area. ‘I look at the church, and it’s beautiful,’ he says.
He says there is a lot to offer pilgrims, who can learn about the history of the church and the town. There is also a historical connection with towns on the other side of the bay—Sorrento, Rye and Rosebud—which were once all part of the same parish, known then as the mission of Queenscliff and Sorrento.
‘We are looking forward to doing something this year,’ he says, noting that people will be attracted to Queenscliff as a pilgrimage destination ‘because it’s something outside Melbourne, [but] it’s easy to get to.’
The Holy Trinity Catholic Parish also includes Holy Family Church in Barwon Heads, and Our Lady Star of the Sea in Ocean Grove. Fr Linh has not been there for long, having arrived late in 2024 during one of the busiest times for the region.
We talk about a journey of peace.
While Holy Trinity in Queenscliff has a maximum capacity of 140 and would normally see 60–80 people at Mass, in peak times there are so many that services have to be held in the parish hall.
‘We have a very big number of visitors during Christmas and Easter. A lot of them come down here for a holiday,’ Fr Linh says.
The church community is preparing for an influx of pilgrims over Easter but is also expecting visitors to come all through winter, possibly combining a pilgrimage with a weekend away.
Fr Linh says he wants the celebrations to feel special for locals as well as pilgrims. Among the plans he has made for them is a walking pilgrimage, which he says will go from Geelong to Drysdale along the Bellarine Peninsula, then from Drysdale to Queenscliff, where they’ll finish with a Mass.
‘It’s like the Camino,’ he says, referring to the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain. ‘We talk about a journey of peace.’
Fr Linh says the Jubilee Year is also important for the children at the parish’s two primary schools, St Aloysius, which is attached to Holy Trinity, and Our Lady Star of the Sea in Ocean Grove.
‘This is an opportunity for them to learn more about what the Jubilee means, a little bit of how the Church celebrates the Jubilee Year,’ he says. ‘It’s very exciting for them to participate in it.’
Banner image: Holy Trinity Church pictured with the Jubilee banner on the fence of St Aloysius Primary School.
