Timeline

The first fifty years

• 1890 – Local Catholics build a small wooden church on Main Road (site is now Repco, Burwood Highway) on land given by early settler John Buckley. Priests come from Dandenong parish to celebrate Mass twice a month.
• 1911 – Parish of St John the Baptist established. Fr Lynch, first parish priest.
• 1912 – Parishioners build a house for the priest, now Fr T O'Sullivan, next to the church.
• 1914-18 – First World War. For the next ten years Fr O'Sullivan, then Fr J O'Brien, travel from the Gully throughout the hills often saying Mass in private homes.
• 1920-25 – A time of building: a church-hall in Belgrave; a church in Gembrook. Fr T Little parish priest. In 1925 Miss Buckley donates to the parish 5 acres of land in Forest Road. In 1926 a new red brick church is built on the site of the present church. Fr T McCarthy parish priest.
• 1936 – Grand Opening, all in one day, of a new presbytery, and a three-bedroom convent for Presentation nuns. School begins with 37 pupils. The original wooden church is moved to Forest Road to become classrooms.
• 1939-45 – Second World War. Fr T Flynn appointed assistant priest, then administrator, when Fr McCarthy seconded to Military Forces.
• 1944 – Fr Flynn becomes parish priest. Fr F Harman appointed assistant.
• First school bus purchased to bring children from the hills. School enrolments 220. Brenock Park land acquired. Second assistant priest, Fr G O'Callaghan appointed.
• 1945 – First Brenock Park Easter Monday Carnival.
• 1946 – Army Hut purchased for classrooms. School now 300.
• 1948 – Fr O'Callaghan replaced by Fr J Phelan. Miss Buckley dies leaving legacy to convent and parish.
• 1949-50 – Opening of Our Lady of Lourdes school, Bayswater. Now 13 Mass Centres in the Gully parish and 500 pupils in St John's school. Youth theatre group musicals begin.
• 1954 – Fr K Quinlan replaces Fr Phelan. Formation of St John's Scout Troup.
• 1956 – Male choir established. Fr F Casamento replaces Fr F Harman.
• 1957-58 – New classrooms built on Selman Ave on land donated by Albert Boyd.
• 1959 – New parish formed for Belgrave and the Ranges.
• 1960 – Fr A Sheehan replaces Fr K Quinlan. First Planned Giving campaign allows parish to budget for future spending.

The second fifty years and onward

• 1962-65 – Second Vatican Council held in Rome.
• 1960s – Many changes of priests and more building: of classrooms and a new hall, toilets and sealed car park. Parishes founded from St John's in this decade include Belgrave, Bayswater, and Boronia.
• 1963-64 – Establishment of Mater Christi and St Joseph's Colleges.
• 1969 – The implentation of Vatican II begins with changes to liturgical services. Mass is now celebrated in English. New classrooms are built below the convent and old army hut removed. Fr C Cummings parish priest.
• 1970s – Further familiarisation with post Vatican II changes with attempts to form a Parish Council and renovations to St John's church; a new parish is set up in Scoresby.
• 1979 – Fr W Bainbridge is appointed parish priest and begins an 18 years term that sees much of parish life and buildings transformed.
• 1982 – First Mass celebrated in new church on 24 June. The first Parish Council is established. Priests' housekeeper Nell O'Connor dies and 'Nell's Cottage' becomes a centre for women's activities. Other new parish groups: Renew Movement, Family Groups, Neighbourhood Groups.
• 1993 – Another year of changes. Presentation Sisters relinquish the running of the school after 56 years. Sr Una Melville, the last sister to be school principal, moves from the convent to Nell's Cottage as a Pastoral Assistant. Nell's Cottage group moves to the Flynn Centre (demountable rooms). The convent is leased to the Catholic Education Office as a regional centre. The last assistant priest, Fr J Petrulis is appointed elsewhere, leaving St John's with one priest only. Land on Selman Avenue is purchased from Telstra. The old exchange building is renovated as a parish centre and named the Presentation Centre in honour of the Sisters.
• 2000 – Fr Des Moloney is appointed parish priest.
• 2005 – Fr Alan Fox is appointed parish priest.
• 2008 – Convent becomes the parish centre and office.
• 2011 – Centenary year and 75th Anniversry of St John's school. New school hall completed and surroundings refurbished as part of Federal funding initiative.
• 2019 - Fr Thomas Kuruvila arrived in Ferntree Gully on 2 October 2019.
• 2025 - Fr Thomas was appointed Parish Priest of the Parishes of Ferntree Gully and Belgrave.

FERNTREE GULLY: History - St John The Baptist Parish Ferntree Gully

BELGRAVE: 50th Golden Jubilee milestones (1959–2009)