Mansfield Catholic Parish is situated in the High Country in Victoria including parts of the Victorian Alps. The Parish was established when Melbourne was a Diocese under the newly established Archdiocese of Sydney and before the Dioceses of Sale and Sandhurst had been set up. The early parishioners were mostly Irish Catholics, who settled here since the 1840's. The descendants of these setters still live in the parish. A lot of them are farmers, a few of them are professionals as well. The present Catholic Parish of Mansfield, with churches at Mansfield, Woods Point, Jamieson, Bonnie Doon, Tolmie and Mount Buller, is in the Archdiocese of Melbourne and shares its borders with Sale and Sandhurst Dioceses. 

1862  A building was erected at Woods Point. which served as both a chapel and school. Fr Kavanagh lived in Woods Point and traveled to Mansfield once a week to say Mass. Mass was celebrated in the Mansfield Hotel in the main street before the church was built and priests from Wangaratta or Beechworth too came to say Mass here. 

1865 The first church at Mansfield was St Mary’s (a wooden structure) which also became the school. 

1866 A weatherboard Church was built and opened at Jamieson. 

1876 there were 105 pupils at Mansfield and 36 at Jericho (there was a Catholic school there too). By this time there was a rapid decline in Mining at Woods Point and Mansfield became the center.

1885 A small weatherboard Chapel was blessed at Bonnie Doon by Archbishop Gould. 

1891 A new church was built at Mansfield. This second church built was St Francis Xavier’s (is the present St Mary’s hall).  The school used the old church for their classes. The Mercy sisters were brought to the parish in 1891 to run St Mary’s school in the old wooden church, which was later moved to the convent. The St Mary’s parish school, Mansfield is named after the first church. 

1899 The new brick Church at Jamieson was opened. 

1907 The formal blessing and opening of the Tolmie Church.

1937 The third church was St Francis Xavier’s was opened and blessed by Archbishop Mannix, which is the current one.  

1939 The old church was renovated into St Mary's Hall with classrooms for St Mary's School. After being burnt down in the 1939 bushfires the church was immediately rebuilt. 

1953 St Mary's new school was built and opened in November. 

(Taken from the Life and Times of Mansfield Catholic Parish 1862-2012 - Compiled for the Sesquicentennial Year of Mansfield Catholic Parish)  

1956  Mount Buller Chapel: Our Lady of the Snows (OLOS) ski club was formed by Catholic Walking Club members and others and began building the OLOS Mount Buller lodge the same year. The Club was officially opened on the 20th June 1957 by Bishop Fox and OLOS was the mountain’s chapel until 1999, with Mass celebrated for members by Archbishop-appointed Chaplains, for nearly forty seasons until the Mt Buller Chapel opened. A plaque commemorating our service to the mountain was dedicated at the Chapel on June 12th, 1999. (https://www.olos.org.au/about/). This Chapel is within the boundaries of the Mansfield Catholic Parish and is also used as a multi-denomination chapel. During the snow season there are weekend Masses on a Saturday evening. 

Source: Life and Times of Mansfield Catholic Parish 1862 - 2012

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