Brian Condon: Diary of James Alipius Goold, 1848-1886
Thursday December 1st 1853. Previous to the celebration of Mass, I heard several Confessions. At 8 I offered up the Holy Mysteries, at which I gave instruction to the people, taking for my subject the Epistle and Gospel of the day. About 10 persons received the Holy Communion. At 9 I heard Mass. Study and writing engaged me until 2. The weather has again changed, and the summer heat of Victoria has set in with all its intensity. At 2 I gave instructions to those who are preparing for Confirmation. From 3 to 4 I heard Confessions. At 5 we had night prayers. We dined at 6. Soon after dinner a clergyman from Melbourne arrived. The information he had to communicate was interesting and satisfactory. The opening of *[the] mission* exceeded my most sanguine expectations. The sermon for the Benevolent Asylum was well attended and the amount obtained for that Institute considerable: the buildings are progressing, in fact everything seems to thrive and prosper. However this success which has attended our religious undertakings is not unalloyed by a little of the trials and troubles incidental to human life. May God grant me grace to bear them humbly and patiently. I retired to rest a little after 10.
Friday December 2nd. I rose this morning at 6. At 7 I heard Confessions. I offered up the Holy Sacrifice at 8, where I administered the Holy Communion to 10 persons. I gave instruction at the post-communion. I heard the Mass that immediately followed. From 11 to 2 we were engaged at intervals in hearing Confessions. From 2 to 3, Catechetical instruction. Night prayers at 5. The day was very oppressive - a hot wind blew most violently during the day. Many tents were carried away. Immediately after sunset, a cool and refreshing breeze set in from the South. We dined at 6, after which we took a long walk in the cool. At 10.30 I retired to rest.
Saturday December 3rd. I rose a little before 7 this morning. The weather is cool, but there is every reason to believe that the day will be hot. At 8 I said Mass, at which I administered the Holy Communion to at least 40 persons. The Holy Sacrifice over, I gave instruction to those I was about to confirm on the nature of the Sacrament and the dispositions with which it should be received. I then conferred the Sacrament on thirty-one persons, children and adults. I concluded the Sacred service of the morning with a short exhortation. It is now 11 and the temperature is at least between 80 and 90 in the tent. I go this evening to Buninyong. At 6 I left in company with the clergyman of Ballaarat for Buninyong. The heat was intense. A hot wind blew the whole day. After a sharp ride we reached the township about 7. Soon after we arrived I visited the site for the chapel to see the preparations that were made for tomorrow's ceremony. With a little alteration all was right. At 8 we took tea, which thirst made us relish. I retired [to] rest a little after 10 but slept very little, being troubled with a tooth-ache.
Sunday December 4th. I rose this morning at 7. I heard Mass, and immediately after heard Confessions. The Confessions over, I offered up the Holy Sacrifice at 9. After 11 I addressed the people on the important ceremony I was about to perform. The congregation was small, many Protestants were present. The usual ceremony prescribed by the Liturgy being gone through, subscriptions were laid on the first stone to the amount of a £100. We returned to Ballaarat in time to say evening prayers. Soon after we sat down to dinner the clergyman was called to visit a man who was dying from a fall down a hole ninety feet deep. I accompanied him to the tent of the dying person. He could not have been less than sixty years of age. His legs were broken and the spine was seriously injured. He suffered the most excruciating pain. It was the only thing he could speak of. With some difficulty his attention was called to his Spiritual affairs, but it was soon again absorbed in the frightful agony of his mangled body. The last struggle soon set in - it was short, and violent. He left a wife and three children to share amongst [them] the means he had with hard labour and much anxiety put together. It was 11 when I retired to rest.
Monday December 5th. I left Ballaarat this morning at 8 en route to Kyneton. After a ride of 5 hours through a hilly country, uninteresting except for the indications of gold that were everywhere visible, we reached Creswick Creek. The diggers number about a thousand. The gold is here obtained in small particles, rich and in sufficient quantity to remunerate. The sinking is not deep, not exceeding 10 ft. Here we fed our horses. This done, we proceeded to a station - managed by a Catholic, and situated 9 miles from the Creek - where we stopped for the night.
Tuesday December 6th. We rose at 5 this morning and, having said prayers with the family, we proceeded on our journey to Kyneton, which [is] 40 miles from this station. The country improves as you approach the town: it is, with the exception of some miles of barren ranges, an open grassy forest. We crossed the Loddon at its source, the *Collumban*, and the Campaspe as we entered Kyneton. The servant lost himself in sight of the township - an occurrence which made me very uneasy. Being very much fatigued, I retired to rest soon after my arrival.
Wednesday December 7th. I rose this morning at 7. At 8 I offered up the Holy Sacrifice and announced the Jubilee. I visited a few Catholic families in the early part of the day.
The town is small and straggling. The best buildings are public houses: these are respectably and comfortably furnished. The other houses are mean and small. The Catholic chapel is a small wooden building with two rooms for the clergyman - but as yet he has not occupied them.
In the evening at 5 I said night prayers, after which I addressed a few words of instruction to those who were present. At 9 I retired to rest.
Thursday December 8th. I offered up the Holy Mysteries this morning a little after 7. At 9 I started for Castlemaine, where I arrived at 3. The dust and hot wind, which blew a gale, made the journey very disagreeable.
As you leave Kyneton the country is open and lightly timbered. At *Collumban*, which is 7 miles from Kyneton, the land is partially covered with trees - and improves. Here are several Inns. The next township, consisting of a few tents, is situated on a creek called the "Back Creek." This place is well watered and in the neighbourhood of a fine agricultural country.
The Sawpit Gulley is the next resting place. The land here is wretched and badly watered. In fact water available for use is not to be had nearer than two miles. Inn keepers have selected [here] because of its proximity to the road to the diggings.
The situation of Castlemaine is very picturesque. The tents are more comfortable and dispersed with more attention to regularity than those at Ballaarat. Having visited the Catholic Chapel (which like that at Ballaarat is made of slabs and covered with canvas. It is in a portion of the two acres granted by the Government for a Catholic Church etc, which occupy the declivity of a low hill) I called on a few of the Catholic families residing in the township and on the creeks. I returned to Kyneton immediately after, where [we] arrived, after a hard ride, about 8.30. At 10 I retired to rest.
Friday December 9th. It was 9.30 when I celebrated Mass this morning. Previous to doing so I heard Mass and admitted several persons to Confession. At the post-communion, I gave instruction to the congregation. From 12 to 3 I was engaged hearing Confessions. At 3.30 I dined. At 5 I said night prayers and gave instructions: after, Confessions were heard by myself and the resident clergyman. The latter had been called off immediately after Mass to visit a person who was dangerously ill; the distance was 14 miles. The illness, however, was sudden [and] painful, but not serious.
It was late when our duty in the chapel was concluded. At 9 I retired to rest. The weather today was pleasant and cool, the wind being from the South.
[Some days missing -
also part of Tuesday December 20th]
December 20th. ... though he could have accommodated him at his cottage. At 9 we dined. I retired to rest at 10. I was very ill during the whole night and following morning. It was an attack of bilious fever I had.
Wednesday December 21st. I left Kilmore at 11 today and arrived in Melbourne about 6. The day was excessively hot and the dust occasioned by a high hot wind was suffocating. The ride completely restored me.
Thursday December 22nd. I heard Mass this morning, being prevented (by great prostration caused by my late exertions during the visitation) from offering up the Holy Sacrifice.
The day was occupied in reading over my correspondence, which had accumulated during my absence, and in transacting business immediately connected with the Ecclesiastical buildings in Melbourne. The Government are embarrassing us somewhat by their tardy notice of our applications for aid towards the churches in course of erection.
We dined at 5. At 7 I attended night prayers in the church. I retired to rest soon after 9.
Friday December 23rd. I offered up the Holy Sacrifice at a quarter past 7 this morning. From 10 to 12 I received visits on business and answered letters. I paid a few visits from 12 to 2. The interval between 2 and 5 was taken up with the reading of the Divine Office and study. Dinner at 5. Night prayers at 7. Confessions immediately after. At 10 I retired to rest.
Saturday December 24th. I celebrated the Holy Mysteries this morning at 7, after which I went to St Francis' Church to hear Confessions. The whole day was occupied in the discharge of this important duty, and up to a very late [hour] of the night we had to attend the Confessional.
The weather is cool and pleasant. It was after 11 when I retired to rest.
Sunday December 25th 1853. Having to celebrate High Mass at 11, I did not rise until 9. I went down from the house to the church at 10.30. At a quarter past 11 I commenced Mass. The congregation was the largest I ever saw in St Francis' Church. It was 1.30 when the service was over. At 6 we had Vespers, a Sermon and Benediction, concluding all with the Pope's blessing. At 8 we sat down to dinner. It was 11 when I retired to rest.
This is the coolest Xmas I ever experienced in the Colony.
Monday December 26th. I offered up the Holy Sacrifice this morning at 7. I attended in the Church from 8 to 12 - hearing Confessions. I visited Richmond in the course of the day and examined the Chapel that is being erected there. I returned to the presbytery a little before dinner time. At 7 night prayers - and immediately after, Confessions. At 10 I retired to rest.
Tuesday December 27th. I said Mass this morning at 7. I sat in the Confessional from 8 to 10. From 10 to 12 I was employed in writing and receiving visits. At 1 I took a drive into the country. I returned to the presbytery about 4. The weather is dry and hot. The country presents a burnt up appearance - owing to the long drought from which we have been suffering. I finished the Divine Office before 5. We dined at 5. Night prayers at 7 - and immediately after, Confessions. At 9.30 I retired to rest.
Wednesday December 28th. I celebrated the Holy Mysteries this morning at 7. I feel the hot wind this morning most enervating. We have had it now since Monday. I went to St Francis Church at 8 and heard Confessions till 10. The usual business of answering letters and receiving visits occupied me from 10 to 12. At 12 I drove to Flemington in order to select a site for a [church] which a Protestant gentleman very kindly offered me on his property. The site I chose overlooks Melbourne and the Bay. It is the handsomest site we have obtained as yet. This gentleman promises a liberal subscription in money toward the erection of the Church. I went to Brighton on my return from Flemington. It was 5 when I returned to the presbytery. We dined soon after our return. At 7, as usual, night prayers - and immediately after, Confessions. At 10 I retired to rest.
Thursday December 29th. The Holy Mysteries were offered up by me at 7. Confessions from 8 to 10. Occupied as usual from 10 to 12. From 1 to a quarter to 5 I was engaged in visiting a few of the respectable Catholic families of Melbourne. Dined at 5. At 7 I assisted at night prayers and heard Confessions immediately after. Retired to rest at 10.