Welcome to our website. We hope to share with you how we give witness to the Presence of Jesus among us.

St Patrick’s, Fremantle was established around 1850, the third Catholic Community in Western Australia after St Mary’s Cathedral Parish, Perth and the Benedictine community of New Norcia. Until 1894 the Parish was served by Diocesan and Benedictine Priests. Since 1894 the Parish has been entrusted to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It was their first foundation in Australia and they have now been responsible for its pastoral care for more than 125 years.

Archaeological evidence from Perth and Albany suggests that the Noongar people have lived in the area for at least 45,000 years. The original people of the Fremantle area were the Noongar People.

During the shipping era, Fremantle welcomed thousands of new settlers to Australia. Being close to the shipping terminal, St Patrick’s was visited by new arrivals, thanking God for a safe journey and praying for their future in Australia.

The early parish community was mainly Irish. From 1940 the new arrivals included large numbers of Italians, Portuguese and Croatians who brought a new multiculturalism to the community with their religious festivals. Today our Parish Community is enriched by people of many cultural backgrounds. Their festivals are a highlight of the Faith celebrations in the Parish.

Fremantle seems to have the spirit of calling people back and the same can be said of the Parish. Each Sunday a large number of people in the congregation do not live in the territory of St Patrick’s but they claim either St Patrick’s or St Anne’s as their place of worship.  This can partly be explained by most of the neighbouring Parishs having once been a part of the original mission of St Patrick’s. One such area is North Fremantle.

Having  been cut off from St Patrick’s as an independent Parish, it has now been reunited with St Patrick’s Parish to form the Fremantle Catholic Community. The Church of St Anne’s is now the centre for the Croatian chaplaincy. However, there is a Parish Mass in St Anne’s at 8.15am on Sunday morning. Many people have a great loyalty to St Anne’s and want to celebrate Eucharist and important sacramental events of their lives there.

As you journey through our website we hope that you will share a little of how we go from our Sunday Eucharist ‘to love and serve the Lord.’

Fr Meno Basti OMI
Parish Priest and Rector of the Basilica of St Patrick