The first friars arrived in Australia in December 1997 and settled themselves in Toodyay, a town one hours distance from the city of Perth. From January of 2003 to July of 2006, some friars stayed temporarily in Swaborne, and then came to Munster, about 30 minutes away from the city. The community is now composed of two priests, Fr. John Joseph M. Cook (Guardian) and Fr. Andre M. Feain.
2. Toodyay, Australia
Fr. Joseph Michael M. Mc Shane and Friar Pio M. Pante opened the Marian Friary in Toodyay. The house is a 100 year old building constructed by the Sisters of Mercy. The friars laboriously worked with some help from lay volunteers to the restore the old buildings. The friars provide formation for vocations, retreats, and spiritual assistance to the local parish with daily Mass, etc. The frequent trips to Perth for the apostolate, led to an opening of another friary in Perth in 1999. The community in Toodyay continues to operate with less apostolate activity and more focus on the religious life in the cloister.
Australia, island continent located southeast of Asia and forming, with the nearby island of Tasmania, the Commonwealth of Australia, a self-governing member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The continent is bounded on the north by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Torres Strait; on the east by the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea; on the south by the Bass Strait and the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Indian Ocean. The commonwealth extends about 4,000 km (about 2,500 mi) from east to west and about 3,700 km (about 2,300 mi) from north to south. The area of the commonwealth is 7,682,300 sq km (2,966,200 sq mi), and the area of the continent alone is 7,614,500 sq km (2,939,974 sq mi), making Australia the smallest continent in the world, but the sixth largest country. The capital of Australia is Canberra, and the largest city is Sydney; both are located in the southeast.
The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states—New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia—and two territories—the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The external dependencies of Australia are the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Territory of Cocos Islands (also called the Keeling Islands), the Coral Sea Islands Territory, the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and Norfolk Island.The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aboriginal people, who migrated to the continent some 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. The continent remained relatively unknown to most of the outside world until the 17th century. The first permanent European settlement was established in 1788 at Port Jackson, in southeastern Australia, as a British penal colony; it grew into the city of Sydney. Australia developed as a group of British colonies during the 19th century, and in 1901 the colonies federated to form a unified independent nation, the Commonwealth of Australia.
Australia is the most sparsely populated of the inhabited continents. The estimated total population in 2007 was 20,434,176, giving the country an overall population density of 3 persons per sq km (7 per sq mi). Australia’s population grew at a relatively modest rate of about 1.3 percent annually from 1996 to 2001.
The country is heavily urbanized. Some 93 percent of the population lives in cities, about two-thirds in cities with 100,000 or more residents. The most rapidly growing areas are the coastal zones near and between the mainland capitals in the east, southeast, and southwest. In fact, four out of every five Australians live on the densely settled coastal plains that make up only about 3 percent of the country’s land area. The fastest-growing region is southeastern Queensland.
The Aboriginal people were the first inhabitants of the Australian continent. Most anthropologists currently believe they migrated to the continent at least 50,000 years ago and occupied most of the continent by 30,000 years ago. Subsequently, rising sea levels separated Tasmania and other immediate offshore islands from the rest of the continent. Although Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Arab seafarers may have landed in northern Australia well before ad 1500, Australia was essentially unknown in the West until the 17th century. For the history of the indigenous people of Australia prior to European settlement, see Aboriginal Australians.
Literacy rate Total 100 percent (1995) Government Form of government: Federal parliamentary democracy Head of state: Governor-general, representing the British monarch Head of government: Prime minister Legislature: Bicameral legislature House of Representatives: 150 members Senate: 76 senators
Constitution: 9 July 1900, effective 1 January 1901 Highest court: High Court of Australia
Economy Gross domestic product: (GDP, in U.S.$); $732.5 billion (2005) GDP per capita: (U.S.$) $36,032.20 (2005)
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The Word Was Made Flesh is a monthly missionary review of MISSiOMARIAE.NET. It publishes articles on the missions and related topics such as the Directives of the Magisterium on the missions, Apostolic spirituality, Mariology, homilies and sermons and more...
