The History of the Building of the Church of St John the Baptist in Perth

Dear honoured guests, parishioners and friends,

Many of you may remember that the honourable member of our church community, Mr Vladimir Kania, left us a great legacy, the two-volume book, The History of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Western Australia. Using his book, I have put together the history of the building of our church.

World War II ended, and starting in 1948, ships carrying immigrants arrived in Fremantle, including Ukrainians, Greek Catholics from Western Ukraine. In the years 1949–1950, a Ukrainian Catholic Group was organized in Perth to bring a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest to Perth. In 1952, the Ukrainian Catholic priest Fr. Yuriy Spolitakevych arrived in Western Australia from England. The Archbishop of Perth, Redmond Prendiville, gave us the Church of the Sacred Heart in Highgate. The church and its hall became a hub for Ukrainian Catholics in Perth.

After staying there for several months, the Church Administration started thinking about a more suitable place and decided to move from Highgate to the Pro-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on Victoria Avenue in Perth, where they stayed for eleven years.

A few years earlier, in 1955, the Campaign to Build the Church was launched. It was decided to buy a block in Leederville near the Ukrainian Community Centre, but it did not work out. Fr. Spolitakevych bought a block in Subiaco, but many parishioners were not happy with it because there was a problem with public transport. A year later, in October 1957, under the guidance of Fr. Nicola Ivanco, they bought a house and land to build a church on Whatley Crescent, Mt Lawley. Various community events were held in the house. The faithful continued raising money to build their church. In April 1961, Fr. Yevhen Liatsyk came to Perth and told the parishioners that it would be good if they could build their own church within two years.

At the beginning of 1962, much to our regret, the Perth City Council categorically prohibited building a church at 32 Whatley Crescent in Mt Lawley because the area was not suitable for constructing a church on that land. They searched for another site again. Eventually, Father Yevhen, along with the Board members, found land for building a church on the corner of Ferguson and Sherwood Streets in Maylands, which everyone liked. They bought the land for 1,325 pounds and later purchased a second lot on Ferguson Street for 1,366 pounds to use as a parking area. Today, our Church of St. John the Baptist stands there.

A year later, Fr. Ivan Shevtsiv came to Perth and asked Archbishop Redmond for a larger church that could hold over 500 people. From March 1963, services were held at St. Patrick’s Church in Havelock Street, West Perth.

On 27 May of that same year, the house on Sherwood Street was demolished, and in June the plot in Mt Lawley was sold, and the Holy Cross and the Cornerstone were moved from Mt Lawley to the new site in Maylands. On 22 September, Bishop Kyr Ivan Prashko blessed the plot in Maylands.

It was proposed to name the church St. Josaphat, but in the end, they decided on the name St. John the Baptist Church.

On 16 May 1964, The West Australian reported:

“Ukrainian Church for Perth
A church in the Ukrainian traditional style, the first of its kind in W. A., will be built in Maylands.
The church, which will seat about 200 and cost 15,000 pounds (or $30,000), will have a dome-cupola and a wall of icons dividing the sanctuary from the main nave. The Reverend Father Szewciw said yesterday that the cost of the new church would be borne by Ukrainian Roman Catholics in Perth.”

The digging of the foundations for the church building took place on Sunday, 24 May 1964. In September of the same year, Father Melnyk from Sydney and Father Shevtsiv blessed the foundations. Until that time, everyone had been making donations to the Building Fund — both adults and children. “The children laid the foundations, and the parents have to build God’s Temple on them,” said Father Shevtsiv.

The Daily News ran an article about the construction on 24 April 1965:

“A Change in the Skyline
A new look has been given to the Maylands skyline.
It has been changed by the towering dome of the first Ukrainian Catholic Church to be built in W. A. — built on the district’s highest hill in Ferguson St.
The level of its dome, one of the church’s most unusual features, is higher than the level of King’s Park, which can be seen across the city skyline.”

The faithful themselves laid the metal sheets on the dome, built the windows and doors, and completed a majority of the internal and external projects. They vowed that they would not rest until they finished building their church.

On 13 January 1966, The West Australian reported:

“Ukrainian Soil for Maylands.
Fr. Ivan Szewciw of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ferguson Street, Maylands, has received soil from the Ukraine for his church.
The soil, which weighs about one ounce and arrived in a plastic bag, will be cemented into the church’s altar at a ceremony on Sunday.
Fr. Szewciw said the soil in the altar would mean that Ukrainian Catholics would have a part of their homeland in their own church.”

The Catholic weekly Record, on 17 March 1966, featured a few pages about the opening of our church in Perth.

“Church for Ukrainian Catholics
A Memorial to Millions Who Died

A landmark in salmon-coloured brick and tinted glass on the crest of a hill in Ferguson Street, Maylands, is the realisation of many years of hard work by Ukrainian Catholics in W. A. and their chaplain, Fr. Ivan Szewciw.

It is the new Ukrainian Catholic War Memorial Church of St John the Baptist, which was blessed by Bishop Ivan Prashko on Sunday, 6 March. The Bishop came from Melbourne for the occasion.…

The church, which can seat over two hundred people, is a War Memorial as a tribute to millions of those Ukrainians who died for their nation’s freedom in the fight against Russians, German Nazis and other occupants of Ukraine, and as a tribute to all fighters for human rights and freedom.…

The Ukrainian Cardinal in Rome, the Archbishop Major and Metropolitan of All Ukraine, Joseph Cardinal Slipyj, who spent 17 years in Siberia as Confessor of the Catholic Faith, also sent his blessing to the Ukrainian Catholic Community.”

We should be proud and grateful to all those pioneers who built the beautiful Ukrainian Catholic War Memorial Church of St John the Baptist. May it remain and shine on the highest hill in Maylands for many, many years.

See also

June 24 The St John the Baptist Parish Feast Day and 60th Anniversary of the Consecration of the Church September 1 Divine Liturgy became spiritual focus of first Plast camp in Western Australia June 24 The Prayer for Peace in Ukraine Resounded in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Perth