A polish and shine for Port Adelaide
News
St Mary’s Church is a modest presence on Dale Street in the heart of Port Adelaide. Built in the signature sandstone of the Port, the church recently underwent a thorough deep clean, giving a sheen to one of the oldest Catholic churches in South Australia.
Fr Roman Palma arrived at the church in 2023. By his own admission “things haven’t changed much,” but as with so much at St Mary’s it’s the subtle changes and quiet pride that shines through.
Fr Roman Palma at St Mary’s Church in Port Adelaide. Picture: Tim Coyle
Of particular pride of place is the Regina Caeli icon, of immense importance to the Port’s sizeable Italian Catholic community. “Each year it’s taken to the river to bless the fisherman,” Fr Palma says. Along with the baroque icon, the church’s pews now shine, the altar is set with freshly starched fabrics and the metalwork gleams.
The Regina Caeli icon. Picture: Tim Coyle
While the church is now looking as good as new, Fr Palma is keen to stress how deep its history goes. “This is the third oldest Catholic church in Adelaide,” he says,
and also the first port of call for Mary MacKillop when she arrived in Adelaide from Penola in 1867.
Though less eye catching than the Marian icon, there is space devoted to the Josephites within the church, an acknowledgement of their tireless work in the Port and SA at large.
At present there is drilling and sawing from the stone hall next door to the church: the old Josephite school hall which also doubled as a makeshift medical centre for the poor of the Port, at the time home to a struggling working class.
Fr Palma explains it’s being renovated “to provide a new learning centre for children”, definitely of a piece with the educational and support services that now line Dale Street.
It’s a very tidy and clean demonstration of the continuity between history and the present.
