By Kerry Myers
A new biography of Catholic architect William Wardell is a tribute to a man who “made an irreplaceable contribution to the colonies of NSW and Victoria” said the Archbishop of Sydney, George Cardinal Pell.
Paramount among those contributions were the magnificent Gothic Revival buildings of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne and St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, he said.
Cardinal Pell was speaking at the launch of William Wardell – Building with Conviction by Anthony G Evans in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral on 17 September.
Wardell, born in London’s East End in 1823, became one of Australia’s greatest architects, serving for a period as Chief Architect in the Victorian Public Works Department.
Although his family were Anglican, Wardell became a Catholic and in 1847 he married a Catholic. Cardinal Pell said he was strongly influenced by Cardinal John Henry Newman, recently beatified by the Pope in England.
He told the audience that Wardell built more than 20 churches and presbyteries in England before he came to Australia in 1858. He worked on St Patrick’s Cathedral for the next 40 years.
“I have a mild affinity with Wardell that comes from the fact that he designed the two magnificent cathedrals in Sydney and in Melbourne, and I’m the only one, so far, who has been archbishop in both those two beautiful cathedrals,” he said.
“Wardell worked for 20 years on St Mary’s Cathedral and was a stickler for excellence,” he said, “even insisting to Hardman’s, the stained glass manufacturers in England that the stained glass they had chosen was much too pale for the Australian sunlight, and that he needed deeper colours … and he eventually got them.
“He also was the architect of the beautiful St John’s College at the Universitry of Sydney, the first Catholic college at a university in the British Empire.
“Another masterpiece is Govt House in Melbourne. The Queen herself has said it is the finest vice-regal residence anywhere.”
The cardinal said the architect is commemorated in one of the stained glass windows in the western aisle of the cathedral – “he’s there with a group of laymen. He has the plans in his hand ready to present to Cardinal Moran.
“It is been proposed and I am entirely sympathetic to it that we have a plaque in some appropriate place in our beautiful cathedral to commemorate the wonderful work of Wardell.
Cardinal Pell said the “magnificent Gothic Revival buildings rival anything in most part of the world.
“I have encountered many, many Europeans who have come hee and have been absolutely amazed that they would find such fine buildings Down Under on the other side of the world,” he said.
Author Tony Evans said Wardell was one of that large number of English professionals of the 19th century – artists, engineers craftsmen – who “possessed an extraordinary missionary zeal to bring the benefits of the industrial revolution, the inventions, the new technology and skills to the world overseas.
- the catholic weekly