<P> In early colonial times, Church of England clergy worked closely with the governors . Richard Johnson, Anglican chaplain to the First Fleet, was charged by the governor, Arthur Phillip, with improving "public morality" in the colony, but he was also heavily involved in health and education . The Reverend Samuel Marsden (1765--1838) had magisterial duties, and so was equated with the authorities by the convicts . He became known as the' floging parson' for the severity of his punishments </P> <P> Catholic convicts were compelled to attend Church of England services and their children and orphans were raised by the authorities as Protestant . The first Catholic priest colonists arrived in Australia as convicts in 1800--James Harold, James Dixon, and Peter O'Neill, who had been convicted for' complicity' in the Irish 1798 Rebellion . Fr Dixon was conditionally emancipated and permitted to celebrate Mass . On 15 May 1803, in vestments made from curtains and with a chalice made of tin he conducted the first Catholic Mass in New South Wales . </P> <P> The Irish led Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 alarmed the British authorities and Dixon's permission to celebrate Mass was revoked . Fr Jeremiah Flynn, an Irish Cistercian, was appointed as Prefect Apostolic of New Holland, and set out from Britain for the colony, uninvited . Watched by authorities, Flynn secretly performed priestly duties before being arrested and deported to London . Reaction to the affair in Britain led to two further priests being allowed to travel to the Colony in 1820--John Joseph Therry and Philip Connolly . The foundation stone for the first St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney was laid on 29 October 1821 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie . </P> <P> The absence of a Catholic mission in Australia before 1818 reflected the legal disabilities of Catholics in Britain and the difficult position of Ireland within the British Empire . The government therefore endorsed the English Benedictines to lead the early Church in the Colony . The Church of England lost its legal privileges in the Colony of New South Wales by the Church Act of 1836 . Drafted by the reformist attorney - general John Plunkett, the Act established legal equality for Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists . Catholic missionary William Ullathorne criticised the convict system, publishing a pamphlet, The Horrors of Transportation Briefly Unfolded to the People, in Britain in 1837 . Laywoman Caroline Chisolm did ecumenical work to alleviate the suffering of female migrants . </P>

When did australia become a part of the british empire