Milestones
1833
Frederic Ozanam establishes the St Vincent de Paul Society in Paris on 23 April 1833
1854
The St Vincent de Paul Society was initially established in Australia in 1854 by Father Gerald Ward. After a period of inactivity, the Society was re-established in Sydney in 1881 by Captain Charles O’Neill.
1899
St Vincent de Paul Society’s first Tasmanian Conference was formed in Launceston’s Church of the Apostles, Launceston’s first President, James Vincent Sullivan, was a prominent journalist of the time.
1905
A second Tasmanian Conference was established in Hobart.
1911
By 1911 Conferences were at New Norfolk, Franklin, and Cygnet, Devonport, Latrobe, Deloraine, Wynyard, and Westbury; the Hobart Conference was divided into two – one for St Mary’s Cathedral, another for St Joseph’s Church, and Tasmania’s first Particular Council for the Southern Conferences was formed. Later in the same year, the Launceston Conference was split in two and a Particular Council for Northern Tasmania was established.
1927
3rd Australasian Congress held in Hobart – 27 February to 5 March
1951
9th Australian Congress held in Hobart – 28 October to 4 November
2023
On 5 March 2023, Mark Gaetani officially inducted as the 18th National Council President by Archbishop Christopher Prowse at St Christophers Church in Canberra, after being elected by his peers on 5 November 2022.
Do you have a story to add to the history of St Vincent de Paul Society in Tasmania?