to teach the children, the sisters of Mercy arrived in Auckland from Ireland in 1850 already fluent in the Maori language. Their first school and orphanage was situated near St Patrick's Cathedral in Federal Street in the CBD. 1854 St Mary's College for Catechists on the North Shore is transferred to Ponsonby. St. Marys School for Boys and a Seminary are built on of Crown Grant land at the end of Waitemata Street. 1858 The wooden Church of the Immaculate Conception is built. [Demolished 1869–70, present site of the Ponsonby Tennis Club]. 1859 New Street is put through the middle of the St Mary Mount estate and Bishop Pompallier presents land on the eastern side of the street for the creation of St. Mary's College. Almost unaided the sisters erect a three-storey convent building and open it in 1861. The only surviving building from this period is the Kauri St Mary's Chapel constructed in 1865 by Edward Mahoney for £1100. 1860s Many Roman Catholics buy land in the new subdivisions in order to be near the Catholic centre with its church, convent and schools. Names such as "Dublin" and "Green" reflect this development. 1860 Bishop Pompallier returns from Europe with a group of French nuns. They form under his direction, the Congregation of the Holy Family, which concentrates on teaching Maori girls. 1861 St. Anne's boarding school occupies O'Neill's former house. 1862 The Convent is completed. The new order of the Holy Family takes over teaching at the school. The order now consists of Maori and French Sisters. 1862 The Bishop takes over O'Neill's former house as his official residence. 1863 The Bishop sells more land, retaining the with the Bishop's House, The Church of the Holy Family and the Convent of the Holy Family. The Nazareth Institute for Maori and Half-Caste Girls is founded. 1866 St. Mary's Convent, with its dormitories and chapel is built. 1865-68 The Suffolk Hotel [now the Cavalier Tavern] is built on College Hill. 1869–70 The Convent of the Holy Family is destroyed by fire. The Catholic Bishop is forced by his mortgagee to sell his remaining land, including the Bishop's House. The buyer is a Mr. Bennett who demolishes the Church of the Immaculate Conception [now the Ponsonby Tennis Club]. The Bishop resigns and leaves, leading to the dissolution of the order he had formed, the Order of the Holy Family. Saint Mary's Convent