were laid in June 1892. A young and as yet unknown architect, Edgar J. Henderson, tendered plans for a grandiose sandstone cruciform in the French Gothic style. At 175 feet long and 94 feet wide, the proposed church was criticised by Archbishop Thomas Joseph Carr for being too large, but parishioners embraced the ambitious project. Within a year, however, economic depression had wrought havoc on the project's finance. Remarkably, in the face of devastating poverty, parishioners managed to fund ongoing construction, and church was built in eight years. Phillip Kennedy took over Henderson's architectural role, and the contrast between the church's exterior and interior can be attributed to his influence. Henderson's rose windows, battered plinths, cylindrical turrets, and soaring groined timber ceiling exemplify the French Gothic Revival. Kennedy's glossy marble and granite pillars, intricate marble fittings, and pink tinted walls, however, betray an Italianate influence. On 18 February 1900, Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran opened and blessed the new church to great fanfare before an assembly of 1,400. Local Catholic newspaper The Advocate remarked that "The congregation has literally emerged from the worst ecclesiastical building in the colony to enter one of the finest." The church was finally completed in 1925. On 12 February, Archbishop Cattaneo, the apostolic delegate, dedicated the new marble high altar and consecrated the completed church. History of the parish In its embryonic years, St Mary's was an overwhelming Irish Australian parish. In the years of the Gold Rush, however, a significant number of Chinese Australians also worshipped there. The graves of many of St Mary's early parishioners still lie beneath the Queen Victoria Market a few hundred metres eastward. Post war immigration to Australia transformed St Mary's congregation. Italian and Maltese Australians embellished popular devotion and worship. In more recent years Lithuanian and Vietnamese Australians have also contributed to the life of the parish. Daniel Mannix, as coadjutor bishop to Archbishop Carr, resided at St Mary's and served as parish priest of West Melbourne from 1913 until 1917. While serving as parish priest he effectively led the campaign against Australians being conscripted to fight in the World War then raging overseas. Once archbishop he would reign as such to nearly the completion of his hundredth year. His own coadjutor, Justin Simonds, similarly resided there and served as parish priest for 21 years from 1942 to 1963. Upon Simonds' succession to the See of Melbourne in 1963,