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Archdiocese of Perth

Catholic ecclesiastical territory based in Perth, Western Australia

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ1365275
Source-derived summary

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Perth is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia covering the Greater Perth, Goldfields-Esperance, Peel and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia.

St Mary's Cathedral located in Perth, Western Australia, is the seat of the Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Perth, currently Timothy Costelloe, appointed in February 2012.

History

On 6 May 1845 the Diocese of Perth was erected in an area covered and administered previously by the Archdiocese of Sydney.

It lost territory repeatedly, to establish on 12 March 1867 the Benedictine Territorial Abbacy of New Norcia, on 10 May 1887 the Apostolic Vicariate of Kimberley in Western Australia and on 30 January 1898 the Diocese of Geraldton.

It was elevated as Metropolitan archdiocese on 29 August 1913.

On 12 November 1954 it lost territory to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bunbury.

In 1982 it regained former territory from the suppressed Territorial Abbacy of New Norcia.

Cathedral

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonly called St Mary's Cathedral, is the seat of the archbishop and is located in East Perth.

During restoration work in the cathedral between 2003 and 2006, the brick and plaster crypt containing the coffins of bishops Matthew Gibney and Martin Griver was discovered by archaeologists under the floorboards of an aisle in the cathedral.

In 2011, the remains of Perth's first bishop, John Brady, were exhumed from his grave in France and he was laid to rest in the crypt.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Archdiocese of Perth” is catholic ecclesiastical territory based in Perth, Western Australia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Archdiocese, Perth and Catholic, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2012, 1845, 1867, 1887—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1845-01-01. For this dossier, Archdiocese, Perth and Catholic is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “catholic ecclesiastical territory based in Perth, Western Australia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1365275. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 1845, 1867 and 1887.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Archdiocese of Perth”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Archdiocese of Perth primary sources, Archdiocese of Perth archive and Archdiocese research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Archdiocese of Perth”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Archdiocese of Perth” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.