History

 The Catholic Parish here in the Huon Valley began with Bishop Wilson's appointment of the first Parish Priest, Fr John Murphy in 1855. Within ten years of Fr Murphy’s arrival, two Parishes had been established, one in Franklin and the other in Cygnet.

Soon after Fr Murphy's arrival, he was entrusted to arrange the building of a church. St Mary’s Franklin was opened in November 1856 from a design of Henry Hunter, an architect influenced by the work of renowned architect Augustus Pugin.

The first Church in Cygnet was a humble wooden structure. First erected in 1865 and opened in 1867. The current Spanish style Church was blessed and opened in the 1930s.

The Sisters of St Joseph were invited to the Parish with four sisters duly arriving in 1896. They began working at St Mary’s School in Cygnet. St James’ Catholic College in Cygnet and Sacred Heart Catholic School in Geeveston carry on the tradition and charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. Fr Julian Tenison Woods, co-founder of the Sisters of St Joseph, was a regular visitor to the Parish. He lead numerous missions and retreats in Geeveston. You can see evidence of his visits inscribed over the side entrance of St Joseph’s Church.

In 2001, the two parishes were drawn together to form the Catholic Parish of the Huon Valley. Currently we have four churches in the Parish: St Joseph’s in Geeveston, Mary our Hope in Dover, St Mary of the Cross in Ranelagh and St James’ in Cygnet. The Parish decommissioned St Mary's in Franklin in February 2013 and constructed a new Church in Ranelagh.

St Mary of the Cross was blessed and opened by Archbishop Porteous on Sunday 10 August 2014, the weekend following the Feast Day of St. Mary MacKillop.