Saint Brendan's Catholic Church

Hi ... and my name is Geoff Roneberg and as you can see from our email signature below, we live in Cairns North Queensland

I hope you don't mind ... but I would like to tell you a bit of a story

Yesterday I fell off my computer chair ... twice !!

I am currently researching my Family History and the names concerned are 'Meers' and 'Beerworth'
The area of South Australia that my family lived in was Burra / Mt Bryan / Hallett
I had 'Mt Bryan' in the Google Search Engine and your web site was one of those listed

I read your fascinating "Renovation Story" ... it is really terrific ... I think my wife and I envy you !!

Anyway, just before moving on to the next Google Result, I decided to click on the Leadlight Windows section
And I am so very glad I did ... very, very, very glad, in fact !!

--this was the first time I nearly fell off the chair !!
---------------Daniel and Mary Meers are my Great-Grand-Parents

I decided to keep going and looking and ...

--the second time I was on the floor !!
---------------James (the son of Daniel above) and Louisa Meers are my Grand-Parents
---------------Louisa's parents, William and Mary Beerworth, are my Great-Grand-Parents

I really could not believe what I had found ... I had no idea this Church existed ... nor the Windows !!

We have our own web site which is a Photo Albumn and Family History Record
At the moment it has around 90,000 photos and files spread around the different sections ... and growing !!

The section relating to the people above can be seen by clicking HERE
---------------William and Mary Beerworth are listed at Part #08 on that page
---------------Daniel and Mary Meers are listed at Part #07 and
---------------James and Louisa Meers, my Mother's Parents, are listed at Part #06

Now I guess it's time to ask you for some Special Favours !!

Naturally I would like to include these windows in our Family History and I am hoping that you might be willing to take a few photos of each one for me
I would like them to be very large shots, and depending upon your digital camera, around 2.5Mb to 4.0Mb would be terrific
By being this size, it allows me to crop and highlight various sections of each window
Photos of this size take a bit longer to "send and receive" via email but this would be okay as far as I am concerned ... or you could burn them onto a disc and post it across to the address below

The second favour concerns your copyright of the material within your site
As I mentioned above, it's a terrific story and I would like to use some of your text on the pages where I would include the shots of the Windows
This would be done in a professional manner, and I would also incorporate a link to your site

While on this subject, please feel free to either link to our site or copy and paste any information that you might like to include on your pages
For example, the details on the six the people mentioned on these two Windows

Thanks for your time ... and I hope I haven't bored you too much !!
I was really excited to find this information and look forward to hearing back from you

Regards ... Geoff

Hi Geoff

I am studying Certificate IV in IT and my assignment was to create a web site with certain features
My idea was to start a computing business and create a website about that but my wife said create a site about our experiences in our Church building ... so I did

This is my first website and already I am thinking of ways to improve it so you will see continuing changes

Feel free to use the material on the site

I have a Nikon D40x Camera so quality will not be a problem
I will send through photos of the windows for you

I am thinking that I might create a more in depth page about the people from the windows so in return I would like photos to put on our Windows Web Pages

I am surprised that you even found my web page as I did not pay the Google search engine fees

If you need any other photos of the area let me know ... very happy to help

Shane Badman
Phone - 08 8893 4195

PS ... my wife used to live in Cairns and Atherton

Hi again

Yes, I know what it's like building a web site
I started ours "way back when" and there are parts of it I wish I had the time to go back and redo !!
There are no mistakes but I would like to change the page layouts, scanning that I did of the photos, and things like that
I am 'self taught' and keep learning new things every day

I appreciate your permission to use the material from your site and am looking forward to receiving the photos
And then, as soon as I have built the pages, I'll send you a link so you can check it out

You mentioned that you may redo the Windows Pages
As I said in my original note, feel free to use any of the details that relate to these six people

When Mum died, we found boxes of old photos and some of them are terrific shots ... old homesteads, schools, and of course, people
We presume that most of these are relatives BUT only one in every fifty or so has the names written on the back
And let me tell you, that is very frustrating trying to work out who they are ... almost impossible !!

But we have a few and here are some direct links photos that are on our site
---------------William and Mary Beerworth ... HERE
---------------Mary Meers ... Wife of Daniel ... HERE
---------------James and Louisa Meers ... HERE
---------------William and Mary Beerworth ... I have also attached some information from "The First Families Project 2001" which I
---------------------------------------------------------have yet to upload to our web site and you might find this interesting and useful
---------------------------------------------------------(note - this has now been uploaded and can be seen by clicking HERE)

I am continually finding new details and I'll let you know should I discover anything relevant to these people

Cairns ... and if Lynda lived here sometime ago, she probably would not recognise the place ... a busy town now
We have been here thirty years (originally from Adelaide) and the changes have been unbelievable
We live in a fully managed resort complex and it's quiet with not much to do
But that allows me to keep working away at this very time consuming Family History Research !!

All the best to you and yours ... Geoff

... and Hello to you both again

Yes, our web site and pages for the Leadlight Windows are finished !!
All the details can be seen by clicking HERE

Thank you for allowing us to use the information from your site ... it really "told" and "completed" this terrific story !!

Please feel free to link to this page directly from your site
Or you may wish to link to the Family History Index Page which is available HERE

All the best ... hear from you soon
Regards ... Geoff

Hi, and here are the photos
Hope they are okay ... if not I will reshoot them for you

I had to use photoshop to brighten them up and compress them for the website but these are the raw versions

The windows need to be cleaned and it is hard to photograph the windows to get the correct colours but after using photoshop they actually looked more like they really are

Thanks ... Shane

Hi Shane and Lynda

The photos are great ... really appreciate them ... thanks !!
I will get them uploaded as soon as possible ... like today !!

You may already know this, but have you got a copy of the book about Saint Brendan's ??

I came across it yesterday during one of my searches ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------St. Brendan's Catholic Church
--------------------------------------------------------------------(now a private residence)
--------------------------------------------------------------------Mount Bryan
--------------------------------------------------------------------compiled by Julian Ratcliffe
--------------------------------------------------------------------Burra S Aust
--------------------------------------------------------------------Burra History Group
--------------------------------------------------------------------8 pages
--------------------------------------------------------------------2010 English Book
--------------------------------------------------------------------Illustrated 1

As you can see, it is only eight pages ... but it could be worthwhile finding / buying a copy

Click HERE for more details and some information on how to get a copy
Or you might have luck with the Burra History Group

Regards ... Geoff

Hi Geoff

We met Julian outside our Church one day and he asked if he could photograph it as he was compiling a book on the Catholic Churches of the area
After chatting with him for a while we invited him in to take photos and he then asked if he could make a small booklet on Saint Brendan's
I think at some stage he will finish the main book and publish that one as well

Thanks for the information anyway

Shane

PS - just a thought ... do you have any old photos of our Church or Church fetes that could have been held here?
Locals tell us that the congregation used to hold fetes, tennis matches and cricket matches on the town’s churches property
The Uniting Church tennis courts are still across the road, and the land on the northeast side used to be an oval
There are three churches within five hundred meters of each other ... Anglican, Catholic and Uniting Church (Methodist)

PPS - just remembered we have seen a copy of a locally written book called 'The Razorback Range Country' but as yet have been unable to obtain our own copy
Try THIS link

Hi once more

In respect to photos of Saint Brendan's Church, I haven't got a single one ... except those from your site and the real estate advertisement
As I mentioned in my original email, this "whole thing" was a big surprise !!

I have also searched all the Online Librarys, but have come up with nothing of interest

BUT last week I wrote to the District Council of Goyder asking if they could help me out with photos from 1900 to approx 1950
And the towns I mentioned were Mt Bryan, Hallett and Burra
I received this reply back ...
"Your note has been forwarded to a volunteer from our Local History Room who will respond directly to you"
As soon as I hear from them I will let you know

Since receiving your note above, I did a bit of looking for "The Razorback Range" book and like you, I did not find a copy I guess you are aware that you can purchase a photocopy of the book from HERE
I have used this service before, and their copy and/or scans have always been of very high quality

Just one more thing ... when you are looking and searching for information on the Church or the Mt Bryan area, if you come across anything to do with the Beerworth and Meers families, would you mind sending me the info or the links, etc ... thanks

Have a nice week down there ... 'tis hot and humid here in the tropics

Regards ... Geoff

Hi, Shane's wife here

We have investigated ourselves trying the local library and history centre for any info or photos about our Church or Mt Bryan
They had very little and the only photo we found was in "The Razorback Range" book

I had the idea of putting a advert in the local paper ... which is The Broadcaster ... and in it we could ask for any info or photos of the Saint Brendan's Catholic Church and you could ask re the Beerworth and Meers info
People who are still alive may have information in their private collections
Just an idea ... what do you think ??
Can give you the newspapers phone numbers and/or or we could also put a flyer on the town notice boards ??

Lynda

Hi to you, Lynda

Hey, I am very happy to participate in anything you want to put together to search for information on St Brendan's ...... and that naturally means sharing any costs that may be involved
You would know the town, surrounding areas and the people, so I think it best if this sort of thing is left in your hands

Still doing searching up here ... I don't know what you already have ... but here are some results ...

Newspaper Search
I did a search on St Brendan's and HERE is the results page ... lots of "Strawberry Fetes" and like activities which raised funds for the Church !!

Foundation Stone ... article has been added to THIS page
An article from the above results on the 'Laying and Blessing of the Stone'

Opening of the Church ... article has been added to THIS page
Another article from the above results on the 'Blessing and Opening' of the Church

I hope these are a couple of things you haven't already found ... 'cause surprises are nice !!

Regards ... Geoff

Yes, it's me again !!

I hope I am not "glagging" up your Inbox with stuff you do not want ... if so, please tell me

With yesterday's email, I attached an article on the 'Opening and Blessing' of the Church and in that it was mentioned that a complete list of donations was also to be included in that edition, dated 18th November 1925
That list is attached to this email ... article has been added to THIS page

All the Leadlight Windows are listed ... and it seems unbelievable that those beautiful and now basically irreplaceable items were once just ten quid each !!

I hope these three newspaper articles were useful to you

Bye ... Geoff

PS - the three attachments I have sent over the last two days are composites of enlargements of the various sections of The Burra Record ... I am guessing that you have a suitable image software program so you can easily download and read them ... the articles are long but will display perfectly ... if you are having hassles, let me know and I send them to you another way

Hi again, Shane and Lynda

Just-a'wonderin if you have made any decision the the "advertising program" in respect to trying to find old photos and records concerning Saint Brendan's ??

Also, just checking to make sure the newspaper articles I sent transmitted okay
There was one on the Foundation Stone and two covering the Opening and Blessing

Regards ... Geoff