40th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Tasmania

By Catherine Sheehan

For seven hours ‘the Successor of St Peter walked among us’

Forty years ago, on Thursday 27 November 1986, for the first time in history, a pope set foot on Tasmanian soil. Pope John Paul II, now a canonised saint, stayed for seven historic hours. His whirlwind visit to Tasmania was part of his Apostolic Pilgrimage to Bangladesh, Singapore, Fiji Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Seychelles.

Even though he was on a tight schedule, Pope John Paul took every opportunity to greet the people of Tasmania at each location where he stopped—Hobart Airport, Mt St Canice in Sandy Bay and Elwick Racecourse in Glenorchy. He shook hands, smiled warmly, gave blessings, shared some brief words, embraced little children and kissed babies.

The Pontiff’s visit to Australia’s southernmost state had a profound impact, not only on Catholics but on the wider community also. The post-event story in The New Standard reported that, “Tasmania will never be the same again after November 27^th… for a Vicar of Christ, the Successor of the apostle, Peter, has walked among us.” While headlines in The Mercury included, “Children come first as Pope wins the hearts of Hobart”, and “Ambassador of peace takes to the streets”.

The Pope’s RAAF B707 touched down at Hobart Airport at 10.25am where he was greeted by a crowd of 2,000, cheering and waving yellow Papal Visit flags. Among the line-up of dignitaries waiting to shake his hand as he disembarked his flight from Sydney was Archbishop of Hobart, Sir Guilford Young, the Governor of Tasmania, Sir James Plimsoll, and the Premier, Mr Robin Gray.

“Emotions burst”, The Mercury reported, when the Pope stepped off the plane and “several men and women wept openly at their first sight of the leader of the world’s Roman Catholic community”.

John Paul was particularly happy to see a contingent of the local Polish community among the crowd, waving Polish flags and dressed in traditional costume. He spent some time speaking with them about the political situation of his native homeland.

The Pope was transported by limousine from the Airport to the Domain, where he transferred into the Popemobile to make the rest of his way through the streets of Hobart to Mt St Canice. Thousands lined the city’s streets to see the Pope’s motorcade go past.

An inspirational speech to unemployed youth

Another excited crowd was waiting for the Pope at the Willson Training Centre at Mt St Canice in Sandy Bay, where he arrived at approximately 11.20am. A large group of media cameras and reporters also awaited him.

He was greeted by the Episcopal Vicar for Welfare, Fr Clem Kilby, the Director of Centacare, Ms Monic Darmody, and Manager of the Willson Training Centre, Mr Terry Kay. The Willson Training Centre had been established in 1981 under the auspices of Centacare as a training centre for unemployed youth.

Terry Kay had the task of escorting the Holy Father through the facility, introducing him to trainees and staff. In total, Terry says he spent about one hour with the Pope but remembers little of the conversation they shared during that time.

“I took him around to meet all the trainees, and the paparazzi was just unbelievable,” Terry said.

“He [Pope John Paul] said to me, ‘Is unemployment going to affect older people?’ And that’s the only thing I can remember in the whole time.

“On the day, I think I was concentrating too much on what I had to do.”

“When it was all over, I was just so relieved that everything went just absolutely perfectly. And the Papal Visit team, they did a great job.

“He was easy to talk to, and he really was interested in what was going on.

“To have the Pope visiting Hobart was really out of this world… It was a great day and to have been part of. It was an absolute privilege.”

Pope John Paul spoke his first official words in Tasmania during a speech on unemployment in the W. S. MacKay Hall at the Willson Training Centre. Senator Michael Tate, later Fr Michael Tate, was present for the speech, along with other dignitaries.

“Today I have the pleasure of being in Tasmania, an especially beautiful and historical part of the nation,” the Holy Father said.

“To all of the people of this State I offer my heartfelt greetings. And I give thanks to our heavenly Father who has enabled me, the latest in the line of the Successors of Peter, to make this visit to the People of God in the Archdiocese of Hobart.

“To all of you—the staff at Centacare and the Willson Training Centre, and you young people training for work—to the unemployed, to all who are seeking solutions to the problem of unemployment in Australia, to those serving the needs of individuals and families suffering from unemployment—to all of you I offer my encouragement. Do not lose heart! The Church will work with you and for you.”

Following his speech, as the Holy Father made his way out of MacKay Hall, he happened to walk past an open door leading into Mt St Canice Church. At the invitation of Archbishop Young, the Pope walked into the church where he knelt at the altar rails and spent a few minutes absorbed in prayer. This unscripted moment caused some anxiety for those tasked with ensuring the Holy Father kept to his tight schedule. Despite the fact Archbishop Young tapped him gently on the shoulder at one point, the Pope continued his prayerful reverie until he was ready to leave.

Lunch was served for the Holy Father by Wilson trainees and supervised by Terry Kay. The menu consisted of a pork terrine entrée, grilled trevalla served with prawns and mushrooms as the main, followed by a fresh fruit salad and a cheese platter. The meal was complemented by Tasmanian wine.

Terry Kay said the Pope was particularly impressed by a special dessert made just for him, and exclaimed, “Mumma Mia!” when it was placed in front of him.

Archbishop Emeritus Adrian Doyle, then Fr Doyle and Parish Priest at Sandy Bay, was one of the luncheon guests and recalls being asked by Archbishop Young to sing something in Italian for the Holy Father.

“Archbishop Young was the host, and without giving me any warning he said to the Pope, ‘We have a priest here who sings songs in Italian’,” Archbishop Adrian recalled.

“So I had to get up, and I can’t remember what actually I sang, but I did sing. I used to say sometimes, that’s why I became an Archbishop.”

Following lunch, the Pope retired to a private apartment where he was able to have a brief rest.

He re-emerged from the main building at Mt St Canice looking refreshed and wearing  his red papal cape. Once back in the Popemobile, the motorcade made its way along Sandy Bay Road then turned right into Macquarie Street, passing St Joseph’s Catholic Church and the Catholic Centre on the corner of Harrington and Macquarie Streets. It then journeyed along Macquarie street, past the Town Hall, turning left into Argyle Street, then right into Collins Street, and then left onto the Brooker Highway Heading towards Glenorchy.

Elwick Racecourse becomes an outdoor cathedral

A crowd of 32,500 greeted Pope John Paul upon his arrival at Elwick Racecourse. As the Popemobile zig-zagged its way through the crowd, it was flanked on either side by members of the Knights of the Southern Cross.

Amid blustery Spring weather, the racecourse became a giant outdoor cathedral, as Pope John Paul celebrated the Mass for the Progress of Peoples. It was concelebrated by 60 priests and featured a choir consisting of 400 singers from parishes around the state. There were 400 Eucharistic Ministers to distribute Holy Communion and 50 Tasmanians were selected to receive Communion from the Holy Father himself.

There were intermittent showers, patches of sunshine and gusting winds throughout the Mass. At certain points the congregation had to put up their umbrellas for shelter.

“I thank God for being bound in obedient faith and love to you,” Archbishop Guilford Young said in his welcoming address to the Holy Father.

“As your brother bishop, for this portion of the vast world-wide Catholic family, I welcome you with all the gratitude and loving loyalty in the hearts of the priests, the nuns and brothers consecrated by vows, and in the hearts of all the Catholic faithful of the local Church of our beautiful Tasmania.”

In his homily, the Pope reflected on the history of the Church in Tasmania.

“I know that the Church in Tasmania has a most interesting history, which shows how divine providence has been at work in your midst,” Pope John Paul said.

“At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Catholic faith was sown here against many odds. Your forebears came with both hope and anxiety to a land that perhaps seemed then rather unpromising. Some came as free settlers; many were not free. And this land was very far from the world they had known.”

The Holy Father recalled the first Catholic priest to arrive in Tasmania, Father Philip Conolly, and the first bishop of the diocese, Bishop Robert William Willson.

“The faith that has grown so well since it was first planted lives on today in all of you. And as the Successor of Peter I have come to join you in giving thanks for your rich heritage and to encourage you to transmit this precious treasure to future generations.”

Fr Mike Delaney, then Assistant Priest at Sandy Bay, was one of the concelebrating priests at the Mass.

“Oh, it was joyful,” Fr Mike said of the atmosphere on the day. “Most of us would not have ever envisaged going to Rome and to have Pope John Paul II here for what was in fact his second visit. That was pretty special.”

Pope John Paul had visited Tasmania in 1973 when he was still a Cardinal and had spent time with the Polish community in Moonah.

Bellerive parishioner Joan Shackcloth had been chosen to represent her parish at the Papal Mass and received Holy Communion from the hands of the Pope.

“That was an experience that I’ll never forget,” Joan said.

“He had me so taken in with the way he celebrated the Mass and concentrated on it being Christ, that I went up, received communion… and walking down the steps and I thought, ‘I was close and I didn’t even look at him!’

“It was just a beautiful experience, and I was one of the very, very lucky ones that was chosen to receive communion from the Pope himself, and he’s now a saint.

“He just had an aura about him… when you saw him, you knew there was something special there, and you sort of hung on every word he said… that’s how he affected me.”

Kings Meadows parishioner, Lance Carroll, was a Eucharistic Minister at the Papal Mass.

“I felt privileged to be involved with it because something like that would probably never happened again,” Lance said.

“To be selected was an honour and a privilege, and it was an excitement to have the head of the Catholic Church here, and being part of handing out communion, it was a big deal for any Catholic.

“It showed you what kind of a pope he was, to actually visit Tasmania. We all know he had the people at heart. To actually include Tasmania on his visit down here, that was a big thing for Tasmania.”

Another Kings Meadows parishioner, Julie Wall, said just being in the presence of the Pope was a “special” feeling.

“It was just all unbelievable to have someone so special, just so close to you and celebrating Mass. It was just lovely, and I just felt special being able to be there.”

Jim Byrnes who attends Mass at St Peter’s in Youngtown was a police officer at the time and was part of the bomb squad for the Pope’s visit. Jim and his team had to search every location before the Pope arrived to check for threats, including a thorough search of the Popemobile.

“We went into everything, we searched everything,” he said. “We had a full day of it.”

Throughout the day, his team had to check out any reported suspicious objects or behaviour.

They were called to the railway fountain to inspect a suspicious bag floating in the fountain, and later, to investigate a group of people standing on the roof of a garage on Sandy Bay Road.

There was one security breach at Elwick, with a man pretending to be Fr John Williams, director of Catholic Education, who somehow managed to collect Fr William’s tickets at the gate. When Fr Williams arrived at the racecourse to find his tickets gone, the breach was exposed.

Jim said he was able to see the Pope up close throughout the day, and was impressed by him.

“It was just so beautiful to see the way that people accepted him. It was just one continuous roar when he arrived and everything.

“He thanked the people from around and the vehicles that he was with, and he didn’t just rush off. And he took his time to meet people.

“But he was so humble, he wasn’t trying to rush things.”

Following the conclusion of Mass, Pope John Paul II made his way back to Hobart Airport to catch his flight to Melbourne at about 5.30pm, where another full schedule of activities awaited him.

Those who had waited hours to glimpse the Holy Father while he was in Tasmania and to hear him speak were not disappointed. As The New Standard reported:

“Weary travellers who had come from all parts of Tasmania (some left at 3.30am from the North-West and did not get home till very late that night) agreed it had been a worthwhile trip to Hobart—to see and hear (a few to be physically touched) the man who walks in the shoes of the fisherman of Galilee to whom Christ gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven and who is the rock-foundation of the Church’s faith and unity.”

Even though it was only a brief seven hours in Tasmania, Pope St John Paul II certainly left his mark on the island state.