Nudgee Stories

Story Added : October 2007

Springbrook Centenary Celebrations

Descendants from the original pioneers crowded into the Springbrook Community hall to worship at the Centenary Mass celebrated by the Burleigh Parish Priest Fr Pat Molony on October 21.

Nearly 150 crowded the small hall to celebrate a milestone in the history of the Catholic Church on the Gold Coast. Fr Molony praised the early settlers for their enormous dedication to the faith, telling how many had walked considerable distances to Mass, overcame the hardships of the dairy industry and strictly observed the obligation to fast from midnight before Mass.

Graham Hardy, a grandson of Jim and Pauline Hardy, who arrived at Springbrook in 1906, said Fr Burton from Southport made the trek to say the first Mass at his grandparents’ home in 1907. Graham said his grandmother insisted that any priest who visited Springbrook had to say Mass and a photograph was taken and dated. Kay Dredge, a granddaughter of Robin Smith, a nephew of Jim Hardy who settled at Springbrook in 1906, in a booklet to celebrate the Centenary Mass, told how her late mother Daphne Coughran spoke of Masses celebrated at the Smith family home.

Graham with his wife Patricia is the only family living at Springbrook, with a direct link to the original Catholic community on the mountain. He recalled in the booklet how Fathers Leo Carlton and Dudley Boland, from Coolangatta, were the pastors for the Springbrook people in the early years. “They often stayed overnight at our home, and Mass was celebrated the next morning about nine o’clock to allow early morning milking of the Catholic dairy cows,” Graham said and added, “As the clergy became more mobile we had many more priests who generously helped to maintain the institution of home Masses on the mountain and we especially appreciate Fr Molony’s continued support for our community.”