New Norcia:,

New Norcia is a town owned by the Benedictine monks who first came from Spain in 1846 to establish Aboriginal mission. They were granted 30 acres 150 klms northeast of Perth. They built many buildings - an abbey church, 7 prayer chapels,
accommodation for girls and boys who attended the schools, set up a bakery,
flour mill and many others - in total 67 buildings, 27 of which are heritage listed.
Two talented monks were responsible for the beautiful hand painted frescos and pressed metal ceilings which appear in many of the chapels. Another monk with a keen eye for architecture improved the original buildings with a touch of Spanish influence.
The monks became self sufficienty and baked their own bread, made olive oil and wine and developed a thriving community.

New Norcia is Australia’s only monastic town and the monks who live here live a simply life of prayer and work within the monastery. They attend chapel prayers five times a day and the public are invited to join them. Unfortunately they were on a picnic so we didn’t see them in the village.


I went on a tour of the town which was very interesting and explained the monastic
life. The chapels, the art work and the highly decorated alters were very impressive.


There is a magnificent museum and art gallery which shows how the monks established their community in this harsh climate. We also saw some very old and makeshift machinery which reflected the early struggles.




The schools and accommodation closed down in the seventies and a lot of the food gardens disappeared but some of the buildings are now used as an educational facility for school camps and seminars.

Brian met a very interesting Aboriginal man who had been taken here as one of the Stolen Generation and he had to work in almost slave labour conditions and wasn’t very well fed or looked after. This was an eye opener as we were led to believe that the children were sent here voluntarily to improve their education.