One could be excused for thinking that the Dominican friars have been dragging the chain in this part of the world, at least if one thinks of historical progress principally as making foundations, establishing a Province, and achieving 'a desirable growth rate'.  A French Dominican was apparently in New Zealand as early as 1769 and the first Dominican priest in Australia also arrived pretty early, in 1831.  Yet, it took until 1898 to make a foundation at St Laurence's in North Adelaide and until 1950 to become a Province.

Nevertheless, in between the first arrival and the first foundation .. there was much hard work by a small number of men.  The foundation of St Laurence's may have taken considerable time, but it was well prepared for and well founded by the Irish Dominicans and has stood the test of time.  Similarly, there was much dedicated effort before the establishment of the Province of the Assumption in 1950.  The Province grew rapidly in Australia and New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s and opened a mission in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

The story of the Dominican Friars in the territory of what is now the Province of the Assumption begins in New Zealand.  On Christmas Day 1769, a French Dominican priest, Fr Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, O.P., chaplain on a French ship anchoring there, offered Mass at Doubtless Bay, Northland.  He was from the Province of Occitaine in France, but little more is know of him that affects our story.

It was to be sixty-two years before it is certain that a Dominican, this time from the Province of England, arrived in Australia.  He was Fr Christopher Vincent Dowling, O.P.  He was appointed Chaplain to the Colonies on 20 September, 1831 at the age of 42.  His health was never good and the redoubtable Fr John Joseph Therry opposed him.  He was moved from Sydney to Windsor in 1835 to be chaplain for the Hawkesbury area.  After a forty or so year appointment in Maitland and Newcaslte, he died in 1873 and is buried under the present Church at East Maitland.

The first Irish Dominican we hear of who hoped for a Dominican foundation in Australia was Fr Bartholomew Hyacinth Power, O.P.  He was the first of several Irish Dominicans over the years to come to Australia for reasons of health.  He became known from his arrival in 1857 as a brilliant scholar and preacher.  He was the first Dominican to come to Melbourne where he served at St Francis' Church in the heart of the city.  Subsequently, he went to Sydney where he became the Editor of the Freeman's Journal (now known as the Catholic Weekly), but he fell out with Archbishop John Bede Polding, O.S.B. - they say for not praising the Benedictines enough!  Fr Power went to Deniliquin in western New South Wales as parish priest in 1862, and thence to Tamworth as resident priest.  So gifted a preacher he was that it is recorded that he preached at the Episcopal Consecration of Bishop Lawrence Shiel as Bishop of Adelaide - the first known connection of the Dominican friars with Adelaide.

The invitation to make a foundation in Adelaide was made by Archbishop John Reilly in 1897, and was accepted by the Irish Provincial, Fr Joseph Hickey.  On Sunday morning, 18 September, 1898, Frs Spence, Headley, and Larkin stepped ashore from the P&O liner R.M.S. 'Oriental' having left Dublin on 5 August, 1898.  In addition to caring for the parish of seven or eight hundred Catholics (now they number almost 5,000), were not long in undertaking missions and retreats.  In 1923, having been well-established in Adelaide, and Fr Spence now Archbishop of Adelaide (without doubt a tribute to his abilities in getting things built), there was something of a break out - into Helensburgh (south of Sydney) and Melbourne.  Thus began the 'great expansion'.

1898   North Adelaide, SA - Provincial Novitiate
1924   Camberwell, Vic - Provincial Studentate
1948   Wahroonga NSW
1949   Auckland NZ
1949   Dunedin NZ, including Aquinas Hall
1952   Carina, Qld
1953   Blackfriars Priory School, Prospect SA
1954   Doubleview WA
1958   Watson, ACT
1959   Solomon Islands mission, including Loga - Vicariate Novitiate
1967   John XXIII College, Australian National University ACT
1969   St Albert's College, University of New England NSW
1969   Mannix College, Monash University Vic
1979   Bomana PNG - Vicariate Studentate
1989   Sirovanga/Wagina SI
1989   Tetere, Honiara SI