Highfield Chapel

Edward Curr, manager of the Van Diemen's Land Company at Stanley, was a key figure in founding Catholicism on Tasmania’s North-West Coast. On April 15, 1821, he offered his Hobart store for the celebration of Father Philip Conolly’s first Catholic Mass in Tasmania, marking an important early moment in the Church’s presence in the colony.

After arriving in Stanley in 1827, Edward Curr supported the growing Catholic community, which included convicts, emancipists, and Irish emigrants. He built a stone chapel on his Highfield property around 1830, which some believe was used for Catholic worship, despite debate over its denominational use. Curr also created a space for private Catholic devotion in his home. His efforts provided spiritual support to early Catholics in the region, and he is remembered for his deep commitment to their faith and wellbeing.

In response to the spiritual needs of Catholics on Tasmania’s North-West Coast, Bishop Willson established Stanley as the centre of the colony’s first Catholic parish in 1849, appointing Father Michael Burke as its pioneer pastor. Within months of arriving, Father Burke founded a Catholic school and built a wooden church at Circular Head, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary as 'Star of the Sea'—the first in Tasmania with that dedication. The church was opened for worship in April 1850, and Father Burke lived within it during his early ministry, serving a vast and remote parish with limited resources.