THE SUBURB OF DEE WHY DATES FROM 1912 WHEN THE SALVATION ARMY BEGAN SELLING ITS LAND HOLDINGS FOR HOUSING. DEE WHY GREW QUICKLY AFTER THAT AND TODAY IT IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR OF SYDNEY'S NORTHERN BEACHES AND A BUSY COMMERCIAL CENTRE. IN THE 1960'S IT ALSO BECAME THE HOME OF A SIGNIFICANT ITALIAN COMMUNITY.

FOR NEARLY SIXTY YEARS THE PENINSULA FROM SYDNEY HARBOUR TO BROKEN BAY LAY IN THE PARISH OF MANLY BUT BY THE 1920's THE NEED TO PROVIDE FOR THE NEW SUBURBS THAT WERE GROWING UP ALONG THE NORTHERN BEACHES SAW THE PARISH DIVIDED INTO SMALLER PAROCHIAL DISTRICTS. THE PARISH OF DEE WHY WAS THE FIRST OF THESE TO BE ESTABLISHED TAKING OVER THE PENINSULA AS FAR NORTH AS PALM BEACH. THE LITTLE CHURCH / SCHOOL BUILT IN 1923 BECAME THE PARISH CHURCH AND SERVED THE SUBURB FOR THE NEXT 35 YEARS. THEN A DOUBLE TRAGEDY IN 1958-59 SAW FIRST THE CHURCH AND LATER THE SCHOOL DESTROYED BY FIRE WITHIN A YEAR OF EACH OTHER ALTHOUGH BOTH WERE SOON REBUILT. AFTER THE SUDDEN DEATH OF THE PARISH PRIEST FR O'NEILL IN 1965, DEE WHY PASSED INTO THE DEVOTED CARE OF THE SCALABRINIAN MISSIONARIES.

THE ORIGINAL CHURCH OF ST KEVIN WAS A WOODEN BUILDING THAT HAD BEEN CONSTRUCTED IN 1923 TO SERVE AS A CHURCH / SCHOOL. IN 1928 IT DULY BECAME THE PARISH CHURCH OF A NEWLY ERECTED PARISH OF DEE WHY. THE IDEA OF DEE WHY AS A PAROCHIAL CENTRE MUST ALREADY HAVE BEEN PRESENT FOR THIS CHURCH WAS QUITE LARGE FOR A STATION CHURCH ALTHOUGH IT WAS EXTENDED OVER THE YEARS TO SATISFY THE EXPANDING NEEDS OF THE PARISH (>>>).

ON THE NIGHT OF JULY 2 1958 TRAGEDY STRUCK WHEN THE CHURCH WAS TOTALLY DESTROYED BY FIRE. SO IT WAS WITH HEAVY HEARTS THAT PARISHIONERS SURVEYED THE SMOULDERING RUINS OF THEIR CHURCH BEFORE STARTING ON THE TASK OF REBUILDING. MASS WAS SAID PRO TEM IN THE ODEON THEATRE AND OTHER LOCALES. IN 1962 A NEW ST KEVIN'S AROSE ON THE SAME SITE AS ITS PREDECESSOR.

WHEN THE OLD ST KEVIN'S BURNT DOWN IN JULY OF 1959 PLANS FOR A NEW CHURCH WERE QUICKLY CONSIDERED BUT WHEN THE SCHOOL ALSO BURNT DOWN JUST ONE YEAR LATER PRIORITY PERFORCE HAD TO GO TO BUILDING A NEW SCHOOL SO IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1962 THAT CARDINAL NORMAN GILROY OF SYDNEY WAS ABLE TO COME OUT TO DEE WHY TO BLESS AND OFFICIALLY OPEN THE NEW ST KEVIN'S (<<<).

IN ITS TIME THE SECOND ST KEVIN'S WAS A UNIQUE STRUCTURE, A DISTINCTION MAINTAINED EVEN IN THE PRESENT. SEGMENTED LIKE A CATERPILLAR THE CHURCH IS COMPOSED OF A SET OF TRIANGULAR FRAMES TERMINATING IN A GLASS-FILLED WEST END WITH SMALLER TRIANGLES ALONG THE SIDES OF THE CHURCH. EFFECTIVELY A NAVE WITHOUT DIFFERENTIATED CHANCEL IT WAS EXTREMEMLY MODERN IN ITS DAY AND IN FORM ANTICIPATED MANY OF THE ARCHITECTURAL IDEAS WHICH WOULD SOON BE INTRODUCED FOLLOWING VATICAN II.

THE INSIDE PANORAMA REVEALS THE INVERTED V's WHICH MAKE UP THE CENTRAL AREA OF THE CHURCH. THE SEATING IS QUITE TRADITIONAL IN ITS ORIENTATION TOWARD THE ALTAR, BUT THE SANCTUARY ITSELF IS OPEN AND ACCESSIBLE IN ACCORD WITH MODERN IDEAS ON THE LITURGY.

BEHIND THE ALTAR IS A REREDOS MIMICKING IN MINIATURE THE TRIANGLE SHAPE OF THE NAVE. THE MURAL ABOVE IS A REPLACEMENT OF THE ORIGINAL 'RISEN CHRIST' WHICH WAS DAMAGED DURING THE REPAINTING INSIDE THE CHURCH. IN THE REREDOS IS THE TABERNACLE AND ABOVE IT IS THE CRUCIFIX. THE STRONG INFLUENCE OF AN ITALIAN COMMUNITY CAN BE SEEN IN MANY A DEVOTIONAL STATUE. THE FORMER BAPTISTRY FOR EXAMPLE IS PRESENTLY THE HOME OF OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION WHILE A WOOD CASE SITUATED AT THE REAR OF THE CHURCH HAS A MADONNA DELLA QUERCIA PATRON OF A PARISH GUILD. THE LITURGICAL WEST END IS NOTABLE FOR ITS BEING COMPOSED ENTIRELY OF GLASS.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA, THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION IN THE FORMER BAPTISTRY AND THE SHRINE OF BLESSED GIOVANNI SCALABRINI WHO FOUNDED THE SCALABRINIANS WHO HAVE HAD PASTORAL CARE OF THE PARISH SINCE 1965. BELOW CAN BE SEEN SEVERAL MORE OF THE DEVOTIONAL PICTURES AND AT LEFT IS THE MADONNA DELLA QUERCIA IN ITS WOODEN CASE.

DEE WHY IS A RELATIVELY RECENT PARISH IN TERMS OF ITS INFRASTRUCTURE. PRIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PARISH A SCHOOL WAS OPENED IN THE FIRST CHURCH BY THE GOULBURN SISTERS OF MERCY. THE SISTERS, WHO WANTED TO ESTABLISH A BASE IN THE CITY, LIVED IN A CONVENT ACROSS FROM THE CHURCH. AFTER 1928 A PRESBYTERY WAS OBTAINED FOR THE PARISH PRIEST ON PACIFIC PARADE BUT WAS CONVERTED INTO CLASSROOMS IN 1954. FOUR YEARS LATER 'THE BLUE ROOM' WAS BUILT ADJACENT TO THE SCHOOL. IN 1932 THE SISTERS OF MERCY WERE WITHDRAWN AND WERE REPLACED BY THE SISTERS OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN IN 1934 WHO TOOK OVER THE OLD MERCY CONVENT. IN THE NEW CENTURY THIS LATTER BECAME RESPITE ACCOMODATION AND WAS RENAMED THE HOUSE OF SACRED SPACE. IT WAS DEMOLISHED IN 2007 TO MAKE WAY FOR A MODERN NEW SCHOOL. IN 1959 THE OLD SCHOOL BURNT DOWN AND WAS REPLACED BY A NEW SCHOOL THE NEXT YEAR. IN THAT SAME YEAR A NEW PRESBYTERY WAS ERECTED NEXT DOOR TO THE OLD CHURCH SITE. IT NOW SERVES AS THE CASA CANONICA OF THE SCALABRINIAN MISSIONARIES WHO SINCE 1965 HAVE MINISTERED TO THE PARISH. IN 1978 A COMBINED PARISH AND SCHOOL HALL WAS BUILT AND NAMED ST KEVIN'S HALL. DEE WHY HAS ALWAYS HAD A VERY ACTIVE CONFERENCE OF THE ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY. IN ADDITION TO OPERATING THE USUAL VINNIES STORE THE SOCIETY RUNS A YOUTH REACH CENTRE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND MAINTAINS TWO APPARTMENTS AND A HOUSE IN DEE WHY AS EMERGENCY ACCOMMODATION FOR THOSE IN NEED.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW PARISH ALWAYS NECESSITATES THE OBTAINING OF A RESIDENCE FOR THE USE OF THE PARISH PRIEST. IN THE CASE OF DEE WHY A HOUSE WAS OBTAINED ON PACIFIC PARADE THE NEXT STREET UP FROM THE OAKS AVENUE CHURCH SITE. THIS BUILDING WAS SUBSEQUENTLY CONVERTED TO THE SCHOOL IN 1954.

AFTER AN INTERIM PERIOD WHICH INCLUDED THE REBUILDING OF THE SCHOOL THE NEW PRESBYTERY WAS OPENED NEXT TO THE CHURCH SITE IN 1960 THUS PROVIDING FOR A MORE CONVENIENT LOCATION WHENEVER THE NEW CHURCH WAS COMPLETED. PAINTED WHITE THE SPARTAN PRESBYTERY HARMONISED PERFECTLY WITH THE CHURCH.

IN 1972 FATHER EMILIO VACCARO CS THE NEW PARISH PRIEST OF DEE WHY LAUNCHED THE IDEA OF ERECTING A PARISH CENTRE FOR ST KEVIN'S. A START WAS MADE ON RAISING FUNDS FOR THE NEW PROJECT BUT IT WOULD BE SIX YEARS BEFORE FATHER VACCARO'S DREAM WAS REALISED WITH THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF ST KEVIN'S SCHOOL ASSEMBLY HALL AND PARISH CENTRE IN EARLY MAY 1978.

THIS VERY 70's STYLE BUILDING CONSTRUCTED FROM BRICK, GLASS AND EXPOSED CONCRETE ON TWO LEVELS WAS A MOST IMPRESSIVE ADDITION TO THE PARISH INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONTINUES AS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS TO THE PRESENT DAY.

AS INTENDED BY FATHER VACCARO THE BUILDING SERVES BOTH THE SCHOOL AND THE PARISH AND PROVIDES A LOCATION WHERE LARGE FUNCTIONS CAN BE READILY ACCOMMODATED. THIS FINE ADDITION TO THE PARISH BUILDINGS IS A TRIBUTE TO THE SCALABRINIAN'S COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING BOTH THE FACILITIES AND LIFE OF THE PARISH WHICH HAS BEEN IN THEIR CHARGE FOR OVER FORTY YEARS.

I AM INDEBTED TO MR JOHN BENINATI FOR HISTORICAL INFORMATION AND PHOTOS FOR THIS PAGE. HIS ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING MATERIAL AND GIVING OF HIS KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THE HISTORY OF ST KEVIN'S IS HERE ACKNOWLEDGED WITH GRATITUDE. I AM ALSO GRATEFUL TO FRANK FEATHERSTONE WHO WAS THE FIRST TO SUPPORT THIS PROJECT WITH PHOTOS OF THE CHURCH.