The earliest photograph we have is from 1950. After Fr Tom Little left St Theresa’s and Fr John Pierce replaced him. Mass was celebrated in a Nissan hut on the site of the present parish hall. In 1951 St Theresa’s was congratulated for providing bases to bring children to the school there from places out as far as Keilor to receive Catholic education.
The next big change was in 1954. Fr Pat McQuillan was appointed Parish Priest. Initially he lived at St Theresa’a, where he had been an assistant for some years before. Gradually the parish central buildings were able to be built with a lot of help from parishioners during many working bees. The school was started, the presbytery and finally the church in 1966.
The parish has only ever had one priest at a time. Fr McQuillan retired in 1990. Fr Frank Murphy died suddenly in 1999. Fr Vin Burke filled the breach for some months. Fr Joe Browne was here from 2000 until his retirement in 2009, Fr Brian Cosgriff came in September 2009 and retired in 2016. Fr Boy Galdo was appointed but moved after about a year to North Fawkner in 2017. Fr. Thomas Toretkiu from India, a post-graduate student at Catholic Theological College, University of Divinity, became priest in residence in early 2018 and Fr. Nhan Le, Parish Priest of St. Martin De Pores, Avondale Heights became the Administrator and later Parish Priest of St. John Bosco, Church.
The parish school is a bit like the moon, waxing and waning. Older parishioners talk about fewer teachers, especially religious, and huge numbers. Then that dropped down quite a lot but, with the building boom around the quarry area, the number of pupils is back up to 470. Staff has increased in number, too, and is very committed.