St Martin of Tours has a wonderful history that reaches far beyond its picturesque setting and gothic revival façade. It’s a place held deep within the warmth of many hearts, a source of faith and a symbol of the warm embrace of a country parish community, especially for those who have ventured beyond Muskerry’s open sky.

Bishop René Ramirez RCJ presided over the Anniversary Mass, concelebrated by Fr Brian Boyle, Fr Rom Hayes and Fr Ashley Caldow PP. After Mass, Bishop René blessed a commemorative plaque and planted a tree.

“The weather was kind to us, and it was great to see parishioners from over the years,” said local parishioner Maurie Sharkey. “Most people stayed on for the picnic until mid-afternoon, and it was great to see Bishop René plant a commemorative tree in the church grounds.”

For Maurie Sharkey, who lives just down the road from St Martin’s, the day was all about quiet gratitude for the bedrock of faith and the tight-knit parish community that has raised generations of local kids. “It was great to hear so many familiar names,” said Maurie, referring to the many descendants of the founding families who joined the congregation on the day.

Amongst these descendants were Maurie Sharkey, his brother Kevin, cousin Dr Paul Sharkey and Fr Brian Boyle. Their great-great-grandfathers were among the twelve Irish Catholic settlers whose extraordinary vision, generosity and grit helped to build St Martin’s Church and community over 150 years ago.

These twelve men, no doubt with the support of their families, banded together to guarantee the bank loan to build the church. They camped on the grounds to help out with the build, apparently even quarrying bluestone from nearby Forest Creek. Their dedication never wavered, and the £1563 debt, enough to pay a labourer’s salary for well over a decade, was cleared by October 1878, just four years after the foundation stone was laid. In building their church and working to repay the loan, these families built a strong community and sense of belonging that sustained them in a new land.

On 19 September 1875, 4oo people witnessed the laying of the foundation stone by Bishop Martin Crane. According to newspaper accounts of the occasion, a bottle containing copies of four local newspapers was placed inside the stone, a time capsule for the future.

Remarkably, but not surprisingly given the tenacity of the locals, the church was completed within a year and was blessed and opened by Bishop Crane on 20 August 1876. By 1887 about fifty children attended the Catholic local school.

St Martin’s was built on three acres of land donated by Irish settler and parishioner, Edward Cahill (one of the ‘twelve’) in anticipation of a railway station to be established nearby. But railway plans changed, and St Martin’s was left standing proudly on a rise – famously, “in the middle of nowhere”.

How ironic that its location is referred to as ‘nowhere’ because, for its founding families and many generations who came after, St Martin of Tours was the very centre of life.

Fr Brian Boyle, Administrator of the Cathedral Cluster of Parishes in Bendigo, was the homilist at the anniversary Mass. As in his Easter message, he shared memories of sitting next to his maternal grandfather, John Kennedy, at Mass in St Martin’s:

“It makes me appreciate how my grandfather and his grandparents before him passed down their faith through the generations. I wonder what Edmund Kennedy (one of the founding twelve), would have thought about one of his great-great-grandsons being a priest and celebrating Mass here, at St Martin’s, the church he helped build.”

For Dr Paul Sharkey, keynote speaker at the 2025 Sandhurst Formation Gathering, St Martin of Tours in Muskerry, from its foundation to the 1970s, was a wonderful example of a “holding environment” – a nurturing community, providing the safe space for people, especially the young, to return to after inevitable adventures. “I find it hard to imagine how they might have escaped being Catholic in that world,” said Paul, explaining a tight-knit community with a shared world-view and a strong sense of care for each other. But times have changed, and Muskerry now sits within a much wider social and cultural landscape. Yet there is something about it that draws people back. For many perhaps, Muskerry is the “middle of everywhere”.

Despite the expected railway being re-routed to Goornong, despite the drifting away of parishioners due to restructuring of agricultural economy and the lure of the city, people return, and many would say they have never really left.

Celebrations continued with a picnic on the Church grounds, with many sharing special photos and stories of life in Muskerry.

 “It was a great turnout,” said Maurie Sharkey, “despite missing a few in action due to the football.”

After 150 years, some things change. Some things don't.

 {gallery}Muskerry 150th{/gallery}