THANET’S AUSTRALIAN LINK AUSTRALIAN PUGIN EXPERT TO GIVE PUBLIC TALK AT ST AUGUSTINE’S, RAMSGATE

Thanet will be visited by a leading Pugin expert – travelling from Australia – next week. Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett is a Director of the Pugin Foundation in Australia, and will present a talk at Pugin’s personal church and burial-place in Ramsgate.

His talk, “Pugin in the Antipodes,” will focus on the work Augustus Pugin undertook in Australia. Most famous for designing much of the Houses of Parliament, Pugin lived in Ramsgate from 1843 until his death in 1852. Here he built his ideal design: St Augustine’s.

The talk will be at Pugin’s church of St Augustine, Ramsgate, on 15^th October at 7pm.

The talk is free, with donations welcome.

Pugin’s legacy, including Ramsgate’s spectacular buildings, is also part of Australian history. Although he never travelled to Australia, Pugin designed several churches for the then-colonies, and sent models of his designs across the seas.

It was whilst Pugin was living in Ramsgate that many of his Australian designs were built. Some of the most famous buildings in Australia – including St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, and St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, were designed by his pupils, and owe a great deal to the designs Pugin built in Ramsgate.

This talk will focus on Pugin’s Australian legacy, illustrating the link between Ramsgate and that great continent-country.

Fr Marcus Holden, Rector of St Augustine’s, said, “We are very fortunate to have Bishop Jarrett speaking here. He is a well-known aficionado of Pugin, and his talk promises to be well worth hearing.”

Centre Manager, John Coverdale, said, “St Augustine’s is really the centre of the Pugin and Gothic Revival world. Having an Australian give such a talk shows how wide the appeal of Ramsgate’s heritage is. We have real historical treasure here, and Bishop Jarrett will be most interesting to hear his perspective on it.”

Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett is Bishop of Lismore, New South Wales, and is of Kentish descent. He was born in Kyneton, Victoria, Australia, on 1st December, 1937, the elder son of Hylton and Beatrice Jarrett, the third generation to be born there of an English pioneer family in the district. He has Kentish ancestors.

He was educated at Trinity Grammar School in Melbourne. After working in London for several years in the Film Unit of BBC Television, he commenced studies for the Anglican ministry at the Theological College of the Society of the Sacred Mission at Kelham, Nottinghamshire. On returning to Australia he worked as an Anglican priest until he was received into the Catholic Church in 1965.

Archbishop Guilford Young accepted him as a candidate for the Archdiocese of Hobart and his further studies were entrusted to the Marist Fathers at St Peter Chanel Seminary, Toongabbie, NSW. Bishop Jarrett was ordained priest by Archbishop Young in Sydney on 14th May, 1970.

During his 30 years' ministry in Tasmania Bishop Jarrett was Administrator of St Mary's Cathedral and a parish priest in Hobart. He was active in ecumenical affairs as a member of the Executive of the Tasmanian Council of Churches and as Chaplain and Honorary Fellow of Jane Franklin Hall within the University of Tasmania. From 1994 to 1999 he was National Chairman of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.

Bishop Jarrett was appointed a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 2000, and his episcopal Ordination took place in St Carthage's Cathedral, Lismore, on 22 February 2001. Upon the retirement of Bishop Satterthwaite he became the fifth Bishop of Lismore on 1 December, 2001.

“Pugin in the Antipodes” by Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett, Pugin’s church of St Augustine, Ramsgate.

15^th October, 7pm. FREE, donations welcome.