Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers

Information

The eight bells of Holy Trinity Cathedral came from St George's Church, Bolton UK. They were cast in 1806 by Rudhall's Gloucester Foundry and are one of the few complete Rudhall octaves in the world. They are thought to have been cast to celebrate Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in 1805 and were donated by prominent local citizens whose names are shown on the bells. The first peal was rung in 1821 and the peal board celebrating this is preserved on the wall at the rear of the Cathedral.

Other boards now preserved in the tower's ringing room commemorate the end of World War II and the final peal in 1957 which marked the 150th anniversary of the bells. St George's church was declared redundant and was finally closed in 1975.

In 1976, the then Precentor of the Cathedral, Father Paul Harvie travelled to the UK and heard that the bells were available. He persuaded the Vestry to purchase the bells with funds from the Francis Heach bequest for what seemed a bargain price of only $2,772. The bells were cleaned and retuned by Whitechapel Foundry and shipped to Australia freight free by Overseas Containers Ltd. From Melbourne they were transported to Wangaratta at no cost by VicRail and arrived at the Cathedral's doors on 11th July 1977.

The design for the Cathedral originally included a bell tower which was never built. It was decided to build a free standing steel tower with temporary timber cladding which would be placed adjacent to the front of the Cathedral. It is the only such tower of its type in the world and presented special problems. The "Appeal of the Eight Bells" was launched in 1977 and was warmly supported by the mayor and council. The target was $75,000 but by 1983 some $100,000 had been raised when the Bishop and Chapter accepted a tender of $120,000 by local firm L.H. Brown Constructions for the steel and cladding sections. Building commenced in September 1983 and there was much controversy over how high the bells should be placed in the tower. There were some predictions that the bells would be unringable due to the tower swaying, but eventually the bells were hung much lower than originally intended and were successfully rung in 1987.

Wangaratta had no trained bellringers and so an enthusiastic group travelled to Melbourne and Bendigo to learn the ancient art of campanology. The new local band rang for the first time on 17th March 1987 and the bells dedicated by Bp Robert Beal on 29th November 1987. The first peal on the bells in their new home took place on 7th May 1988 and subsequent peals for special events such as the 150th anniversary of the founding of Wangaratta in 1988, In 1989 for the retirement of Dean Thawley and later for the installation of the new Dean Donald McMonigle. In November 1990 a peal was rung to celebrate the enthronement of Archbishop Keith Rayner to the Diocese of Melbourne.