By 1888, the many Irish and  Non-Irish Catholics who had settled in the Caulfield Road district had become part of the Parish of Oakleigh. These parishioners were forced to travel either to St. Alipius (located in Dandenong Road Oakleigh, a couple of miles past Warrigal Road in the Dandenong direction), or to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Burke Road, Malvern to attend Mass.

In 1889, the Parish Priest of St. Alipius, recognising the difficulty such a distance posed for the Caulfield parishioners, arranged for Mass to be held at 9.00 am Sunday morning in a public hall located near the Caulfield railway station.

In September of that year, wasting no time Fr. O’Brien called a meeting of parishioners in the Caulfield Town Hall. A decision was made to build a Church and School near the corner of Balaclava and Hawthorn Roads and a Church Hall in Ellington Street.Two Hundred and twenty five pounds in subscriptions were collected, a healthy start for the building project. Later that year architects Kempson & Connolly prepared plans for the new school and a building contractor by the name of Mr. H.P. Brady began work. Soon a new street would be formed to allow easier access to the school. Catherine Street was named after Catherine Lechte, the daughter of the former owner of the Caulfield Hotel.  

Fr. O’Brien was well known and popular in racing circles, with many of the new church’s donors coming form the racing fraternity. One of the closest friends was Sylvester Patrick Casey, a leading horse trainer who helped Fr. O’Brien to enlist the support of others in the racing industry. In the early days of the Parish, a priest was usually asked to serve duty at the racecourse on race days and Fr. O’Brien made many friends both Catholic and non-Catholic through this duty. However Archbishop Mannix did not approve of Father O’Brien’s involvement with the racecourse and eventually directed him not to attend, but with a little help from some friends he was able to circumnavigate this decree, by watching the races with binoculars from a purpose built platform in a friend’s back garden, near the course. (Though it has been said that is why the Church had a tower and steeple.)

The school was completed in 1920

Mass at the high altar

It was in that year that Fr. O’Brien contacted the architect, Mr Bart Moriarty, to prepare plans for a Church in the Gothic style, modelled on the church of Maynooth, County Kildare in Ireland. He also decided to name the church St. Aloysius after his own patron saint. By August 19th, 1923, when the walls of the church were already well advanced, the Foundation Stone was laid and blessed by the Most Reverend Daniel Mannix. The church was completed in early May 1924 and on Sunday 18th, the blessing ceremony took place.

Over 3000 people attended and St. Vincent De Paul’s Boys band played heartily throughout the afternoon. The children and men of the parish (one wonders where the ladies were, probably making afternoon tea) formed a guard of honour for Archbishop Daniel Mannix.

Speeches were made in the grounds of the church. Fr. O’Brien proudly announced that the estimate for the church was thirteen thousand five hundred pounds, but the actual cost were only thirteen thousand three hundred. He stated that four thousand pounds had already been paid and further stated that five thousand pounds worth of gifts had been received in the form of fixtures and fittings.

In 1985 concerns were raised over the condition of the Church’s spire. It was found that the spire was suffering from major corrosion (concrete cancer). Reluctantly it was decided it should be removed and was in 1990

(The history has been taken from the booklet “The Parish of St. Aloysius Caulfield 1924-1999” by Carole McNally Copies are still available)