Editing Augustus Pugin (section)

==Pugin and Australia==

[[File:St Stephen’s Chapel, Brisbane, Queensland 11.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Old St Stephen's Church|Pugin Chapel]] in [[Brisbane]], Australia, designed by Augustus Pugin and built between 1848 and 1850]]
The first [[Catholic Church in Australia|Catholic]] Bishop of [[New South Wales]], Australia, [[John Bede Polding]], met Pugin and was present when [[St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham]] and [[St Giles' Catholic Church, Cheadle]] were officially opened. Although Pugin never visited Australia,<ref>{{cite news |date=14 September 2002 |title=Tasmania's Gothic paradise rediscovered |newspaper=[[The Age]] |place=Australia |url=https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/tasmanias-gothic-paradise-rediscovered-20020914-gdul87.html|access-date=26 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926093048/https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/tasmanias-gothic-paradise-rediscovered-20020914-gdul87.html |archive-date=26 September 2021 }}</ref> Polding persuaded Pugin to design a series of churches for him. Although a number of churches do not survive, [[St Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Church, Berrima|St. Francis Xavier's]] in [[Berrima, New South Wales]], is regarded as a fine example of a Pugin church. Polding blessed the foundation stone in February 1849, and the church was completed in 1851.<ref>{{cite news |last=Morton |first=Philip |date=28 September 2015 |title=Berrima church is a Pugin design of heritage significance |newspaper=[[Southern Highland News]] |place=Australia |url=https://www.southernhighlandnews.com.au/story/3384962/berrima-church-is-a-pugin-design-of-heritage-significance/ |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref>

St. Stephen's Chapel, now in the cathedral grounds in Elizabeth Street, [[Brisbane]], was built to a design by Pugin. Construction began in 1848, and the first Mass in the church was celebrated on 12 May 1850. In 1859 [[James Quinn (Australian bishop)|James Quinn]] was appointed [[Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane|Bishop of Brisbane]], Brisbane became a diocese, and Pugin's small church became a cathedral. When the new [[Cathedral of St Stephen, Brisbane|Cathedral of St Stephen]] was opened in 1874 the small Pugin church became a schoolroom, and later church offices and storage room. It was threatened with demolition several times before its restoration in the 1990s. In [[Sydney]], there are several altered examples of his work, namely St. Benedict's, [[Chippendale, New South Wales|Chippendale]]; St Charles Borromeo, [[Ryde, New South Wales|Ryde]]; the former church of St [[Augustine of Hippo]] (next to the existing church), [[Balmain, New South Wales|Balmain]]; and [[St Patrick's Cathedral, Parramatta]], which was gutted by a fire in 1996.

According to Steve Meacham writing in ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'', Pugin's legacy in Australia is particularly of the idea of what a church should look like:{{blockquote|Pugin's notion was that Gothic was Christian and Christian was Gothic ... It became the way people built churches and perceived churches should be. Even today if you ask someone what a church should look like, they'll describe a Gothic building with pointed windows and arches. Right across Australia, from outback towns with tiny churches made out of corrugated iron with a little pointed door and pointed windows, to our very greatest cathedrals, you have buildings which are directly related to Pugin's ideas.<ref>{{cite news |last=Meacham |first=Steve |date=4 February 2003 |title=A genius in his Gothic splendour |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |place=Sydney, AU |publisher=[[Fairfax Media]] |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/03/1044122320848.html |access-date=30 January 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051222231140/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/03/1044122320848.html |archive-date=22 December 2005 }}</ref>}}

After his death, Pugin's two sons, [[E. W. Pugin|Edward Pugin]] and [[Peter Paul Pugin|Peter Pugin]], continued operating their father's architectural firm under the name Pugin & Pugin. Their work includes most of the "Pugin" buildings in [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].