
- St Hyacinth’s before restoration
- St Hyacinths
- Photo by Fr Tobin
- St Hyacinth
St Hyacinth’s Convent Chapel – Yalgoo
The Convent Chapel of St Hyacinth in Henty St Yalgoo, is the smallest church building designed by Hawes. Built in 1922, it is a small and simple structure in Inter-War Romanesque style and is all that remains of a larger complex of buildings.
Hawes was given the responsibility of not only organizing the buildings for the Dominican Sisters to enable them to establish a school in Yalgoo, but he was also required to assist with procuring the land, raising the funds, designing the buildings and working with the contractor Hendry Jermy on the construction. He was at the time, the Parish priest in Mullewa and he would travel to Yalgoo on Mondays, sometimes on his horse Stella, work on the buildings for the rest of the week and then return to Mullewa for Sunday Mass.
The convent building consisted mostly of materials salvaged from another now disused convent in the Goldfields town of Day Dawn. While Jermy was constructing the convent, Hawes worked on the chapel beside it.
All that remains is the chapel with a terracotta roof and masonry and timber framed bell tower. The chapel contains examples of Hawes’s handmade arts and crafts influenced artworks.
Play the Audio Tour
Visiting the building
The chapel is located in Henty St. To visit the building, call at the Yalgoo Shire Office in office hours to obtain a key.
Fee to Visit: $5 per person $3 Concession
Phone: 9962 8042
After hours contact Angela at the Yalgoo Caravan Park (0472 830 088)
Accommodation in the area can be found at www.wastationstays.com.au