New Norcia Catholic Pilgrim Cathedral and Abbey, New Norcia, Western Australia (1957–1961)

In the June 1960 issue of Australian Architecture Today, a feature article announced that Australia was to receive its “first Nervian structure.” Pier Luigi Nervi was Italy’s most influential modern engineer and architect, and was renowned worldwide for his daring and elegant reinforced concrete hangars and sports arenas. It would have come as a surprise to readers of the issue to learn that Nervi’s first commission in Australia was for a cathedral in a remote location: the monastic town of New Norcia, 132 kilometres north of Perth, Western Australia. The Benedictine community at New Norcia (established as a mission in 1847 by the Spanish monk Dom Rosendo Salvado) was unable to raise the appropriate funds for the project and the building never materialized. However, the plans and models, which now reside in the New