When the bells toll


A story that echoes down through the ages … Andrew Reynolds with the bells from New Norcia Monastery. - Autor: FAIRCLOUGH, Billie / POST

A little bit of Benedictine history returned to Subiaco – fleetingly – on Tuesday.

Four historic bells from New Norcia Monastery passed through Subi on the back of a work truck on their way to Welshpool for restoration.

The bells – among the oldest working examples in Australia – were all made in Spain and date back to 1768, 1846 and two from 1843.

The Benedictine monks, who founded the Spanish-styled New Norcia settlement in 1847, brought them out for their monastery, where they have hung since.

Five years later a group of the monks settled in what is now West Leederville and built a monastery which they called New Subiaco after Subiaco in Italy, the birthplace of their order. They planted olive trees and fruit orchards for their own use but when the Perth to Fremantle line opened in 1881 the local train station was named Subiaco and became the nucleus for an increase in population, businesses and industry in the area.

A Benedictine monk and an olive branch feature on the city’s crest.

A POST reporter and photographer spotted the unusual payload being driven down Roberts Road and flagged down the vehicle to find out more.

Andrew Reynolds from John Taylor & Co Bell Foundry said he was always happy to talk to anybody about bells and pulled over.

“You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been asked about them,” he said.

He said they were all magnificent, but the two bells dated 1843 were “globally unique” because they were the only ones of their type known to have survived a bitter 19th Century conflict in Spain between the end of the Napoleonic era and 1845 in which hundreds of church bells were deliberately destroyed.

“They’re incredibly important historically,” he said. “They’ve been in the tower at New Norcia since 1901 and we took them down over the weekend.”

A “soda blast” to remove discolouration and rust is all that is planned for the bells themselves but everything else about them will be repaired or replaced, including the “clapper” which makes the bell ring and the metal frames they hang from. “We’re changing the bearings for modern ones as well,” Mr Reynolds said. “The bearings they were on were just a piece of jarrah that had a notch cut into them that was then cemented into the wall.” Mr Reynolds said it took some time to get the project off the ground. “The monks have recently been able to put some money into having the old fabric restored and we’re doing this because we’ve been at them for years to conserve the bells properly, so we’re doing this for nothing,” he said.

Meanwhile, the 27th edition of the annual New Norcia Studies Journal will be launched at the Palms Community Centre in Subiaco on Thursday night May 27 at an event staged by the city. The Camino Salvado – a pilgrimmage from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Salvado Road, Subiaco to the monastery in New Norcia – is held each year in August and September.

GORMAN, Lloyd

Post (22-05-2021)

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  • NEW NORCIA: Bells, bell ringers and bell ringing
  • TAYLOR, JOHN & CO (LOUGHBOROUGH) : Inventory of bells
  • Restoration of bells: Bibliography

     

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