Waroona

Yarloop, an established timber town is 14 kms south of Waroona. The all timber church, is dedicated to St. Joseph.

Waroona itself has been well served in the area of publications. The history commissioned to Laurie Snell by the Shire of Waroona is a broad coverage of the life of the district and its subgroups. The history of “Emma” has brought attention to the struggles of the Italian migrants settling into little towns like Waroona. The autobiography of Jack Davis highlights his younger days around Waroona and Yarloop and the ease of Aboriginals entering mainstream society at that time.

The latest publication, 1991, is entitled “One hundred Years of Faith”, a history of the Catholic Church in the districts of Waroona and Yarloop. This is not your normal history book. It is well written and very interesting. Fr Hardiman, the author, brings to life the many past personalities of the parish, through his personal style of writing, making the parish of Waroona/Yarloop come alive as we walk through the past.

Patch Story
After Reading Father Hardiman’s book, “One hundred Years of Faith, the Jubilee Committee decided that the theme for the year of Jubilee would be, “The Irish, Italian and Australian people joined together in Eucharist.”

Three crosses immediately came to mind when thinking how to commit the theme into a design.

The Celtic Cross for the Irish.

The Cross of St. Francis for the Italians.

The Southern Cross for the Australians.

After being given all relevant information, Merle Davis, a local professional artist, designed the patch for the Parish of St. Patrick’s Waroona and St. Joseph’s Yarloop.
The blue cross edged with red is the cross of St. Francis, the patron saint of Italy.
The white star is the Federation Star from the Southern cross.
The brown Celtic cross is the Cross for Ireland.
At the top of St. Francis’ cross there is wheat and at the bottom, grapes symbolizing the Eucharist.
Also on the Cross of St. Francis are two white lilies. These symbolize St. Joseph, the patron Saint of Yarloop.
On the Celtic cross are shamrocks symbolizing St. Patrick, the patron Saint of Waroona.
In the centre of the Celtic cross is a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit helping us all to live in peace, love and joy.
In the top left hand corner are a group of trees. These symbolize the timber industry of the area.
In the bottom left hand corner are vegetables, symbolizing market gardening
In the top right hand corner is a pile of bauxite symbolizing the company of Alcoa, which employs many people from the area.
In the bottom right hand corner there is a cow, symbolizing the dairy industry of the area.
Jubilee Committee: Valerie Race, Margaret Bevan, Lina Look, Patricia Henderson, Helen Brown. Merle and Cassie Davis made up the patch. Lydia Warren did all the hand embroidery.