Qualla: St Mary's by the Sea, Port Douglas https://qualla.com/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:40:32 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: St Mary's by the Sea, Port Douglas https://qualla.com/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas St Mary's by the Sea, Port Douglas: Introduction https://qualla.com/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas/ Photo credit Anonymous, CC BY 4.0. Stand at the altar of St Mary's by the Sea and the wall behind it is not a wall at all but a window, and through it the Coral Sea glitters across Dicksons Inlet. The view is the whole point. This small white Gothic church, all timber and corrugated iron, sits on the Port Douglas foreshore as if it had always been there - though in truth it was carried here, plank by plank, by townspeople who refused to let it go. Couples now marry beneath its lancet windows with the sea framed behind them, in one of the most photographed little churches in tropical Australia.

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas-wp/rjp6-st-marys-by-the-sea-port-douglas-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full St Mary's by the Sea, Port Douglas: Blown to Bits https://qualla.com/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas/ Photo credit Terrazzo, CC BY 2.0. The church exists because an earlier one did not survive. Catholic worship came to Port Douglas in 1878, and by 1881 a church stood on Port Hill under Father Pierre-Marie Bucas, a Breton priest, on land overlooking the busy gold port. Then came the cyclone of 16 March 1911, which...

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Image: Terrazzo | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas-wp/rjp6-st-marys-by-the-sea-port-douglas-blown-to-bits.mp3 0:06 2 full St Mary's by the Sea, Port Douglas: A Church of Modest Means https://qualla.com/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas/ Photo credit MarkusMark, CC BY-SA 3.0. There is nothing grand about St Mary's, and that is its charm. It is a simple timber-framed building with its studwork left exposed, set on low stumps, with a steeply pitched gabled roof of corrugated iron and side walls braced by plain timber buttresses. The framing is hickory a...

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Image: MarkusMark | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas-wp/rjp6-st-marys-by-the-sea-port-douglas-a-church-of-modest-means.mp3 0:06 3 full St Mary's by the Sea, Port Douglas: Saved by the Town https://qualla.com/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas/ Photo credit Kgbo, CC BY-SA 3.0. By the 1980s the parish had outgrown the old church, and St Mary's was in poor condition just as Port Douglas began its transformation into a booming resort. In 1987 the Catholic Church handed the building to the local community, on the condition it stay in Christian use. The tow...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas-wp/rjp6-st-marys-by-the-sea-port-douglas-saved-by-the-town.mp3 0:06 4 full St Mary's by the Sea, Port Douglas: Where the Sea Comes In https://qualla.com/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas/ Photo credit Bahnfrend, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today St Mary's is non-denominational, a community church given over to weddings, carol services and quiet moments by the water. Its enduring appeal is that window behind the altar, which frames Dicksons Inlet and the mountains beyond and lets the tropical light pour in. Heritage...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/st-mary-s-by-the-sea-port-douglas-wp/rjp6-st-marys-by-the-sea-port-douglas-where-the-sea-comes-in.mp3 0:06 5 full