This project was divided into two distinct parts. Stage 3 comprised the construction of the Midwest Garden, the final stage of a number of earlier landscaping stages. Stage 4 of the project was for the internal restoration of the St Francis Xavier Cathedral. All previous stages of the works at the Cathedral, which started in 2015 and has included the reroofing of the Cathedral dome and the construction of the Monsignor Hawes Heritage Centre, were completed by Crothers Construction.
The Stage 4 restoration of the Cathedral interior included a number of extremely interesting and unusual aspects:
- Assisting in the search for the grave site of Bishop Kelly who was buried under the floor of the Cathedral 96 years ago. When his tomb was found, Crothers constructed a chamber around the coffin under the new Cathedral floor. A glazed trafficable viewing panel was set in the new Cathedral floor to allow the public to view the coffin and burial site.
- The existing Cathedral floor was removed and replaced with a highly polished white concrete floor. Areas of the floor were also overlaid with an intricate terrazzo pattern to match those done by the original builders. A beautiful mosaic artwork was also incorporated into the immersion baptism pool that was set into the floor of the Cathedral.
- The interior of the Cathedral was redecorated in the distinctive colour striping that was selected in 1938 and also included the restoration of the original Prussian blue with gold leaf stars on the vaulted ceilings in the Narthex, Baptistery and Our Lady Altar. The original Latin text was also reinstated in the dome.
- The incorporation of state-of-the-art adjustable lighting and multi-function audio-visual systems into the fabric of the 100 year old heritage listed structure was very challenging.
The Stage 3 Midwest Garden was a continuation of the previous landscaping stages but incorporated the construction of a columbarium, the resiting of the existing 5m cross with its draped cloth and the construction of a sunken garden bed.
