The story of St Mary's Cathedral began in 1822 when Fr Philip Connolly built a temporary wooden chapel near the present site of the Cathedral, less than twenty years after European settlement in Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land as it was then known. The area he chose was, at that time, a considerable distance from the Hobart town boundaries. Fr Connolly was invited to name the street on the western side of the property and he named it Saint Patrick Street in honour of the patron saint of his native Ireland. (This is now Patrick Street.)