Community
8 July, 2026
Communities celebrate coming together
THE parishes of Camperdown, Timboon and Hampden have now officially come together over the weekend, with three masses to mark the occasion.
The three parishes now form a new parish under the name Parish of Our Lady of Mercy and Peace, Heartland of Craters, Mountains, Lakes and Plains, with celebration masses held in Timboon, Camperdown and Terang.
St Patrick’s Catholic Parish priest Father George Kuruvila said the amalgamation was marked with a visit from new Diocese of Ballarat Bishop Mark Freeman last Friday, who then stayed for a tour of the area.
Bishop Freeman visited a number of communities including Cobden, Simpson, Timboon, Terang and Mortlake.
“In the evening we got an association in the Catholic Church – we have had so many of them in earlier years, but now we have just one in Camperdown called Knights of the Southern Cross,” Fr Kuruvila said.
“They had a meeting and Bishop Mark addressed them on Friday evening before we proceeded to Terang where he stayed overnight.
“We shared lunch with the Bishop before we went on to Timboon, where we had a beautiful celebration of mass at 5pm – this was the official celebration of the amalgamated parish.
“We had five parishes in this area – Camperdown, Simpson, Timboon, Terang and Mortlake – and in those five parishes we had around nine priests at a time.
“There were so many smaller communities such as South Purrumbete, Garvoc, Panmure, Noorat, Lismore and Derrinallum.”
The mass held at St Joseph’s Church in Timboon saw between 50-60 people in attendance, while St Patrick’s Church in Camperdown saw close to 150 people attending.
Terang’s mass at the St Thomas Church had the strongest turnout, with close to 300 people.
“The first celebration happened in Timboon on Saturday evening, followed by a meal – it was well-attended,” Fr Kuruvila said.
“We had another celebration in Camperdown on Sunday at 9am, which was also well-attended even though it was cold and an abnormal start time.
“We headed back to Terang and had a beautiful celebration there at 11am.
“After the mass, there was live music in Terang and Camperdown.
“In Terang, we had a beautiful lunch following the mass, served by people from different nationalities and cultures with different types of food to taste.”
At the Timboon and Camperdown masses, four priests joined Bishop Freeman in celebrations, while Terang had five priests in attendance,
Fr Kuruvila said the amalgamation process began in 2025 while he was looking after the Timboon, Camperdown and Hampden parishes.
“In 2025, we didn’t have many priests to spare, so I took care of all these communities with three different parishes – Hampden with Mortlake and Terang, Timboon with Timboon and Simpson and Camperdown with Cobden and Lismore,” he said.
“Under the guidance of the diocese, we had to make all three parishes into one – the process had started in September 2025.
“All communities were well informed, and with a decree given by Bishop Mark Freeman, the three parishes were amalgamated into a new parish called Our Lady of Mercy and Peace Heartland Parish.”
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