Saint James Church, 73 North Road currently Brighton Vic 3186 for a time Elsternwick, for a time Gardenvale, for a time Brighton …
| 1853 | Land grant to the Catholic Church - North Road Gardenvale |
| 1861 | Core of the current presbytery was built as centre of the Brighton Mission |
| 1880s | Melbourne's boom years - Saint James became centre of new Mission named the 'Elsternwick Mission' |
| 1882 | First wooden Church on the present site and doubled as schoolhouse on weekdays |
| 1883 | Arrival of the Presentation Sisters, from Wagga Wagga |
| 1888 | Presbytery was enlarged more or less to its current form |
| 1891 | Completion of main body of the Church Celebration of the First Mass - 15th November 1891, blessed and opened by Bishop Reville, Co-Adjutor Bishop of Sandhurst Diocese |
| 1892 | Establishment of the Parish of Saint James |
| 1924 | Completion of stage two of Church (Transepts, apse, chapels and sacristies were added) |
| 1934 | Church consecrated |
| 1939 | Completion of opus sectile work in main sanctuary and side chapels |
| 1990 | Installation of Bell tower and Bells (total cost $500,000) |
| 1991 | Centenary celebrations |
| 2010 | Completion and opening of the Building Education Revolution Project Resurfacing of parish tennis courts The New Normal process gets underway |
| 2012 | Year of consolidating our Parish's Co-responsible New Normal and establishing our Parish Pastoral Leadership Team to administer it |
| 2013 | Establishment of our Parish Pastoral Leadership Team and it gets underway with Jan Grant, David Taranto & ... |
| 2015 | St James Church was destroyed in a suspected arson attack in March 2015. The fire gutted the historical and beautiful church, destroying its roof and everything inside, including mosaics, stained glass windows, the altar, organ, and pews. The flames licked the belltower and smoke billowed across Melbourne. View the Photo Gallery from before the fire here. |
| 2020 | Rebuilding of church continues which will include a special dedication to all those devastated by clergy abuse. |