I am not Catholic, but it does not prevent me from appreciating the beauty of St Mary’s Cathedral.
When the first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia commissioned the design of the Cathedral to William Wardell (the then most prominent architect of the Gothic Revival moment – the architect of St John’s College at the Sydney University) in 1865 after the original Cathedral was destroyed in a fire, his only request was “Any plan, any style, anything that is beautiful and grand, to the extent of our power.” A job very well done indeed.
For visitors – yes, it is open to the public!