"In those days Cooranbong was a lawless, drunken place and the new timber building which was Lake Macquarie's first school doubled as the Catholic church at weekends," retired primary school teacher and hobby historian, Frances Dunn, said.

Mrs Dunn has spent eight years focusing her research on the church's cemetery and the result is an unusual history which she has turned into a short book.

"I am fascinated by the cemetery, which is now national heritage listed. As an historical study it really is compelling stuff," she said.

"I printed 150 copies of 150th Commemoration of St Patrick and St Brigid Cemetery and they were all sold within three weeks," she said.

"There is a copy available at Morisset library, though."

In conjunction with Mrs Dunn's work is a definitive text compiled by another local parishioner on behalf of St John Vianney Church, Morisset.

The text, Celebrating 150 Years of Catholic Presence, took two years of solid research.

"It isn't a book as such, there is no storyline. It is a compilation of timelines which show the evolution of the parish over 150 years," a St John Vianney spokesperson explained.

The text reveals that priests from the Brisbane Water district came on horseback to say Sunday Mass and that

the local Catholic community was required to contribute at least one third of the capital costs of the building, collect school fees to offset the cost of teacher salaries, and to form boards to manage affairs.

The school had expected 80 children but enrolment quickly dropped to 25 after the Catholic school began to battle for students.

Three Sisters of St Joseph arrived from Queensland to take over the Catholic school (now known as The Convent School) and numbers quickly swelled to more than 80 students.

The Convent School remained open for 16 years.

Mother Mary MacKillop visited the school twice to offer support for the struggling community.

A youth sports carnival will be held on Saturday from 2pm with dinner that evening for congregational guests. Sunday morning mass will be given by Maitland-Newcastle diocese Bishop Bill Wright.