 The cathedral is surrounded by the Old Cathedral, Bishop's House, St Joseph's Convent and St Monica's High School Administration Building, which together form a highly intact ecclesiastical group.St Monica's War Memorial Cathedral is the only Cathedral in Cairns, as the seat of the Anglican Bishops in the region was Thursday Island, for the Diocese of Carpentaria, until it was incorporated into the Diocese of North Queensland centred in Townsville.Cairns was established in October 1876, as a port to service the Hodgkinson goldfields.