Cathedral of St Michael and St John a rare example of one of only four 19th century Cathedrals in NSW and is the second Cathedral to be built in the colony. The design of the building is one of only a few prepared by English architect Charles Hansom for use in Australia and notably modelled on St Osburg's Church in Coventry dating from the 1840s. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales. The Cathedral of Saints Michael and John is representative example of a mid 19thbcentury Catholic Cathedral which was established during a
St James Old Cathedral town surveyor, Robert Russell, and built by George Beaver. One of the founders of Melbourne, John Batman, was among the subscribers who paid for the church's construction. It was opened in 1842 and completed in 1847. The church originally stood near the corner of Collins Street and William Street in the centre of the town (where there is still a small street called St James Lane). In 1848 Melbourne became an Anglican diocese and St James' became the cathedral church of the first Bishop of Melbourne, Charles Perry. It served as Melbourne's Anglican cathedral until St Paul's Cathedral was consecrated