On January 30, 1950, a clergy congress took place in Sydney, where a temporary diocesan administration was established. The first bishop of the new Russian diocese was Bishop Athanasius, who arrived in Australia on July 12 of the same year, on the feast day of the holy apostles Peter and Paul.

In 1951, construction began on a church in honor of the holy apostles Peter and Paul in Strathfield, a suburb of Sydney. In May 1953, the cross was raised and installed on the dome of the bell tower. On December 27, 1953, Archbishop Theodore (Rafalsky) consecrated the church, which became the cathedral of the diocese. Later, the parish hall and church school buildings were erected.

Initially, services for the Russian community in Sydney were held in a temporary church in the YMCA building on Oxford Street, near Hyde Park, where every Sunday in a converted gymnasium, the priest conducted Orthodox services.