On the 12th of October, 1957, a group of Italian People, born in the city of Molfetta, province of Bari, Italy (map location seen left), and now residing in the city of Port Adelaide, met with the purpose of establishing the basis of the veneration, within said district of Port Adelaide of the Madonna dei Martiri, patron of Molfetta and of its fishermen.

A Committee of eleven was formed, and to this committee was entrusted the task of collecting, by means of appeals and other activities, sufficient funds for the purpose of purchasing in Italy and bringing to Australia a copy of the statue which is venerated in the great Basilica of Molfetta under than name of Madonna dei Martiri (Our Lady of the Martyrs), in order to donate the said statue to the Roman Catholic Paris of Port Adelaide.

The committee was also entrusted with the task of complying a Constitution which, after having been approved by the representative of His Grace the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, namely the parish priest of Prot Adelaide, would serve as a guideline to the faithful in order to perpetuate the veneration of the Madonna dei Martiri in the locality and to set up the regulation for the festivities.

Having fulfilled the task to them entrusted to purchase and to bring out from Italy a copy of the statue and having organised the first celebrations in its honour in September 1958, the committee have compiled the present constitution which has been duly approved by the Parish Priest of Port Adelaide representing the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide.