A Priest's Fate. He Is Found Dead, The Herald, Melbourne, 24 September 1909, p 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241959744:

Father J. P. Carolan, a priest who for many years had not fulfilled the offices of his calling, was found dead to-day.

He was a well-known figure about the city—an old man dressed in semi-clerical clothes, faded and seedy, and carrying a large bag wherever he went.

He lived in poor surroundings at West Melbourne, where he rented a room. He left home early in the mornings with his bag. He was a deep reader, and was permitted to enter St. Patrick's Hall, Bourke street, whenever he liked. He made that a favorite haunt, where he read for hours at a time. It is thought that he called there this morning to spend a while among his books, which were principally on theological subjects, but that he was overcome by illness, and sank exhausted at the foot of the stairs. He was found at half-past nine o'clock by Mr J. Tully, clerk of the Hibernian Society, at the foot of the stairs. Mr Tully considered that he was dead, and called Mr Bourke, the caretaker.

The end had come quietly, and the unfortunate old man—he was aged about 70 years—was lying with his hands crossed on his breast.

Constable Wall was called in and took the body to the Morgue. It is thought that death was the result of heart disease.

About 21 years ago the deceased was a priest in the Bendigo district. He became financially embarrassed by the land boom. As a consequence, he was suspended from his office by the authorities of the church, and since that time has lived privately in Melbourne.

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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, p 23:

Carolan, John Patrick, Irish
Sudden Death at St. Patrick's Hall, Melbourne
Probably he was born in the Diocese of Armagh. The paucity of records in respect to Maynooth College, unfortunately 'scrappy and only half completed when in the 1960s the Irish Ecclesiastical Record ceased publication, account for the missing details. Certainly Carolan was a Maynooth product, being ordained for the Diocese of Dublin on 24 June 1872. He served for a short time in Booterstown, a Dublin suburb. Then came a short stay in New Zealand, before arriving in the Melbourne Diocese in 1874. He is listed at Castlemaine for a few months, and then seemingly joined the newly-formed Diocese of Sandhurst when Dr. Crane came as first Bishop in 1875. Baptism records indicate that he was assistant in Echuca from September '75 to October '80. A small book, with the title "A Short History of the Catholic Church in Rochester" by the Rev. Patrick I. Hickey OSA pays tribute to the pioneering in the Echuca-Rochester-Corop area of priests like Nicholas Bassetto, James McGillicuddy, and includes Carolan whose last baptism in the Echuca Register is dated 25.10.1880. In that year he moves on to Benalla as assistant, becoming P.P. in 1884 and remaining until 1888. Judging by Directories he would seem to have charge of the Rutherglen Mission from 1888 to 1892. He went from the Chiltern-Rutherglen Mission to Wodonga in 1892, being credited with bringing the Sisters of Mercy to the latter place. But recent Directories indicate that Wodonga did not become a separate parish until 1899. Albeit, Carolan receives no mention in the Directories of the 1900s. So whether his story in later days is a sad one or not, we know not. The Advocate in recording his sudden death on 24 September 1909 at St. Patrick's Hall in Bourke Street, Melbourne, states that he was living in retirement in Melbourne and was a man of "genial and kindly disposition".
(Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 2)