Death, Kapunda Herald and Northern Intelligencer, 25 August 1865, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108261261:

Ryan.—At St. John's, near Kapunda, on the 24th instant, of apoplexy, the Very Rev. Michael Ryan, in the 57th year of his age.

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General News, The Adelaide Express, 25 August 1865, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207603590:

Our obituary notice, this morning, contains the name of the Rev. Michael Ryan, who died on Thursday, of apoplexy, at Kapunda, aged 57. We believe Father Ryan was one of the first Roman Catholic priests who arrived in this colony, and he has held here the high ecclesiastical positions of Vicar-General and Apostolic Administrator. About six months ago he resigned these offices, owing to his failing health, and for some time past he has been living in retirement at Kapunda. He was a pious man, of modest and unassuming manners, and was greatly beloved by the members of his Church in the province, by whom his loss will be deeply felt.

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Death of Father Ryan, Border Watch, Mount Gambier, 26 August 1865, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77010591:

We learn by telegram that the Very Rev. Michael Ryan died on Thursday at two o'clock, at his residence at St. John's, near Kapunda. He came to Sydney in 1839, and a few years afterwards, in company with the late Catholic Bishop of Adelaide, Dr. Geoghegan, was the first to found the mission of Melbourne. He came to this colony with the late Dr. Murphy in 1846, and acted as Vicar-General since that time until prostrated by sickness about nine months ago. The deceased died of paralysis and softening of the brain. For many years, until the appointment of Father Woods, he attended periodically the Catholics of the South-East and was well known throughout this district, where he was much respected. He will be buried at the Church of St. John's this day.

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Kapunda, The South Australian Advertiser, Adelaide, 30 August 1865, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31853079:

[Correspondent.]
Tuesday, August 29.
The interment of the remains of the late Very Rev. Michael Ryan, V.G., took place in the Catholic Cemetery, at St. John's, on Saturday, 26th instant. The officiating clergymen were the Very Rev. John Smyth, Ad. Aps., Rev. Fathers Byrne, Dowling, Polk, Kranewitter (of Sevenhill College), Reynolds, Russell, M. O'Connor, and M. O'Brien. Masses for the dead commenced at 6 a.m., in the Church, offices for the dead at half-past 9, and solemn high mass was celebrated at a quarter past 10. The body was then taken to the hearse, which slowly wended its way to the Cemetery, the whole of the above clergymen following in their priestly habiliments, reciting the solemn offices for the dead, which they continued over the grave, when the body was finally laid in its last resting place, amidst the mingled regrets of the spectators and the flock of whom he had been the pastor for so many years. I understand the reverend gentleman arrived in South Australia with Bishop Murphy in the year 1844, and was therefore the first Roman Catholic priest here. He has held the important offices of Vicar-General and Administrator Apostolic, which latter appointment he received from the Holy See shortly after the death of the late Dr. Geoghegan. A few years after Father Ryan's arrival in the colony his Church was suffering from a want of funds. He therefore travelled as a missionary for some time in the South-Eastern and some of the Victorian districts, and collected sufficient funds to clear off every debt on the South Australian Mission. About six or eight months ago the reverend gentleman was compelled to resign the high offices he held, owing to failing health, from which time he resided in retirement at St John's home till his death. Father Ryan was a pious and zealous member of the Catholic Church—a man of modest and unassuming manners. In him the members of his Church have lost a truly benevolent pastor, the poor a ready counsellor, and the needy a friend.

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The Late Vicar-General, Kapunda Herald and Northern Intelligencer, 1 September 1865, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108261285:

We promised in our last issue to furnish our readers with a short sketch of the life of the late Very Rev. Michael Ryan, and we now proceed, through the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Byrne, to redeem our promise.

The very reverend gentleman was born in 1808, in the Gounty of Galway, Ireland, and having gone through his elementary education, he entered St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, in which he finished his philosophical and theological studies, and was ordained priest by the Most Reverend Dr. MacHale, the present Archbishop of Tuam.

After his ordination, his zeal urged him to abandon country, parents, and everything that is dear to man, and to go in quest of a more extensive field for labour than he could find at home. He, accordingly, chose Australia, which had then little or no attraction, and was in great spiritual want; it was the most remote place from home, and its population then chiefly consisted of people who stood in the greatest need of the consolations of religion. He sailed for New South Wales towards the end of 1838, and whilst in the Bay of Biscay, his ship encountered that terrific hurricane known as the big storm of 1839, and he was often heard to speak of that dangerous night. During his stay in New South Wales, his principal abode was Penrith, with the care of which Mission he was entrusted by the present Venerable Archbishop Polding. In 1845 Adelaide was made an Episcopal See, and Dr. Murphy, who was then Vicar-General of Sydney, was consecrated its first Bishop, and of all the priests in New South Wales, Father Ryan was the only one who would volunteer to accompany him to his extensive but very uninviting diocese, for he (the Bishop) had no church, no residence, no property, no wealthy individual in his flock, which consisted entirely of the labouring class or struggling farmers; in fact, he had but a few pounds to provide for all the wants of his diocese, and to support himself and Father Ryan. So great was the self-denying character of these two men, that for a considerable time their weekly income amounted from 3s. 6d. to 15s., on which small sum they managed to live.

The few Catholics in the Colony lived scattered in its then most remote parts, in Mount Barker, in Clare, in Gumeracha, in Penola, and Mount Gambier, and it was Father Ryan's duty as the only priest in the Colony, to visit these people, and it seems now incredible the hardships and privations he had to suffer in discharging that duty. These journeys were all performed on horseback, and as the country was then thinly populated, he had often to sleep out, and often to go without food for a considerable time, exposed to a scorching sun in summer, and a drenching rain in winter. Such was the life for some years of the very Rev. Michael Ryan.

When Dr. Murphy found it necessary to introduce more priests to instruct and care his increasing flock, he appointed Father Ryan his Vicar-General, and he held this dignity till the death of Dr. Murphy in 1858. During the vacancy of the See the Propaganda made him Administrator Apostolic, the duties of which office were upon him till September 1858, when Dr. Geoghegan was consecrated Bishop of Adelaide. He acted as Vicar to the last-named prelate up to the time of his translation to the See of Goulburne, in February 1864, when he was again appointed Administrator Apostolic, which dignity he enjoyed till about five or six months before his death.

In his dealing with the clergy under him he was kind and indulgent to a fault, and lacked somewhat that sharpsightedness and executive ability so much required in one to whom is confided the important office which he held for a considerable time.

After a useful, and even laborious life employed in doing good to his fellow creatures, he resigned his soul into the hands of his Creator on the 24th of August, 1865, and was interred on the 26th in the Catholic Cemetery at St. John's, attended by many of the clergymen of the diocese and a great concourse of people, not only those of his own flock, but many others with whom he made himself a great favourite by the many good qualities which he possessed.

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The Late Very Rev. Mr. Ryan, Freeman’s Journal, Sydney, 16 September 1865, p 586, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115452747:

The following is from the South Australian Register of the 28th of August:— The funeral of the Very Reverend Mr. Ryan, V.G., took place on Saturday morning at Kapunda. The short time that had elapsed between the melancholy intelligence of his death having been circulated in town, and the absence of any public notification as to when or where the funeral would take place, prevented many persons from attending who would have felt it a duty to pay that sad testimonial to the memory of the lamented gentleman. The Rev. Mr. Ryan, was known and esteemed beyond the pale of his own communion. A long and laborious missionary career made him familiar with all the older settlers, and the least accessible parts of the colony. At one time it was said that the Rev. Mr. Ryan and Mr. C. Bonney, then Commissioner of Crown Lands, were the only two men who were really well acquainted with the interior. The Rev. gentleman arrived here with the late Bishop Murphy, and rendered that amiable prelate essential assistance by a sedulous attention to the duties of the mission and the establishment of a diocese. When the goldfields of Victoria attracted for a time the greater portion of our Roman Catholic population, the Rev. Mr. Ryan went after them, and supplied them with the means of public worship to which they had been accustomed in the quieter scenes of South Australia. The diggers were not ungrateful; they appreciated the exertions made by the Rev. gentleman for their spiritual benefit, and their liberal offerings relieved the Adelaide mission from the serious embarrassment which the sudden removal of so many of its supporters must otherwise have occasioned. Of late years the Rev. Mr. Ryan felt that the more active duties of the priesthood in the metropolis required the energies of younger men, and he retired to the less laborious but not less onerous charge of a large country congregation. His visits to Adelaide were not very frequent, but when they did occur, his benign countenance was hailed with respectful pleasure by all who knew him. He was sincere in his own convictions, but he respected the equally sincere opinions of persons opposed to his belief. For a length of time he was a member of the Destitute Board, and there transacted business with clergymen of other denominations in an independent but conciliatory spirit. Like his friend and ecclesiastical superior, the late Bishop Murphy, he made numerous friends, and we believe, not one enemy. In the Rev. Mr. Ryan another old colonist has gone over to the majority of those who toiled early in the South Australian vineyard and now rest from their labours ; and of him, like others who have gone before, it may truly be said—
None knew thee but to love thee;
None named thee but to praise.

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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 1, 1979, p 60: "Ryan, Michael / Ir. / Tuam /Syd., Melb. 1840-4, Adel. '44-'65. V.G. d. Kapunda 28.6.1865."