Wagga, Tumut, Cootamundra, Temora, Corowa, etc, NSW

Northern Ireland deaths index: D/1930/55/1007/56/468, John Curley, died 27 August 1930, aged 76.

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New South Wales Mems, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 3 March 1882, p 16, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article254549481:

The Rev. P. Burke, of Crookwell, has been appointed to the charge, in conjunction with the Rev. Father Curley, of the Roman Catholic mission at Tumut.

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Roman Catholic, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 25 December 1890, p 21, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article254577011:

The Rev. J. Curley has been transferred from Cootamundra to Temora.

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News of the Churches, Australian Town and Country Journal, Sydney, 28 September 1895, p 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71223131:

The Revs. J. Curley and P. Cussens, of St. Michael's R.C. Church, Wagga, have received notice of their transfer to Tumut.

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Rev. John Curley Dead. Venerable Redemptorist, Westmeath Examiner, Mullingar, 30 August 1930, p 5:

The Redemptorist Order has lost one of its grand old men, in Father John Curley, who has died at Clonard Monastery, Belfast. For the past two years he was more or less confined to his room by ill-health.

Father Curley was born 76 years ago near Athlone. Last year he celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination. For twenty years, from his entry into the priesthood, he was on the mission in Australia, and was one of the many secular priests who played their part in the firm establishment of the Church there.

Returning to Ireland he joined the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer, in which he was professed in July, 1900. Since that his name has been known all over Ireland as an impressive preacher at Missions and Retreats. He was attached at different times to the Redemptorist houses at Esker, Dundalk, and Clonard.

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Personal, Daily Advertiser, Wagga Wagga, 13 September 1930, p 4,http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142683540:

The Rev. Father Curley, formerly of Temora, died last week at Belfast, Ireland.

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Obituary. Rev. Fr. Curley , Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 15 September 1930, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104430991:

A cable has been received from the Redemptorist Fathers, Ireland, announcing the death of Rev. Father Curley, C.S.S.R. John Baptist Curley was born at Athlone on September 4, 1854, and at a very early age entered All Hallows' Ecclesiastical Seminary. He was ordained priest on June 24, 1879. He sailed for Australia almost immediately and began his apostolate in the Goulburn Diocese. He spent the first years of his priesthood as curate at Tumut, Cootamundra and Temora. His youthful appearance and light-hearted manner led people to believe him much younger than he really was, and many called him the "boy priest.'' When the late Dr. Gallagher was appointed to the Diocese of Goulburn Father Curley succeeded him as Administrator at Wagga. Many old residents of that town will probably remember him and his famous trotting pony "Stockings." It is stated that on one occasion when Fr. Curley missed a certain bush train he took "Stockings" overland, arriving at his destination ahead of the train. About three months later Father Curley decided to join the Redemptorist Novitiate. He was professed as a Redemptorist on July 2, 1900. Zealous in the service of God from the moment of his ordination, his zeal increased rather than diminished. For the first 20 years he laboured as a secular priest, and for 30 years as a Redemptorist Missioner. For the last five or six years, however, he was paralysed in both legs, and the end was not altogether unexpected.

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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 114:

Curley, John Baptist, C.S.S.R., Irish
A Secular Who Joined the Redemptorists
Daniel and Mary Fallon, according to All Hallows records, were the parents of this hardy secular who served the Goulburn Diocese for 20 years and who gave missions in England and Ireland for a further 30. Origin on the A.H. records is not stated but the guess would be that as his mother's name was Fallon he came from the same county that Fr. Edward Fallon, a classmate, namely, County Athlone. Both attended St. Peters College or School, Elphin, and Summer Hill College, Athlone. John and his cousin (presumably!) were ordained on the same day for Goulburn, 24 June 1879. Full details of his places of station are not to hand, but the Directories read like this: Albury (1880), Tumut (1881), Jerilderie, Wagga (1884), Gundagai (1888), Temora (1892), Cootamundra (1898). In the latter year he left with Patrick Stack Cussen to join the Redemptorists. This marked the third such entry in the Goulburn Diocese, Patrick Joseph Clune (later Archbishop of Perth) having left to join the ranks in 1893. After a novitiate in Dundalk, Ireland, John Baptist was professed as a C.S.S.R. on 2 November 1900. He was to give scores of missions in England and Ireland, notably at Clonard and Belfast, in the next 30 years. Unlike P.T. Cussen he was destined never to return to Australia. The recounting of his piety, zeal etc. would fill many chapters, especially if the C.S.S.R. annalist, Fr. William Packer, is to be taken literally. Like so many of Fr. Williams' subjects of biography, he died "in the odour of sanctity" — a fact which may be perfectly true, but it somehow grates on the nerve of the plodding historian.
(Footprints, Vol. 3, No. 4)
Information: As Quoted.

A Prayer-Calendar of Deceased Priests & Deacons in Australia 1788-2009, compiled by W.T. Southerwood, Sixth Edition, 2009, p 107: date of death given erroneously as 27 August 1935.