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, Irish
Involved in Queensland Immigration Venture
The name appears in the Ipswich baptismal records in 1863. It's presumed he came as a Chaplain to one of the tubs employed by Father Patrick Dunne when the Queensland Immigration Society was in operation from 1860 to 1864. That in itself is a story and has been recounted by Fr. Tom Boland, Banyo Rector, in the pages of the Australasian Catholic Record.
(Footprints, Vol. 3, No. 4)

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Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, pp 59-60:
Fr John J Curley

Fr Tom Linane in his short article about Fr Curley, in Abel to Zundolovich, says:

It is presumed that he came as a chaplain to one of the 'tubs' employed by Father Patrick Dunne when the Queensland Immigration Society was in operation between 1860 and 1864.(1)

Fr Curley arrived in Moreton Bay aboard the Wanata on 19 February 1863. He was chaplain to the Roman Catholic migrants sponsored by Bishop Quinn's Queensland Immigration Society aboard the schooner Wanata which had left Queenstown Ireland on 12 November 1862. There were 636 individuals on board the vessel, half of whom came out under the auspices of the Queensland Immigration Society. In spite of being seriously ill for the last three weeks of the voyage it was reported:

Too much praise cannot be given for the great assistance he (Fr Curley) rendered the captain in maintaining good order amongst those who were immediately under his ministerial oversight, and for the great talent and perseverance which he uniformly exerted in carrying out the services and ordinances at which he presided. We are much pleased to hear that the reverend gentleman is fast recovering from his serious illness.(2)

Fr Curley was in Ipswich in 1863 as a curate to Fr Brun. The Courier in 1863 advises that:

The Rev John Curley, Minister of the Church of Rome, Ipswich … has been registered as a minister of religion for the celebration of marriages, within the colony of Queensland.(3)

The Courier reported on a marriage that he celebrated in that year.

On the 29th July by the Rev J Curley, Mr John Macalister, of Fortitude Valley to Miss Anne Brohen, of Brisbane.(4)

In the same year, The Courier records:

"The North Australian of yesterday says:-
Last evening a highly respectable assemblage of citizens, numbering over two hundred took place in the hall of the School of Arts, for the purpose of realising subscriptions in aid of the national monument to be erected in the metropolis of Ireland in commemoration of the late Daniel O'Connell. The meeting was presided over by the Honourable and Right Worshipful the Mayor of Ipswich. On the platform were the Rev Father Curley, Dr O' Doherty, Mr P O'Sullivan, Mr A Sullivan, Mr F C Chubb, Mr J Murphy and other gentlemen who took part in the proceedings. We would merely observe that the whole proceedings passed off with the utmost unanimity and good feeling, and the object of the meeting will be unequivocally achieved.(5)

There appears to be no reports of a farewell from Ipswich. But early in 1864 Fr Curley was at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. He served as chaplain to Archbishop Polding at the requiem Mass for Very Rev Dean Grant of Bathurst.(6) Again he was present at a meeting, called by the Archbishop, to take into consideration the best means of relieving the distress caused by the floods in different parts of the country, and to try out the decision arrived at without delay.(7) He was at the funeral of the famous Very Rev J J Therry on 13 June that year.(8) In October he is mentioned as being at the funeral of Rev Fr Michael Brennan, who had served at Yass, Goulburn and Penrith.(9) He was present at a meeting of the St Mary's Young Men's Society in September 1864 where it was reported that he made certain interventions.(10)

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Fr Curley as officiating at several marriages in St Mary's Cathedral in 1864, of which the following is one example.

February 24, 1864, by special permission at St Mary's Cathedral by Rev Father Curley, Andrew Joseph Holland, native of London, to Mary Gregg, eldest daughter of Thomas Gregg, Esq, Queens County, Ireland.(11)

Fr John Curley remained in Sydney no more than 16 or 17 months. He left for America in late May 1865. Many priests who ministered in Australia were wanderers.

In June 1865 the Sydney Freeman's Journal carried a report [byline 18 March 1865]:

Rev Father Curley arrived last Monday [14 March] in San Francisco from Sydney on the ship John Jay. Before leaving he was presented with an address, by his parishioners, in which it is said that in the Church of St Francis de Sales is a monument of his zeal for the interest and advancement of religion and that perseverance and energy which are such admirable qualities in a Catholic Priest. Father Curley in reply says: The perils of the ocean will appear to me as trifles, since I have the testimony of your ecclesiastical superior (the Archbishop), that I have 'laboured with fruit among you', since too my own heart bears me witness that during my sojourn in Sydney I have done the best I could. The passengers of the John Jay, on which Father Curley came as passenger, presented an address to him of a highly complementary nature, to which he returned an appropriate reply.(12)

Following my research, I have [not] been able to find any information of his ministry in America.

Footnotes
1. Footprints, Melbourne, Apr 1978, Vol 3, No 4, p. 29.
2. Courier, Brisbane, 19 Feb 1863, p.2.
3. Ibid, 9 May 1863, p. 2.
4. Ibid. 18 Aug 1863, p. 5.
5. Ibid. 9 Sep 1863, p. 2.
6. Sydney Morning Herald, 2 Mar 1864, p. 5.
7. Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 9 Mar 1864, p. 6.
8. North Australian, Brisbane, 16 Jun 1864, p. 5.
9. Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 26 Oct 1864, p. 3.
10. Ibid. 10 Sep 1864, p. 2.
11. Sydney Morning Herald, 21 Mar 1864, p. 8.
12. Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 21 Jun 1865, p. 390.

Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.