Shipping Intelligence. Arrival, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 April 1845, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12878744:

April 12.—Caledonia, barque, 405 tons, Captain Hauxwell, from the Downs, the 3rd December. Passengers—Miss Hindmarsh, two Misses Bothers, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Thomas, Rev. Mons. Dubreul, Rev. Mons. Roches, and Rev. Mons. Le Blanc, Roman Catholic Priests.

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Shipping Intelligence. Sailed, The Australian, Sydney, 9 December 1845, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37159629:

Dec. 7.—The schooner Columbine, Stratton, master, for the South Sea Islands, with sundries. Passengers, Rev. Mr. Dubreul and the Rev. Mr. D. Collins, Roman Catholic Clergymen.

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Shipping Intelligence. Arrived, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 May 1846, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12887314:

May 18.—Columbine, schooner, 68 tons, Captain Stratton, from the Navigators the 20th March, and Tongataboo the 15th April—Passengers—Rev. A. Dubreul, Rev. T. Grange, Mr. Rochier, Mr. W. Washington, Mr. W. Williams, and a native of Wallis's Island.

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Ninety-Two Years in Australia, Catholic Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 4 March 1937, p 20, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146403064:

As the Marist Fathers' mission in the Pacific developed, and assistance from the Propagation of the Faith was forthcoming, the Superior-General of the Society of Mary (Father Colin) deemed it advisable to have a central house near the missions. This was to be the Procure, The Procurator, or one in charge of the Procure, was to distribute the funds derived from the Propagation of the Faith. It was also his duty to purchase the numberless things that were necessary for the missionaries, and at the same time to be an intermediary between them and the mother-house at Lyons. His Eminence Cardinal Franzoni, then Protector of the Society in Rome, recommended Sydney as the most central and suitable place for such a Procure. Accordingly he wrote to Dr. Polding in 1842, recommending that a house be given the Marist Fathers in Sydney.

On Saturday afternoon, April 12, 1845, Rev. Fathers Dubreul and Rocher, with one lay-brother, arrived in Sydney after a voyage from France that had lasted four and a half months. They immediately proceeded to St. Mary's Cathedral, and there paid their respects to Dr. Polding. He received them very kindly, and straightaway wrote to Father Colin, giving his consent to the establishment of a house of the Marist Fathers in Sydney.

Those good Fathers first secured a house in Woolloomooloo. It was a very humble beginning. They were not recognised as religious. They were not allowed to have the Blessed Sacrament in their temporary oratory, and for the most part they were utilised as assistants in the work of organising the growing Catholic community. As this interfered with their religious life and their work of attending to the missions, they submitted a report to Father Colin who in turn wrote to Dr. Polding. The Venerable Archpriest Therry offered them 45 acres of ground in the district of Maryville, but this kind offer was declined, as it had not come with the sanction of the Bishop.

In February of 1847 Father Dubreul went to Europe. Together with Father Colin he journeyed to Rome and there they discussed the position in regard to Sydney and the procure. During that same year Father Rocher purchased a house which had belonged to the Salter family. This was situated in Salter- street, Hunter's Hill. The street is still known by this name, being called after the Salter family. The top of this street is the tram stop for visitors journeying to Hunter's Hill. The house and 18 acres of ground were purchased. On this property a house was built for the Fathers and a residence for the Brothers. Near this house there can still be seen a sun-dial which was erected by one of the Brothers. Between the two buildings a small chapel was erected, which was also used as a parish church for the Catholics of Hunter's Hill. This group of buildings was known as the Priory. On this property are still growing some trees which were transplanted from St. Helena.

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Fr Craig Larkin SM, Jean-Claude Colin. Rome: A Superior-General at Work, Rome: Padri Maristi, 2014, p 78, retrieved from https://www.jeanclaudecolin.org/images/pdf/COLIN_IN_ROME_FINAL_1015.c.pdf on 16 September 2025:

Travelling Companion: Antoine Dubreul

Born in 1810, Antoine Dubreul entered the Society of Mary as a priest and was professed in 1840. Colin appointed him to work in the Secretariate for the Propagation of the Faith in Lyons. In 1844 Fr Colin sent Dubreul to Rome, along with Jean-Baptiste Epalle and Léopold Verguet, to study Canon Law and Church discipline. Colin’s intention was to allow the authorities in Rome to choose one of them as Vicar Apostolic of Melanesia and the other as a coadjutor. Rome chose Epalle as Vicar Apostolic, but did not name a coadjutor. Colin then sent Dubreul, along with Jean-Louis Rocher and Br August Leblanc to establish the Procure for the missions in Sydney.

Difficulties arose with the Archbishop of Sydney, Bede Polding, whose dream “to set the seal of the Benedictine Order on the whole Australian Church” posed insuperable problems to the Marist missionaries who could not be expected to live according to Polding’s idea of the Benedictine life.

In 1845-6 Dubreul made a six-month tour of all the Marist missionary stations in the Pacific at the request of Fr Colin, and he returned to Europe to give his report on the state of the missions, and the difficulties with Archbishop Polding. Mayet records that on the day after Dubreul’s arrival in France, he and Colin spent the whole night discussing the issues “until the time came for sounding the rising-bell the next morning.” (FA 350)

Armed with this knowledge, Colin was in a good position to negotiate with the Holy See concerning the missions.

Dubreul returned to the missions in 1850 and spent the rest of his life in Samoa.

He died in 1867.

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Conflicting dates of death:

• Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 1, 1979, p 44: "Dubruel [sic], Antoine Freydier SM/ Fr. / Founder base in Syd. d.in Apia, Fiji 29.5.1867(57)."
• A Prayer-Calendar of Deceased Priests & Deacons in Australia 1788-2009, compiled by W.T. Southerwood, Sixth Edition, 2009, p 66: d. 27.5.1867.