Nanango, Warwick, Toowoomba, etc, Qld

---

Prayer Calendar: Deceased Priests who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts, 1864–2025, Compiled by Annie Carrett, Diocesan Archivist, 2001, Updated by Gabrielle Saide, Diocesan Archivist, 2023:
Rev Thomas Hughes, died 23 Dec 1897

Born at Drumlish, Co. Longford, Ireland, in 1856, Thomas Hughes studied at Carlow. He was ordained in 1879 for the Brisbane Mission. He is listed in Pugh's as serving in Warwick around 1886 and living for some time in Allora. He also served in Roma and Goondiwindi until 1892. Toowoomba in 1892 and then Nanango. There was some claim of insanity and he spent from August 1884 until September 1886 in the Goodna Asylum. He died in 1897 aged 41, and is buried in Nudgee. Varying dates in records have mentioned his death in 1891, although there is a definite listing in Pugh's for parish work in 1893.
(Ref. Linane H141 and Pugh's)

Reproduced by permission of Bishop Ken Howell.

---

Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, p 52:
Fr Thomas Hughes

Thomas Hughes was born at Drumlish in the diocese of Ardagh in county of Longford on 23 December 1856. He was the son of a farmer Terence Hughes and his wife Bridget (nee Cosgrove). He was baptised in the local parish church at Drumlish on 24 December.(1)

Fr Hughes studied for the priesthood at St Patrick's College Carlow and was ordained in 1879 for the Brisbane mission.(2) He arrived in the Archdiocese late in 1879. He was stationed in Nanango from 1881 to 1883 and in Roma in 1884. There was some claim of insanity and he spent from August 1884 until September 1886 in the Goodna Asylum.164 He must have been restored to reasonable health for he was stationed in Warwick from 1886 to 1891, where he was deeply loved. He moved to Toowoomba in 1892 and to Goondiwindi from 1893 until 1897.

Sadly he had heart failure as a result of chronic alcoholism and died at the age of 45 in the Brisbane Hospital on 23 December 1897. His funeral took place on Christmas Eve, exactly 45 years after his birth. Archbishop Dunne officiated at his funeral and his burial in the priests' section of Nudgee Catholic cemetery.(3)

The seven years he had spent in Warwick had earned him a great deal of respect, so much so that many of his friends from those days contributed to a fund that enabled a beautiful headstone to be erected over his grave in Nudgee Catholic Cemetery. The inscription reads:

Father Thomas Hughes
Formerly of Warwick parish
Born in 1856 at Drumleigh, Co Longford, Ireland
Died at Brisbane December 23, 1897
Erected to his memory by his loving friends
Of the parish of Warwick

There is a mistake on the gravestone for his birthplace was Drumlish, not Drumleigh. In my research I have been directed to Drumlish when I googled Drumleigh in county Longford.

We pray that, with all those priests buried in the cemetery, he may rest in peace.

Footnotes
1. Irish baptismal records, National Library of Ireland.
2. Prayer Calendar - Deceased Priest who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts 1864-2007, p. 17.
3. Ibid.
4. Qld Death Registration 1897/B30238.

Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.