Dundalk, Brisbane Water, Port Macquarie, West Dapto NSW

---

Table Talk, The Manning River News and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales, 17 October 1868, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266390412:

We are glad to hear that the Rev. Mr. Quinlivan has returned to this district. He replaces Father Coghlan, who has gone elsewhere. So far as we have heard, this change will not be complained of by any of the members of the communion of which Mr. Quinlivan is a minister.

---

Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, p 59:

Coghlan, Cornelius D., OP, Irish
An Island Called After Him
Recently I visited Kincumber, a quiet nook encircled by water, in the company of Fr. Frank Mecham, my co-editor in the production of 'The Men of '38'. I was intrigued by the historical atmosphere of the parish buildings - with its long-standing convent-orphanage, its church graveyard where lie the remains of the mysterious Father Healy, drowned at the Harbour entrance (so the epitaph runs), and the grand old Benedictine, one of the last of the Benedictine pioneers, Dean Sheridan. Most intriguing were the walls of the church built in the early 40s and a tribute to the taste of the present P.P. who has renovated the interior. Sister Assumpta O'Hanlon who outlines the career of Fr. Coghlan in her 'Dominican Pioneers in New South Wales' states that Father Patrick A. Hogan was the first pastor at Brisbane Water (synonymous with Kincumber) in 1842. Was it Healy, Hogan, or Coghlan who built the ancient monument? Albeit, we take up the story as told by Sister Assumpta about the second pastor: "Born at Clonfert, Galway, in 1792 Cornelius Coghlan studied in Spain and later returned to Ireland. He was Prior of Dundalk in the 1830s. There he established the National School, one of the first in Ireland. A forthright man with the courage of his convictions he was often at variance with men of opposite views; amongst these was the Archbishop of Armagh, who was incensed at the Prior's excessive zeal for his school-building. When Dr. Polding visited Ireland in 1841 (a visit undertaken on account of the desperate need for priests), Fr. Coghlan decided that he could do more good for souls on the Australian Mission. He reached Sydney at the end of 1842, having come to the Colony without permission of the Secretary of State. (Australian Historical Records). On 30 January 1843 he was appointed to Brisbane Water as its second resident priest. He is mentioned by Cardinal Moran as being present at the first Provincial Synod in September 1844. He is reported to have been a genial pastor, who won the affection of Protestants and Catholics alike. His superb sense of humour was his mainstay, though in the light of the following story recounted by a Dominican nun in Maitland, one might doubt its successful application on all occasions: When 'Father Con' was an old man, worn out by tireless labours he was at last granted an assistant, a young priest fresh from Ireland. When they met for the first time, Fr. Coghlan exclaimed with fervour: "Glory be to God, I've been waiting for you for forty years and here you are at last". The newcomer was rather nonplussed, as well as somewhat flattered, at his importance, but the old man continued: "I've been waiting for forty years to see a fellow uglier than myself and at last I've succeeded". At Brisbane Water he owned and lived on an island near Woy Woy known for many years as Coghlan's Island. Here the man of many parts managed a banana plantation. There was no Primate of Armagh to question his profits ... From the "island fastness" he used to row across the Water to say Mass at Kincumber. In 1863 he was moved to Port Macquarie, a parish that embraced the Manning and Hastings district. Before leaving he sold his island to a Mr Brown, who in turn sold it to a Mr Kinnane. Today it is known as Kinnane's Island. ('History of the Catholic Church in the Brisbane Water District' - Rev. J .J .O'Donovan).

From Port Macquarie, after six years of tireless effort in that wild coastal region, Fr. Coghlan, who was loved far and wide for his zeal and open-handed giving, was brought to Dapto, where he died on 2 June 1872. The Annals of the Maitland Dominican Convent mention a small legacy left to the nuns. It was necessarily small for every tramp in the bush and every down-on-his-luck settler had drawn on Father Con's resources ... The tombstone at Dapto reads: Pray for the soul of Rev. C.D. Coghlan O.P. Missionary Priest of this diocese (sic) of Dapto who died 2 June 1872 aged 74 years, and in the 50th year of his priesthood. R.I.P."

There were a few minor omissions: records show he was at Newcastle for two years after leaving Brisbane Water. Also, death was due to a paralytic stroke, and he was attended on his death-bed by Dean Michael Flanagan.
(Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 7)
Ref.: As quoted.

---

T.W. Campbell, The Priests of the Diocese of Armidale: A Necrology, Braddon ACT, 2005:
Coghlan, Cornelius D (OP)

Irish born in the diocese of Clonfert, Co Galway about 1793, he was educated mostly in Spain. Date and place of ordination unknown, but it was stated that he had been ordained for over 50 years at the time of his death. He worked in the Australian mission for 30 years. How he came to arrive in New South Wales is unknown. He spent time on the north coast of NSW until about 1871 in 'a far-off and arduous mission on the Clarence'. He was then appointed to Dapto and Shellharbour where he died on 2 June 1872. He is buried at Shellharbour.
(Sources: FJ 8 June 1872 p 10, Southerwood, MDHC A-Z C105)

(Reproduced by permission of Tom Campbell.)