The following address was presented to the Rev. Michael Magrath, R.C.C., on Monday, the 2nd August, 1847, at Mr. Coffey's Hotel, Windsor:—, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 1847, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12897402:

Rev. and Dear Sir,—We, the undersigned inhabitants of the Windsor District, have heard with much regret of the contemplated change in your ministry, and your almost immediate removal to the district of Bathurst, and though short the space which must elapse before the separation takes place, we cannot allow of the departure without presenting you with some slight testimonial of our respect, and the esteem which your residence in this neighbourhood, though brief, so eminently and deservedly calls forth.

We beg your acceptance of the accompanying purse, not as a testimonial of much value, but indicative of our sincere and earnest well wishes; and we trust it will be as acceptable and gratifying as if it had been a more costly offering. We sincerely hope, that in a more enlarged district your labours will be duly appreciated, and those blessings secured to your people, which your assiduous attentions and careful thoughts are well calculated to entail; and, in conclusion, we trust your own health, previously impaired by arduous attention to your duties, will be such as to enable you to persevere in your functions as a Gospel minister, to your own great satisfaction, and benefit to all under your own immediate guidance, and we beg to remain,
Rev. and dear Sir,
Your sincere friends and well-wishers,
Edmund Burke, Thomas Byrnes
B. I. Burke, James Graham
W. Bell, surgeon, C. W. May
Edward Coffey, P. Hogan
John Watson, M. Donovan
John Curneen, sen., Robert Eather
John Curneen, jun., Thomas Lynch
James Pendergrast, R. Nowland
Michael Mahony, John Dunne
M. Graham, John McCann
M. Eather, John Martin
J. Cunningham, sen., John McGuire
J. Cunningham, jun., Thomas Tiernan
Patrick Campbell, John Horon
Patrick Leeson, William Slater

Answer.

My dear Friends, The very kind and affectionate sentiments so unexpectedly, but partially conveyed in your Address, are extremely pleasing, and highly gratifying to me, though indeed undeserving of them.

To me, it appears beyond all doubt, that it is your own entire devotedness, and incomparable benevolence of heart, which has induced you to to overate, so much as you do, my humble exertions, and the probable good I have endeavoured to effect in your district.

It will not, I trust, be altogether forgotten that this is the first, or only occasion that I have been solicited to reply to an expression of sincere attachment, truly charitable good feeling, and lively affection, when about retiring from those amongst whom I have had for some considerable period been engaged in the discharge of the sacred avocations of the Priesthood.

On examining your list of subscribers for this testimonial, I am not a little rejoiced to find that the Protestant, and most respectable members of various other religious denominations have joined the Catholic in offering their united tribute and testimony of respect and esteem. With you no petty difference, dissension, or disunion, arising from religious prejudices, or sectarian rancour exist—no ! you are too good, too generous.

Now after an interval of more than two years I have lived with you, I feel it my bounden and individual duty, on the eve of my departure, emphatically and explicitly to state, that I am persuaded from practical and long experience, that there are no people more unobtrusive, humane, charitable, kindly disposed, or more attached to their respective clergymen than the inhabitants of Windsor and its extensive vicinity ; for these, and for many other causes which I do not now deem necessary or expedient to dilate upon, or even intimate, I sincerely regret, and much deplore the circumstances which lead to our mutual but unavoidable separation.

In me, or in my absence from you, Gentlemen, I beg most respectfully but candidly to assure you, you cannot find any possible loss, or even disadvantage particularly, and more especially when you are informed that I am about to be succeeded by that great, venerable, and good man whose name—from the association of the many and important services, which during a long and most laborious life of seven-and-twenty years he has rendered to religion and humanity in this remote, extensive, and almost boundless land,—you will hear announced with the most profound respect and deepest veneration, —the Very Rev. J. J. Therry. I now most cordially and cheerfully congratulate you in the permanent appointment amongst you of this estimable and exemplary ecclesiastic, universally esteemed, and ever respected clergyman, and on the additional blessings, advantage, and benefit yourselves, family, and children will necessarily derive from his society and ministration. I now bid you a most affectionate farewell, and when absent, perhaps far, far away, I shall dwell with unfeigned delight, and no trifling or inconsiderable pleasure in the happy retrospection that I departed with the conviction that I have punctually and faithfully, I hope, discharged all my duties towards God and you, and that I have obtained the best respect and kindest feelings of all classes.

In conclusion, Gentlemen, I beg to offer you the expression of my most sincere and grateful thanks for your very acceptable and valuable present of a gold purse, and also for your very kind wishes, and frequent enquiries as regards the state of my health, and am most happy to say, that it has been considerably improved during my sojourning with you in your fertile, most flourishing, and delightful district.

Of your great kindness and unvarying attention to me at all times I shall cherish a most faithful and grateful remembrance, and may the Almighty, who is the great and wise dispenser of all good and perfect gifts, impart to you his choicest blessings in time and eternity, is the sincerest desire, my dear friends, of your humble and obedient servant, M.M. McGrath.
To E. Burke.Esq., Dr. Bell, and the other Gentlemen signing the Address.

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Departure and Arrival of Clergymen, Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 13 May 1852, p 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114834583:

The Rev. Mr. McGrath whose health had been much impaired by his laborious duties, for the last twelve years on this mission, has, by the advice of medical men, returned to his native land, Ireland, he sailed on last Saturday, in the Douglass.

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Irish death record, https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1900/05768/4630151.pdf: Superintendent Registrar's District Kilmacthomas, Registrar's District Bunmahon. 1900. Deaths Registered in the District of Bunmahon in the Union of Kilmacthomas in the County of Waterford. No. 187: On 14 November 1899 at Benvoy, death of Revd. Michael McGrath, M, bachelor, 84 years, R.C. Clergyman; of old age, no medical attendant; informant Johanna Geary, present at death, of Benvoy, 10 January 1900.

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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 1, 1979, p 51: "McGrath, Michael /Ir. /W'ford, St. M. Syd./ Syd., Norfolk Is., Goul., Ir. d. in Benvoy 1899."

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Incorrectly listed as having died on 14 November 1893: A Prayer-Calendar of Deceased Priests & Deacons in Australia 1788-2009, compiled by W.T. Southerwood, Sixth Edition, 2009, p 152: "Sydney; Norfolk Island; Yass, Goulburn, Carcoar, Kurrajong, Windsor, Bathurst, Berrima, Mudgee, NSW".