Country Districts, Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 20 November 1861, p 3,http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115761926:

Catholic Church. — The following changes are about being made in the allocation of the Catholic Clergymen in this district. The Rev. Father Lanigan takes charge of Berrima, succeeding the Rev. Father Magennis, who removes to Appin, while the Rev. Father Foley is at present acting in Father Lanigan's place at Goulburn, and the Very Rev. Dean Rigney, late of Brisbane, has been appointed to Camden. — Goulburn Chronicle.

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T.W. Campbell, The Priests of the Diocese of Armidale: A Necrology, Braddon ACT, 2005:
Rigney, John

Born on 18 January 1814 in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, Ireland. Details of education unknown. He studied for the priesthood at Maynooth. He was ordained on 30 December 1837. Place of ordination unknown. He volunteered for the Australian mission, and arrived in Sydney on Cecilia on 15 July 1838. He was first appointed to the Illawarra, based at Wollongong. He was next appointed to Port Macquarie, possibly to Norfolk Island (1845-1846), and then to Singleton in 1848, with responsibility for all parts of the colony to the north, including the developing towns of Tamworth and Armidale. He travelled through his mission area until 1853 when Archbishop Polding toured the northern region, following which he divided the mission district, and appointed Timothy McCarthy to Armidale. He then went to Moreton Bay (1857), and was appointed as Dean of Brisbane. He next transferred to Camden and Burragorang (1862). He was made Archdeacon of Sydney in 1869. He made a visit to Europe in 1871, and became parish priest at Parramatta on his return in 1872. He ultimately retired as parish priest of Prospect. He died on 9 June 1903, and was buried in the mortuary chapel at Parramatta cemetery. He had been 65 years a priest.
(Sources: G&S, Campbell, O'Brien, T&CJ 13 May 1903 p 11, 4 May 1889 pp 8, 20 (portrait), FJ 30 Jun 1900 p 17, 16 May 1903 p 24 (portrait), 13 Jun 1918 p 20, Bulletin 18 Apr 1903 p 15, Catholic Press 14 May 1903 p 4, 17 Nov 1904 p17, NSW Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings 1890, Vol 2, p 416, Foley, MDHC A-Z R28).

(Reproduced by permission of Tom Campbell.)

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Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, p 57:
Rt Rev Monsignor John Rigney

There passed away on Saturday last, at Prospect, near Parramatta, an old historical figure in the annals of Queensland, in the person of Rt Rev Monsignor John Rigney, the oldest clergyman in New South Wales, and about 90.(1)

John Rigney was a native of Ballinasloe, County Galway in Ireland, born about 1813. He was educated for the priesthood at Maynooth Seminary and ordained there on 21 December 1837. In 1838, Rev Dr Ullathorne visited Ireland for the purpose of inducing, if possible, priests to go to the Australian mission. Fr Rigney volunteered, and accompanied by seven other priests, arrived in Australia in on 15 July 1838, aboard the barque Cecilia.(2) Before his arrival there were only nine priests in Australia. Monsignor Patrick Hartigan (John O'Brien) wrote about these priests in articles first published under the title In Diebus Illis in the Australian Catholic Record between 1943 and 1945. These were published in a book The Men of '38 in 1975.

Fr Rigney's first appointment was Wollongong, where he ministered to his scattered flock with devotion, and where he built the first church. For a number of years he had charge of the Singleton district. It was an exchange of parishes, when Dr Polding appointed him to Moreton Bay in September 1857. Dean James Hanly, who had been the Parish Priest of Queensland for 13 years, was transferred to Singleton. Dean Rigney, at first, settled into Dean Hanly's home, Castleracket in Brisbane. Fr McGinty was resident in Ipswich. These two pioneer priests shared the ministry to the extensive areas of this colony until the arrival of Bishop Quinn in 1861.

Queensland was separated from New South Wales in 1859, and created as a new Catholic diocese in the same year. It was reported that Dean Rigney was rather cool in his welcome of the new bishop in May 1861. Rigney chose to return to Sydney rather than remain in Brisbane. He left Brisbane, sailing for Sydney on the Telegraph on 20 August 1861.(3)

Serving at St Mary's Cathedral and Balmain, he became Archdeacon of the Archdiocese in 1869 and created a domestic prelate in 1887. His final active appointment was as parish priest of Parramatta for 15 years. He retired to lesser duties at the mass-centre of Prospect, in the parish of Parramatta, ministering also to the churches at Smithfield and Blacktown. He died in the old presbytery at Prospect, on 9 June 1903, aged 90.(4)

The Journal Figaro wrote of him at the time of his death:

He came of a distinguished stock, and was very handsome, a perfect horseman, and probably the finest figure in the saddle ever seen in Brisbane. His sisters, misses Rigney, lived with him for many years and constantly attended to him. In the days of Governor Bowen, Dean Rigney had the right of private entrée to Government House, which was altered on the arrival of Bishop Quinn, and then the stately Dean bade farewell to this city.(5)

Footnotes
1. Queensland Figaro, Brisbane, 14 May 1903, p. 6.
2. Obituary in Nepean Times, Penrith, 16 May 1903, p. 3.
3. Denis W Martin, The Foundation of the Catholic Church in Queensland, 1988 edition, pp. 123 to 155.
4. Obituary in Evening News, Sydney, 11 May 1903, p. 8.
5. Queensland Figaro and Punch, Brisbane, 14 May 1903, p. 6.

Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.