Australian Dictionary of Biography entry: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/corbett-james-francis-5777

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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, pp 79-81:

Corbett, James Francis, Most Rev., Irish, Golden Jubilarian
From "Where the River Shannon Flows"
Writing about Bishop Corbett, John Gavan Duffy describes him as "more like a French abbé than an Irish priest in appearance". He was "an inveterate snuff-taker ... Amongst his snuff-boxes was one which was a great favourite ... Like some safes, it could only be opened by an intricate way of moving pointers over discs, and the Bishop was very proud of the fact that the foreign shopkeeper in whose shop he had seen it gave it to him because he had opened it when everyone else had failed .. " (Austral Light, July 1912, P. 532). Duffy goes on to infer that on the snuff-taking habit Sale's first bishop would be disqualified for canonisation ... nevertheless he was a worthy pioneer prelate. "He had a heart of gold under an outer husk of reserve. He was a cultured gentleman, a scholar, a fast friend ..." So much in brief of the pen-picture. What of the details?

James Francis was born in Limerick; road address, according to the writer's file, Tanyard Lane. Priesthood studies were received in Belgium and at Le Mans, Paris. After ordination in 1858 he returned to his native diocese, spending five years in service at St. John's Parish, Limerick, Drumcollogher Parish, and Kilcolman; and as Duffy remarks: "We may be sure that he carried out his duties with all the zeal, with all the punctuality, with all the devotion that have characterised his labours in our midst". For reasons of health and with the urge to help where priests were sorely needed, he came to the Melbourne Diocese, arriving in August 1864. Assigned to the parish of St. Kilda, he served for a short time as Bishop Goold's Secretary. In fact, looking at the MDHC correspondence relating to the Goold era, it can be claimed that Corbett was one of the few among the clergy who didn't come into conflict with the pragmatic leader - except on one occasion and that of no great moment. He presided over the completion of the ornate St. Mary's Church, and as well built many other churches and schools in a district that today embraces at least half a dozen parishes. The Presentation Sisters were brought from Limerick in 1873. Later he introduced the Christian Brothers to extend the field of Catholic Education - a cause he had very much at heart. We find him on an Education Committee in 1877 to found a Catholic College - a venture which succeeded many years later. In the previous year he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity and made a Vicar Forane - distinctions which kept him under scrutiny as 'episcopabile'. On the death of Dr. Goold in 1886 it was decided to proceed to the formation of a fourth Victorian Diocese.

Corbett was consecrated first bishop of Sale in his beloved St. Mary's at St. Kilda on 25 August 1887 by Archbishop Carr - marking the fifth consecration of a bishop in Melbourne. Boarding a train with its engine decorated in blossoms and evergreens and relishing the company of four other bishops he left behind the tears of admirers at St. Kilda to be greeted with the cheers of future subjects at Sale. The assignment was a tough one - especially in relation to staffing a scattered area with priests. There were four when he arrived and within a short time three of them returned to Melbourne. Contrasting the Directory entries of 1890 with that of 1912 we can assess the growth of the 'mustard seed'. In 1890: 5 priests, 17 churches, 49 Mass stations, 7 Catholic schools, 3 parochial districts. In 1912: 48 churches, 19 priests, 11 primary schools, 3 secondary schools, 2 communities of nuns: the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion, and Sisters of St. Joseph, 9 parochial districts. A very human story of the man is related by Duffy in his Austral Light article of July 1912: On a second visit to Ireland "he fell in with the celebrated writer, Canon Sheehan. I asked him if he had ever read My New Curate. He replied : Read it? Why, I wrote part of it. I told him two of my best stories, and he has gone and put them in the book". Duffy points out that Corbett just failed to achieve his Silver Jubilee as St. Kilda pastor, and his Silver Jubilee as a bishop. He had just failed also to see the completion of the sanctuary in his Cathedral, dying at the age of 79 on 29 May 1912. A worthy pioneer who'd come from the Shannon to the Mitchell!
(Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 10)
Ref.: Sale Diocesan Archives, & as quoted above.