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 William E/J Larkin(s), Unknown date of death

William John Larkin was born in Ireland and studied at Maynooth. He came to Queensland ( as Chaplain on the "Prince Consort") to join Bishop James Quinn, and was appointed, by him, as first resident priest at Drayton (1863-66). This was the first 'parish' established on the Darling Downs and extended in all directions west of the Great Dividing Range, including centres at Eton Vale, Pilton, Felton, Yandilla, Tummaville, Wetsbrook, Gowrie. Jondaryan, and Jimbour. It appear's Fr Larkin assisted in W.H. Groom's election campaign in 1863 and was certainly present at the 1864 St Patrick's Day celebrations in Toowoomba. In 1866 he built a Church at Drayton (St Mary's) with the aid of a Government grant. It continued to be used until 1868, when Drayton was closed to be replaced by Toowoomba. By that time William Larkin was long gone. In 1866 he had quarreled with Bishop Quinn (who didn't!) and left the Diocese for New Zealand. According to Anne McLay's book on Quinn, Larkin, as Administrator of Toowoomba, had borrowed more than £1340, including £100 the whole life savings of an elderly lady, Miss Cummins. Larkin had then departed for New Zealand where he ended up in prison for Fenian activities. Apparently, at one stage, he was seen performing an Irish jig, with great Fenian exuberance, on the steps of the Brisbane G.P.O. – caught by Bishop Quinn no less! A final notice comes in the form of a newspaper article dated 31st July, 1871, which states that William John Larkin, "whose name has become prominent in connection with certain public demonstrations at the West Coast, New Zealand", has been appointed to the Lawrence (Tuapeka) community. Information from the Dunedin Diocese indicates that Father William Larkin was in N.Z. until 1878. In the book "The Lode of Faith", which is about the Church in Tuapeka, mention is given to Father Larkin being given a month's jail for promoting and taking part in a mock funeral for Fenians, Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, who were executed in Manchester U.K. (November, 1867), for the death of a policeman. Fr Larkin was sentenced for seditious libel, for which a month's sentence was imposed. In 1879 Fr Larkin was in Lawrence for the annual break-up. This was his farewell visit, having left the parish the previous year. Then there is silence, although Fr Linnane does mention that he served in the U.S.A. According to Dunedin NZ Archival records, there were reports of his presence in Chicago in September 1885.
(Ref. Brisbane Archives, Pugh's, Linane L17A, Archives and Mr J Costigan)

Reproduced by permission of Bishop Ken Howell.

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Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, pp 63-64:
Fr William Joseph Larkin

William Joseph Larkin was born in Ireland and studied at Maynooth.

He arrived in Queensland, aboard the Duke of Newcastle, on 30 December 1862.(1)

The Duke of Newcastle belonged to the Black Ball line. This vessel of 992 tons, built at Quebec, was on her first journey. On board were 434 souls consisting of 229 males, 107 females, 59 children (immigrants), with a crew of 39. … During the entire voyage the weather was most delightful; we never experienced so much as a stiff gale of wind; in truth the run was more like a pleasure trip than a voyage.(2)

This vessel, under the command of Captain John McKenzie, arrived in Moreton Bay on the 30th ultimo. She had left Liverpool for Queenstown on 10 September and Queenstown on 16 of that month for Australia. … During the voyage there were six births of children and two deaths from bronchitis.(3)

This was one of the earliest vessels bringing migrants, under the terms of The Queensland Immigration Society, to the new colony of Queensland. Mr F N Rosenstengel, prominent in the Brisbane Catholic community especially for his music skills, was a passenger on this voyage. He asked the Courier to publish the lengthy report of the presentation to Fr Larkin for his ministry to the people on board this vessel.

To the Reverend William Joseph Larkin,
Roman Catholic Chaplain on board the ship Duke of Newcastle
Reverend Sir, - We, the passengers on board this ship Duke of Newcastle on her outward run from Liverpool and Cork to Brisbane, Queensland, feel great pleasure in tendering to you our warmest and most cordial thanks for your inestimable services during the voyage.

We have seen your attentions to the sick, your exertions in preserving order and regularity, and how zealously you have employed your time and used your influence in promoting the happiness and welfare of all on board, with respect of creed or social status. These good deeds, blended with your amiable qualities, urbanity, and gentlemanly conduct, have endeared you to us all, and we take the liberty of presenting you with this address and purse of gold as a small but sincere pledge of our grateful feelings – a parting souvenir on the ocean.

Our journey over the great deep is drawing to a close, and we are shortly to separate. That you may long be spared to exemplify the character, - 'a good shepherd,' and through life, enjoy that peace which the world cannot give, is the parting wish of your admiring friends'.(4)

Fr Larkin, deeply moved, replied to this address and gift concluding:

My own I always had with me, and they know me, and I know them, but to those whom I now have the honor to speak, I have not known me until I had the pleasure of meeting them on board this vessel, the memory of which day I shall always cherish, and though they differ from me now, I will always fondly entertain the hope, that we will meet to enjoy a happy union in the home beyond the skies.

The Darling Downs and Maranoa with its high Irish Catholic element was a significant locality… By September 1862 Quinn had appointed resident priests in Toowoomba- Drayton and Warwick. In early 1863 Fr William Larkin was appointed to Drayton.(5)

In 1863, Fr Larkin roused a storm of sectarianism in Toowoomba, by supporting W H Groom in the first election to the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

In 1866 Fr Larkin built a church at Drayton, (St Mary's), with the aid of a Government grant. But by 1868 Toowoomba became the centre of all activity in the area.

Pugh's Almanac last entry of Larkin was at Roma in 1866. Fr William Larkin was involved in an unsavoury dispute and eventual court case in Roma when he claimed defamation against Mr William Francis, a former police officer. Francis had publicly referred to Fr Larkin as: A clerical imposter; that he was drinking with bullock drivers, and that he was suspended by his bishop. Defended by the crown prosecutor, barrister Mr J K Handy, a former catholic priest, Fr Larkin was awarded a small sum of £2 by the judge.

Fr Larkin at the time was not in Bishop Quinn's good books:

Fr William Larkin, administrator of Toowoomba, had borrowed more than £1,340, including £100, the whole of the life savings of an elderly lady Miss Cummins. Larkin has then departed for New Zealand, (where he ended up in prison for Fenian activities) leaving the bishop in the position of opprobrium. The bishop felt himself obliged to underwrite most of these debts.(6)

Before his move to New Zealand he had returned to Brisbane, where the press reported his speaking to a gathering of enraged unemployed workers, in September 1866,

with the intention of inducing them to disperse quietly. After some little trouble the crowd in William Street was cleared away.(7)

In New Zealand Larkin made a name for himself as an adjudicator for home rule in Ireland. A lengthy report of a trial on 18 May 1868 at Hokitika was published in the Australian press.

On the 18th May, William Joseph Larkin, John Manning, James Clarke, John Barrett, William Melody, Thomas Harron, and Denis Hannon were arraigned for unlawful assembling; and Father Larkin and Mr Manning, the proprietor of the New Zealand Celt, for seditious libel.

Fr Larkin and John Manning were each fined £20 for unlawful assembly and were sentenced to incarceration in Hokitika lower jail for one calendar month when they pleaded guilty to seditious libel. The judge commended them on their respect for the court and not using the trial as a time for adjudication, thereby not imposing a severer sentence.(8)

Following involvement in Fenian activates in New Zealand, Fr Larkin was

gladly presented with an exeat by Bishop Viard. The south island of New Zealand beckoned and later America. Larkin never returned to Australia.(9) Fr Linane does mention that he served in the USA. According to Dunedin NZ archival records, there are reports of his presence in Chicago in September 1885.(10)

Footnotes
1. Courier, Brisbane, 5 Feb 1863, p. 2.
2. Ibid. 17 Jan 1863, p. 5.
3. Prayer Calendar - Deceased Priest who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts 1864-2007, p. 77.
4. Courier, Brisbane, 5 Feb 1863, p. 2.
5. Yvonne Margaret McLay, James Quinn, First Bishop of Brisbane, pp. 171-172.
6. James Quinn, First Bishop of Brisbane, Yvonne Margaret McLay, pages 59-60.
7. Mercury, Hobart, 27 Sep 1866, page 3.
8. Sydney Morning Herald, 2 Jun 1868, page 3.
9. Yvonne Margaret McLay, op. cit. pp. 171 to 172.
10. Prayer Calendar - Deceased Priest who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts 1864-2007, p. 77.

Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.