Archdeacon William Connelly
Title:
Archdeacon
First Name:
William
Middle Names:
Henry
Preferred Name:
Surname:
Connelly
Order:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Country of Birth:
India
Date of Ordination:
Place of Ordination:
Country of Ordination:
Ordination Diocese:
Seminary:
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
Adelaide SA
Country of Death:
Australia
Date of Burial:
Place of Burial:
Broken Hill NSW
Country of Burial:
Australia
Find A Grave URL:
Appointments Table
Diocese | Place | Role | Start Day | Start Month | Start Year | End Day | End Month | End Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bathurst | Broken Hill | 1884 | 1909 | Linane Vol 2; Gravestone | |||||
| Bathurst | Bourke | Linane Vol 2 | |||||||
| Adelaide | Blomberg | Linane Vol 2 | |||||||
| Adelaide | Brighton | Chaplain, Sisters of Mercy | Linane Vol 2 |
Biographical Notes
Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, p 73:
Connelly, William Henry, Archdeacon
Founder of the Church in Broken Hill
He has the rare distinction of being an Irish-Indian. For the parents were Irish but the birthplace was India. Where he was educated and how he became to be co-opted for service in the far-flung diocese of Bathurst is not known. A Fr. John Black said the first Mass ever in Broken Hill and then disappeared into the mists of time. Connelly was on the scene soon after, stayed there while the new Bishop, John Dunne, was resident at Hay and continued on when the latter came to reside at the 'Hill'. The period of service extended for 25 years, from 1884 until retirement in 1909, with a brief service at Bourke in the late 90s. The remnants of his pioneering work (the first church and school) seem to have disappeared. Retirement implied leaving his friends among the miners of silver and lead and joining the Adelaide Diocese. He was given a parish at Blomberg and to his credit stands a church built at Mannion. Then came a chaplaincy to the Sisters of Mercy at Brighton .. and so to life's end in the Calvary Hospital on 8 March 1918. One report states that the age was 70, another that he was 75. Fittingly his remains were brought back to where his works and virtues were better known - to the city of silver and lead.
(Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 9)
Ref.: MDHC File, Torquay, per the late Dean 'Darby' Walsh, Renmark.