Albury, Goulburn, NSW; Port Fairy, etc, Vic; Brisbane, Qld

Australian Dictionary of Biography entry:
Patrick Dunne (1818–1900)
by T. J. Linane

This article was published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, 1972, online in 2006

Patrick Dunne (1818-1900), Catholic priest, was born at Philipstown, King's County (Offaly), Ireland, son of Patrick Dunne, farmer, and his wife Mary, née Rigney. He trained at Carlow Seminary and was ordained on 8 March 1846. After four years of service to his native diocese of Kildare, he volunteered to join the newly formed Melbourne diocese, 'rising above the opposition of dearest relatives and priests'. He arrived in Melbourne in the Digby on 7 September 1850 and was appointed to Geelong. After a brief stay, the first of two in that mission, he was transferred to the new mission of Pentridge (Coburg), and acted as chaplain to the 'infamous Stockade'. In October 1851 he journeyed to Ballarat on horseback, celebrated the first Mass on that goldfield and performed many baptisms in the lower Wimmera. In 1853-56 he established at Geelong twelve schools under the Denominational Schools Board, as well as the first Catholic secondary or grammar school.

At Port Fairy in 1856 his independence and turbulence led him into a dispute with Bishop James Goold over trust money for a church building. He also became involved with Patrick Bermingham, Michael McAlroy and other clerical and lay critics of the John Bede Polding and Goold administrations in Sydney and Melbourne. As a result Dunne was virtually banished and spent much time in Rome and Ireland, adding to the rising chorus of complaints levelled at Church management. In December 1858 he returned to Melbourne as a migration chaplain but was forbidden to exercise his priestly functions by Goold's vicar-generals, John Fitzpatrick and Patrick Geoghegan. After writing a long document in his own defence, addressed to Polding, Dunne returned to Ireland. Roman authorities were compelled finally to take note of many of his grievances, but Dunne himself, at Goold's instigation, was forbidden to return to Australia. Far from being discouraged he persuaded Irish bishops to allow him to open a minor seminary at Tullamore, County Offaly, which was designed to give an initial training for missionary volunteers to Australia.

In the early 1860s Dunne co-operated with James Quinn in a migration scheme which contributed to the settling of the Darling Downs. The first migrants arrived at Brisbane in the Erin-go-bragh in August 1862. Financial difficulties in the new Brisbane diocese, linked with sectarian objections to the migration scheme, brought Dunne to the Goulburn diocese in April 1868, where his zeal was directed by Bishop William Lanigan into constructive work. After a term as first president of St Patrick's College and cathedral administrator at Goulburn he transferred to the Gundagai-Jugiong mission. On the death of his friend Michael McAlroy in 1880 Dunne succeeded as vicar-general, retaining his title and the confidence of his bishop when he was transferred to Wagga Wagga in 1883 and to Albury in 1887. He helped to plan many churches, including St Michael's in Wagga.

Dunne was one of the best-known priests of the last half of the nineteenth century, often injecting a tumultuous note into church affairs and quarrelling with bishops and public officials. He was a pioneer who responded to the demanding challenges to extend his religion in frontier conditions. At times impatient and adopting sledge-hammer methods in newspaper controversy, his total achievement was a tribute to his vision as much as to his methods. Even in retirement in the 1890s he was a respected national figure, still making his determined thrusts into affairs of church and state.

On 21 July 1900 he died at Albury and was buried in the grounds of Newtown Orphanage, now St John's Orphanage, Wirlinga, Albury.

Select Bibliography

J. F. Hogan, The Irish in Australia (Melb, 1888) P. F. Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australasia (Syd, 1895) W. Ebsworth, ‘One of the greatest pioneer priests’, Advocate (Melbourne), 30 July 1947 T. J. Linane, ‘The priest who borrowed a tent’, Light (Ballarat Diocesan Journal), May 1966–June 1968 Geoghegan letter, 25 May 1850 (Roman Catholic Archives, Melbourne).

Citation details
T. J. Linane, 'Dunne, Patrick (1818–1900)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dunne-patrick-3455/text5277, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 27 June 2025.

This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, (Melbourne University Press), 1972.

Reproduced by permission of Australian Dictionary of Biography. Original biography:https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dunne-patrick-3455.

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Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, pp 73-74:
Fr Patrick Dunne (1818-1900)

Fr Patrick Dunne played a significant role in the establishment of the Catholic Community in South East Queensland.

Patrick Dunne was born at Phillipstown (now Daingean) in King's County (now co Offaly) the son of a farmer, Patrick Dunne and his wife May, nèe Rigney.

As a boy Patrick received a classical education at Mr Fitzgerald's school in Tullamore from where he entered Carlow College and then furthered his theological studies at Maynooth Seminary. On 8 May 1846, aged around twenty six, Dunne was ordained in Carlow and became a curate in the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, surrounding his birthplace.(1)

After four years of service in his native diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, he volunteered to join the newly formed Melbourne diocese.
Fr Patrick arrived in Melbourne in the 'Digby' on 7th September, 1850 and was appointed to Geelong. After a brief stay, the first of two in that mission, he was transferred to the new mission of Pentridge (Coburg) and acted as chaplain in the 'infamous stockade'. In October 1851 he journeyed to Ballarat on horseback and celebrated the first Mass on that gold field, performing many baptisms in the lower Wimmera.(2)

Fr Dunne carried out an active ministry in the Melbourne diocese, but in 1859, having clashed with Bishop Gould, he returned to Ireland but, at the Bishop's instigation, was forbidden to return to Australia.

Far from being discouraged he persuaded Irish bishops to allow him to open a minor seminary at Tullamore in co Offaly, which was designed to give an initial training for missionary volunteers to Australia.(3)

Bishop Quinn, with the assistance of his brothers Matthew and Andrew in Dublin, established the Queensland Immigration Society. Father Patrick Dunne became its chief organiser. It brought nearly 4,000 migrants to Queensland.(4) Fr Dunne, a fellow chaplain with Fr Piece Power on the famous Erin-go-Bragh, arrived on 1 August 1862.(5)

The Immigration Society was a success until, when a public furore arose over the scheme, it was discontinued. Dunne then expressed himself to Quinn as sincerely anxious to have some definate (sic) course of action marked out for him for the good of his soul and religion. Quinn was prepared to take Dunne into his diocese, working either in Queensland or Dublin.

Dunne proposed to establish a seminary on five hundred acres at Sandgate. Bishop Quinn rejected the scheme as being too independent in nature.(6)

Next, Dunne approached the Redemptorist Order:

offering to give them five hundred acres of land with the ownership of the Brighton Hotel overlooking the waters of Moreton Bay. He further announced that when they arrived he himself would ask for refuge in the Congregation, worn out as he was with all his struggles.

This scheme seemed to be achieved until Pope Pius IX

asked the Superior General of the Order to send the Fathers to West Indies, and the only men available were the very ones he had been hoping to send to Australia.(7)

In 1866 economic depression had increased the bishop's indebtedness and was causing many to leave the colony. … Early in 1867 Quinn appointed Patrick Dunne along with Dr Cani, to collect through the Archdiocese of Sydney for All Hallows' Convent. The nuns were in dire need with a debt of £6,000 at the high interest rate of 10% per annum. This gave Dunne opportunity to wander again, though he eventually settled down in Goulburn.(8)

In April 1868 Fr Patrick Dunne arrived in the Goulburn diocese where his zeal was directed by Bishop Lanigan into constructive work. He died on 21 July 1900 at Newtown in Albury which was still in the Goulburn diocese. He was buried in the grounds of the Newtown convent. The local press published an obituary about his thirty-two years in that diocese.

One of the oldest and best known priests in this colony – the Very Rev Patrick Dunne, V G, died on Saturday night at Newtown, Albury. He was 82 years of age. … … After coming to New South Wales, he held various important posts. He was for a period president of St Patrick's College, Goulburn and then Administrator of the Goulburn Cathedral. … Later on he was parish priest at Gundagai, and in 1882 he succeeded Father Birmingham as parish priest at Wagga. He remained in this district for five years, and was elevated to the position of Vicar General. In 1887 he was removed to Albury, and has since resided at the Newtown Convent, which he helped to build. … One enduring monument of his fame in Wagga is St Michael's Church. It is conceded that it was to his never-failing exertions that the Catholics of the town owe this fine house of worship.(9)

When the diocese of Wagga Wagga was established in 1918, St Michael's became the Cathedral of that diocese.

The fine paper on the life and exploits of Fr Patrick Dunne, delivered on 7 February 2009 to the meeting of the Brisbane Catholic Historical Society, by Dr Jennifer Harrison, records much more about this interesting priest.(10) Dr Harrison of the University of Queensland also published a lengthy article entitled From King's County to Queensland in Irish Midlands Ancestry, which treats of Father Dunne's involvement in the Queensland Immigration Society.(11)

Rev Dr Tom Boland was awarded a doctorate in Ecclesiastical History for his thesis on the Queensland Immigration Society. In a series of articles in the Australasian Catholic Record of 1962 and 1963, Rev Dr Boland presented a precis of his thesis.(12)

Footnotes
1. Proceedings of the Brisbane Catholic Historical Society, Volume 12, 2010, p. 44.
2. From Abel to Zundolovich, Fr T J Linane in Footprints, Vol 5, No 5, pp. 26 and 27.
3. Ibid.
4. The Queensland Immigration Society, Dr T P Boland, 1960, p. 149.
5. Courier, Brisbane, 19 Aug 1862, p. 3.
6. Yvonne Margaret McLay, James Quinn: First Catholic Bishop of Brisbane, 1979, p. 70.
7. S J Boland, CSsR, Faith of our Fathers - The Redemptorists in Australia 1882-1982, pp. 22 and 23.
8. Yvonne Margaret McLay, op. cit. p. 70.
9. Wagga Wagga Advertiser, 24 Jul 1900, p. 2.
10. Proceedings of the Brisbane Catholic Historical Society, Volume XII, 2010, pp. 44 to 61.
11. Irish Midlands Ancestry, Bury Quay, Tullamore, Co Offaly, Ireland.
12. Australasian Catholic Record Vol 39, no 3, pp. 205 to 212; no 4, pp. 298 to 304; Vol 40, no 3 pp. 192 to 201.

Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.

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Catholic Parish of St Augustine, Yass, Priests who have served in the Parish of Yass, July 2018, https://staug-yass.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/priests_list.pdf, accessed on 24 December 2025: "Rev. Father P. Dunne, 1870."