Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, p 91:

Costello, Michael, Irish
A Pioneer in the Victorian Mallee
The Holy Spirit has the habit betimes of choosing wild and woolly servants to work in a wild and woolly environment. Such were the Costello brothers from the wild hills of Kerry, thrust into an environment that suited their personalities — for until Lascelles and his mates found a way of coping with Mallee scrub and making it yield wheat and other grains in abundance, the Mallee was a mere wasteland of scrub and stunted kangaroos. Recently, on the occasion of St. Patrick's Day remembrance, a Sydney newspaper caricatured (print only) the "Pat and Mick" who stand on pedestals overlooking the entrance to St. Mary's. With due reverence to the deceased and worthy Archbishops on the pedestals — and with due respect to the newspaper concerned — the real "Pat and Mick" stories could have been heard long ago in Charlton and other Mallee towns. Fortunately or unfortunately, the pair were only together in harness for a short time, but certainly many of their exploits are worth retailing ... Michael, the elder and senior by ordination, was educated in Maynooth and ordained in 1881. He arrived in Melbourne on board the 'Northumberland' on 19 January 1882 and after a year on relieving duties was posted to Creswick, remaining there from 1883 to 1885. When Charlton, a base for Mallee development further north, was separated from Inglewood in 1885, Michael became its first pastor. In the fifteen year stay he gave splendid service to the new Mallee settlers, spread out over hundreds of miles; erecting churches (most of them now replaced) at Charlton, Quambatook, Oakvale, Wycheproof, Karyrie, Boort, Marmal, Towannie, Budgerum, Swan Hill (26.1O.1900) — besides giving the church a beginning at Mildura (sometimes attended from Wentworth) and at Wychitella. But the hard going, long journeys over dusty and boggy tracks, caused a lapse in a ...... certain direction. So the pioneer pastor found himself relegated to a curacy in a milder climate at Colac from 1900 to 1903. Before Bishop Moore's death there was a cooling off in a relationship as between bishop and priest, so Michael returned to the land and diocese of origin. He is reputed to have died at Currans, County Kerry, in 1916.
(Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 12)
Ref.: MDHC File, Torquay, per the late Fr. John Coughlin, Horsham.