Page:The Irish in Australia.djvu/266

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THE IRISH IN AUSTRALIA.

devoted to works of religion and charity. His mortal remains fittingly rest within the walls of that noble Cathedral of St. Patrick in Melbourne, of which he was the founder and the chief builder in life. An able and accomplished member of the Irish hierarchy, the Most Rev. T. J. Carr, Bishop of Galway, has been appointed as his successor in the see of Melbourne.

The Rev. John Brady, a brother Irish priest, who was a fellow-voyager with Dr. Goold to Australia, also became a pioneer bishop, the scene of his labours being the vast and remote colony of Western Australia. Two Spanish prelates—Drs. Serra and Griver—succeeded him in the administration of a diocese almost equal in area to half the size of Europe; but now the Western Australian Church is once again ruled by an Irish ecclesiastic in the person of Dr. Matthew Gibney, the recently consecrated Bishop of Perth. His name is associated with one of the most heroic incidents recorded in colonial history. An orphanage near Perth having been almost destroyed by lightning, Father Gibney was deputed to collect in the neighbouring and richer colonies sufficient money for its restoration. Whilst he was engaged in this duty in Victoria, a band of outlaws—"bushrangers," as they are colonially termed—who had long defied capture, and had carried on a career of murder and robbery, descended from their haunts in the mountain ranges and took possession of the village of Glenrowan, in north-eastern Victoria, making all the inhabitants prisoners. They cut the telegraph wires and tore up the railway track; nevertheless the authorities in Melbourne were apprised of the daring outrage, and despatched a large force to the locality. The bushrangers, taken by surprise, threw themselves into the village hotel, which they defended against the besiegers for