REV. FR THOMAS FRAWLEY 1852-1881
Dr Donna Bailey, Diocesan Archivist shares the tragic story of a young Irish priest who served in the Inglewood Mission for a short time in the late 1880s.
By Dr Donna Bailey
The image of a youthful, Victorian Era subject, juxtaposed against a hostile Australian terrain is not a new one. We have each encountered this subject through fiction, film, literature, poetry and art. The story of European settlement in nineteenth-century Australia is one fraught with themes of anxiety and alienation and a jarring sense of not belonging. The trials experienced by the colonial Australian – outside of idealist nineteenth-century literature and poetry – often had tragic consequences.
The archetypal colonial era pastor was a young man, still in his twenties and, typically, from Ireland. Photographs held in the diocesan archive attest to the fact that he was fresh-faced and often of a delicate disposition. On arrival, the young priest was dispersed to one of the early Catholic Missions and was expected by his Bishop to cover vast tracks of country on horseback, to cater for the spiritual and practical needs of the people. Regardless of the many spiritual and physical obstacles he encountered, he would rarely take rest from his work. In Victoria, as well as elsewhere, many young priests during the white settlement phases succumbed to disease, the harsh environment, accident, murder and, in some cases, to insanity.
Some years ago, I was contacted by a Scottish filmmaker regarding a nineteenth-century Irish priest named Thomas Frawley who came to Australia in 1880 to recuperate from exhaustion and ill health but also to assist in the Inglewood Mission. The filmmaker had researched Thomas Frawley’s story and reached out to find what the Diocese knew of him and his work in the region. Prior to coming to Victoria, Frawley had been a significant figure in the Parish of Blantyre, which is in the Diocese of Motherwell, Scotland. He was the first Catholic priest attached to the Mission since the Reformation, and he had worked tirelessly with the people of Blantyre as they attempted to cope with the effects of a shocking 1877 coal mine explosion which had killed the breadwinners of 92 families and left 215 children without a father. Frawley’s shift to Australian shores and his premature death at the age of only 29, rather than being unique, was unfortunately all too common.
Thomas Frawley died in Inglewood, Victoria in 1881, only nine months after arriving in Australia. Apart from his heroic work in Scotland, there is little to tell of his short time at Inglewood apart from the following short obituary of 1881.
We regret to announce the death of Fr Thomas Frawley, which occurred yesterday at the Catholic Presbytery Inglewood. The deceased gentleman was 29 years of age, and the cause of his death was consumption. He was a native of Buttevant, County Cork, had been educated at Fermoy College and was ordained at the Irish College of St Sulpice, Paris for his native diocese. He was in charge of the mission at Blantyre, Scotland for about five years, during which time he carried out many good works including the building of churches. He endeared himself greatly to his people by his untiring exertions in alleviating the intense sufferings caused by a dreadful colliery explosion. It may be truthfully stated that the people there were most devotedly attached to him, the Catholic population of that mission numbering about 4,000. He arrived in Victoria about nine months ago, seeking the restoration of his greatly impaired health, and from Kilmore following the prescriptions of his medical advisors, came to Inglewood, it being a more northern district, and the climate being more suited to him. Here he succeeded the Rev. J.F. Collier as assistant to the Rev. Mr Hogan, but his day of labour was short, and he has departed this life after having ingratiated himself with his parishioners and all who knew him. His death will be a great blow to his family, his parents still living.
Thomas Frawley was buried at the Inglewood cemetery in early May 1880. I visited the cemetery and located Frawley’s grave and found that 133 years after his death, his grave had become forgotten and dilapidated. Upon relaying this information to the Blantyre filmmaker, $2,000 was raised within that parish and given to the Diocese to restore Frawley’s grave. Fr Rom Hayes blessed the grave at a small ceremony in 2014.
