By John Clancy
Early in 1916, a tearful Dublin widow bade farewell to her fifteen-year-old son as he boarded a ship alone for Australia.
The young delinquent had proved impossible for her to handle so, she was sending him out to her cousin, Father Tom Laffan, an Augustinian priest in Echuca, who had promised to 'look after the lad'.
Nearly forty years later, that lad, from now on referred to here as 'the mystery man', knelt or bowed before His Majesty, King George VI to receive the title of Viscount. This represented the King's and his country's gratitude for the outstanding role this man had played during Great Britain's darkest hour of World War II. What had brought about his transformation?
Great credit must go to the Augustinian priests and especially to the Brigidine nuns of Echuca. They realised that the young delinquent was highly intelligent, talented, and had brains to burn.
The Brigidines took the lad under their wing, giving him bed and board and the full run of their library. Mother Ursula instilled in him the importance of reading good books, and of behaving himself in society. Father Laffan got him work as a jackaroo. However, he proved himself to be absolutely useless in that role, preferring to read history books under the trees. Nevertheless, the young Irish lad became a popular celebrity in Echuca, Kyabram and Rochester regions.
In 1919 the mystery man returned to England. He became a press media magnate, rose in the ranks of English society, and formed a close friendship with Winston Churchill. The mystery man was elected as a Conservative MP to the House of Commons in 1929. Churchill appointed him to a high-ranking position as a Minister during the war. Former Australian deputy Prime Minister, the late Tim Fischer, credits this mystery man with having influenced Churchill's decision to accept the crucial position as war-time Prime Minister. Indeed, Fischer describes him as the sacked Moama jackaroo who saved the world from the Nazis. A tribute to the work of the religious orders in Echuca.
But who was this mysterious Irish-Australian?
You can find out by attending "The World's Worst Jackaroo", to be presented by the Central Victorian Irish Association on Saturday, 22 June at 2.30 p.m. in the warm, welcoming and comfortable venue of the La Trobe Art Institute, 121 View Street, Bendigo, opposite the Capital Theatre.
John Clancy, St Therese's parishioner and organist, and his team will tell this stranger-than-fiction story through narrative, bush poetry and song.
Admission will be five dollars cash, payable at the door.
