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HOW THE ALBANY

BY REY. BROTHER PURTON

EXPEDITION BEGAN AND

IN "THE HOLY NAME MONTHLY"

FAILED One of the first attempts to evangelise the Australian natives was due to the zeal of Dr. Brady, the first Bishop of Perth. Just on a century ago, January 6, 1846, there arrived in Perth

the most numerous missionary staff that had up to then landed in Australia. Besides the Bishop there were seven priests, only one of them, Father Powell, from Ireland, the others being Italian and French; there was one sub deacon, two Benedictine novices, two lay -brothers of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary, eight Irish catechists, and six Sisters of Mercy from the Convent of St. Leo, in Carlow, with one novice from the same community. The effort was magnificent, but was far beyond e Catholic community to en three years later a support. census of t e Swan River settlement Of the showed only 306 Catholics. party, the Bishop and Father Powell priests the other remained in Perth; For the were soon widely scattered. moment I am concerned with the fortunes of Father Angelo Confalonieri and the little band of Libermann missioners. In 1846, in view of the fact that a military station had been established at Port Essington, in Northern Australia, Dr. Serra, one of the Spanish Benedictines, brought out by Dr. Brady, 'was appointed first Bishop of Port Victoria. The appointment was premature, for the settlement disappeared entirely To -day it is within a few years. memorable principally because it was the finishing point of Leichhardt's famous expedition from Brisbane. We can to -day estimate the courage of Father Confalonieri, who, accompaniJames ed by two Irish catechists, Fagan and Nicholas Hogan, set out for his arafter days few a Port Essington rival in Perth. He proceeded to Sydney, where he found a ship going to the lonely northern outpost. In Torres Strait the ship was wrecked, and all on board were lost except the captain and the zealous Italian missioner. Father Confalonieri eventually reached Port Essington, and began his mission to the blacks, over four hundred of whom were converted. It is difficult for us to realise to-day' the conditions under which the lonely priest laboured in the land where now thousands of Australians and American soldiers are

J. NEILSON, Optician 1

S. DANNELL, F.S.M.C. (London),

WA.O.A. Tel,: B2014. OPTOMITRIST, 15 PLAZA ARCADE, PERTH.

early in 1846. It included three priests and two lay -brothers of the Order just founded by Father Libermann, the con vetted Strasburg Jew. The little band of missioners consisting of Fathers The vaux, Thierse and knew Bouchet, nothing of the habits of the Aus tralian aborigines. They thought they would find a people living like the Af. ricans, in some kind of villages and or ganised society. They were destined Father to a bitter disappointment. Bouchet died in Perth a few days after the arrival of the party, the others were directed to Albany, as the most suitable place to begin their mission. To -day one wonders why such advice was ever gives. After a few days in the comparative comfort of the little port the brave French missioners made their way into the heart of the heavily timbered coon try north of Albany. In that wilder ness, later to resound with the buzz of the saws of Millar's Karri and Jarrah Forests Company, the little party pitched camp beside Lake Matilda. They built as best they could two wretched huts, one of which served for a chapel. There were few natives in the district, and these few seldom remained more than a week or two in the same place. The poor missioners knew nothing of the tendency of our blacks to go "walkabout," and all their efforts to evangel ise the nomads were made in vain. So long as the mission had some flour to distribute a few blacks would pay an occasional visit, but when the food supply vanished so did the natives. The missioners lived as best they could by shooting ducks and kangaroos, which were plentiful enough, but after three months of this precarious existence, the two priests and two brothers, will their clothing in rags-they had made cassocks from the few sheets they had brought with them-made their way back to Albany. When Father Libermann heard of the sufferings of his. devoted children he was deeply touched, and, convinced that the evangelisation of the Australian natives demanded methods out side his control, he arranged for the missioners to be sent to Mauritius. Thus ended the first two serious attempts to establish missions in the burial, all his own instructions being heart of the Australian bush. carried out. Shortly afterwards Port Essington was abandoned, and I wonder does anyone to-day know the last Butcher S. BEECROFT resting place of the first Catholic missioner to the Territory? Sublaco.

of Italian Missioner at Port Essington

In gathered to defend our shores. June, 1848, the zealous priest died on Melville Island, where, until the present war, there was a flourishing mission under the guidance of the Australian Missioners of the Sacred Heart. The Commandant of the little British garrison (nine officers and 37 privates), Captain John McArthur, writing to the secretary of Dr. Polding, said that the good priest had received honourable

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181

A Mission to the King George's Sound Tribe. Let us now return to the great mission party that had arrived in Perth

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