Fr Maurice Stack
1
Early in 1852, the Vicar General, Dr P.P. Geoghegan (cousin of Dean Horatio Geoghegan) visited Kyneton and promised the local Catholics that he would send a Priest to reside amongst them. That Priest was Fr Maurice Stack, the first Priest to be ordained in the Port Phillip Settlement.
He was born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland but educated in Paris. He came to Australia (as a Deacon) in 1851 and completed his studies for the Priesthood at St Francis Seminary in Melbourne. He was appointed as Kyneton’s first Pastor sometime in 1852 and is thought to have celebrated his first Mass in a room at the Criterion Hotel in September of that year.
By the end of that same year he had opened a small wooden school which also served as makeshift church. The Kyneton Mission at this stage covered a huge area and he travelled on horseback over long distances. His ‘parish’ went from Gisborne in the south to Castlemaine in the north, Trentham in the east and Redesdale in the north.
In April 1856 he was transferred to Geelong for a short period, then to St Francis’ in Melbourne. Following this he served at Beechworth, Port Fairy, and Kilmore but refused to go to Mortlake in 1866. For three years (1886-1889) he served in the Heathcote parish.According to Ramsdale’s account, he was often in trouble over his drinking habits but little detail is known. He died in France in 1887.
Surprisingly, his personal estate was about £14,700, part of which went to various hospitals. The Kyneton Hospital was one such recipient and the Stack Ward was named after him. He seems to have made his money from gold mining ventures while in Australia and, in this regard, shares a certain business acumen with that other great pioneer Priest, Dr Henry Backhaus.
- Data from V. Ramsdale, The Journey Turns Full Circle: A History of St Mary’s Mission Kyneton 1852-2002, St Mary’s Mission 2002. and also from Trove Newspapers ↩︎
