Catherine Coffey
Catherine Coffey | |
---|---|
Creswick , Victoria | |
Other names | Catherine Coffee |
Occupation(s) | Catechist School teacher |
Catherine Brosnaham Coffey (1805 – 31 August 1894) was an Irish-born Australian pioneer in the Port Phillip District who was the first Catholic school teacher in Melbourne and the first sacristan of the first Catholic church in Victoria, St Francis.[1] She taught catechism classes to children in colonial Melbourne prior to the arrival of the colony's first Catholic priest in 1839. Coffey’s contribution to Catholic education was celebrated in a St Patrick’s Day pageant at the Melbourne Town Hall in 1930 and she was singled out by Archbishop Justin Simonds in 1939 in a requiem for pioneers as “an outstanding Catholic personality”.
Early life and work
In 1838, Coffey travelled from Ireland to the
Family life and death
After leaving the Port Phillip District the Coffey family spent about 10 years on a property on the Great Dividing Range, before settling in Spring Hill, Creswick on some of the earliest land purchased in Victoria. They later moved to Ballarat.[11] Catherine and Jeremiah Coffey had many children, six of whom pre-deceased them; they were survived only by their youngest child.[11] An obituary published on 3 September 1894 noted: "Mrs Coffey was the mother of a fine family whose members were well known and highly respected in the district".[11] Both Catherine and Jeremiah are buried in the Catholic section of the Creswick New Cemetery in regional Victoria.[12]
References
- ^ a b "Some Presentations to Corpus Christi College". Advocate. 9 April 1936. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ a b c "More About a. Pioneer Priest". Advocate. 30 March 1922. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ a b "Diocesan Archivist Rachel Naughton celebrates 25 years of service". Melbourne Catholic. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ "Melbourne's first Catholic Schools". MACS - Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ "Code of Canon Law - Book III - The teaching function of the Church (Cann. 756-780)". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ "Mass celebration marks bicentenary of Catholic education in Australia". MACS - Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- OCLC 1075111711.
- ^ "St. Patrick's Night Pageant". Advocate. 9 March 1939. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ "Solemn Requiem for Catholic Pioneers". Advocate. 9 November 1939. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ "Daughter of First Catholic School Teacher". Advocate. 21 May 1931. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ a b c "Ballarat Star". Ballarat Star. 3 September 1894. p. 2. Retrieved 13 June 2022 – via Trove.
- ^ "Jeremiah Coffey 1805 - 1885 BillionGraves Record". BillionGraves. Retrieved 13 June 2022.