Photo Story- Father Tom Hilly Ordination Celebrations Temora 1906


Fr Hilly Post ordination celebrations Temora 1909





De Boos St, Temora? August ?1909



Thomas Hilly was born 18 February 1874 at Yass, New South Wales. He was the second child of Catherine Mary (Kate) Hingerty and Owen Hilly's eight children.

There was a very detailed report on his farewell on the eve of his departure for Rome in 1902 in the Cootamundra Herald.





 












Cootamundra Herald 24 December 1902
Cootamundra Herald 24 December 1902


Thomas was ordained in Rome in June 1909.
(Card supplied by CP)






According to a note written by Marcella and placed in her family bible, Fr Hilly celebrated his first Mass in Temora on Sunday 15th August 1909. 
(Supplied by CP)



It would therefore, be assumed that the family celebration photo would have been taken on or around 15th August 1909.
No report of the celebration has been fund in local newspapers of the time.

Oral family history places this celebration in deBoos Street, probably at the home of Marcella.

What evidence do we have that the celebration took place in deBoos Street?


The Mass and celebration in Temora was the only celebration welcoming the newly ordained Fr Hilly home to Australia.

Before visiting Temora, Fr Hilly was welcomed to his hometown of Yass and celebrated a Mass at the local church on Sunday 8th August.


Yass Courier 10 Aug 1909
Yass Courier 10 Aug 1909



Even earlier celebrations took place at St Patrick's College in Goulburn where Fr Hilly had studied prior to leaving for Rome. The report is dated Thursday 19th August and refers to the event having taken place on "Friday week". We would therefore assume Friday 6th August?




Freemans Journal 19 August 1909

On Sunday 22nd August Fr Hilly preached at the Catholic Church in Cootamundra.

Cootamundra Herald 24 Aug 1909
Cootamundra Herald 24 Aug 1909


Fr Hilly lost no time in making his way to the West after all these celebrations and was in place at Geraldton by September 1909.

Geradton Express 13 Sep 1909
Geraldton Express 13 Sep 1909



Geraldton Express 20 Sep 1909
Geraldton Express 20 Sep 1909


Geraldton Express 13 October 1909
Geraldton Express 13 October 1909


In 1944 Fr Hilly returned to the Eastern states and visited Temora.

Cootamundra Herald 1 Sep 1944
Cootamundra Herald 1 Sep 1944



Fr Thomas Hilly died on 25 October 1945.






Catholic Weekly 10 January 1946
Catholic Weekly 10 January 1946


 According to a descendant of this line of the Hingerty family (MT):


- St Joseph’s at Morisett became known as St John of God Morisett. 

 

- The extensive site of the St John of God property was purchased by a Land development company in 1998 and the Trinity Point Residential complex and Marina were established there. 

 

- The graves and remains of Father Hilly and 4 other priests who were buried on the property were transferred to the Sandgate Cemetery (Newcastle) in October 2002.


If you have any further information about Fr Hilly and the Ordination celebrations held in Temora in August 1909-


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hingerty@one-name.org


Note: Newspaper articles were all found on TROVE- the free data base of Australian Newspapers and Gazettes operated by the National Library of Australia. trove.nla.gov

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