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The elder son and his family returned to Darwin in 1968, so the descendants of the couple continued to make
a contribution to Northern Territory life.
Records from Australian Archives, Northern Territory; family information.
LORETTA GRIMSTER, Vol 2.GSELL, FRANCIS XAVIER (1872–1960), priest, was born at Strasburg in Alsace–Lorraine in 1872, shortly after
Alsace had become German territory as a result of the Franco–Prussian War. He was baptised into the Catholic
faith on 30 October of that year in the village of Benfeld, Bas Rhin. When the boy was nine his family moved to the
neighbouring town of Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines, which he came to regard as home. Although the family assumed
the outward trappings of German culture and adopted the Alsatian dialect, his mother strove to preserve the French
way of life in the home. Her influence on Francis Xavier was strong and he mentions her with affection in his
memoirs. It was she who first nourished him in his faith. Like other boys in his village, he left school at an early
age to work as an apprentice at a cotton-spinning factory.
When Gsell was 15 years old he met a visiting missionary priest of the Society of the Missionaries of the
Sacred Heart (MSC). The priest was captivated by Francis Xavier’s engaging personality, his deep faith and the
strength of his dream to become a missionary. It was duly arranged for the lad to travel to Issoudum, where at the
age of seventeen he entered Le Petit O’Euvre, the novitiate attached to the headquarters of the MSCs. Years later
Father Frank Flynn, writing about Bishop Gsell as the founding father of the Catholic Church in the Northern
Territory, was able to point to similarities between the two men—tenacious perseverance, innate practicality and
an unwavering faith. In 1892, ‘in the full flush of his twentieth year’, Francis Xavier Gsell pronounced his vows,
formally entering the MSCs in France. As a gifted student, he was sent to Rome to further his studies in theology
and philosophy at Saint Apollinane University. Here he was a fellow student of the brilliant Eugene Pacelli, later
to become Pope Pius XII. Four years later, on 22 June 1896, he was ordained a priest in Rome.
At this time the MSC Order was directing its energies toward Oceania, intent on spreading Christianity to the
tribes of Papua and the Gilbert Islands. Father Gsell, as a newly trained priest, was assured of a place amongst
a strong contingent of missionaries bound for Papua. Arriving in Sydney in October 1897, the young priest
experienced the first great disappointment of his long career. He was detained in Sydney to teach theology at
his order’s newly formed house of theological study at Kensington, New South Wales. He spent three years in
Sydney during which time he became fluent in the English language and learned as much as he could about the
Australian character and way of life. He reported how ‘suddenly and peremptorily’ his superiors ‘pitchforked’ him
to the post of assistant to the bursar of missions. His practicality and sense of humour emerged as he mastered
the duties of ‘the Quarter-Master General’ of the Lord’s army. He later acknowledged this period as providing
invaluable experience for his work at Yule Island in Papua (1900–1906), followed by over forty years in the
Northern Territory (1906–1948).
While Father Gsell’s missionary career was blossoming in Papua, the Jesuit Fathers, after 20 years in the
north, left first Daly River and then Darwin. By 1902 the whole of the Northern Territory, at that time known as
the Diocese of Palmerston and Victoria, was without a priest. The problem was so serious that it was raised at the
Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome in 1904. Strong, stable church administration was needed in
Darwin, as was the establishment of a mission to prevent abuse of and care for the Aboriginal tribes of the north.
Responsibility was finally handed to Father Treand, superior-general of the MSCs in Australia, who decided to
recall Father Gsell, who had already been recommended from Rome. At the Australian synod of Catholic bishops
in 1905, he was appointed as Apostolic Administrator of the Northern Territory, a diocese of over a million square
kilometres. Father Gsell received news of his new appointment with some trepidation and reluctantly said goodbye
to his beloved Papuans. He set forth for Sydney and his fears grew as, upon arrival, he was greeted with nothing
but bad news about the climate, the land and the inhabitants, both black and white, of the Northern Territory;
but characteristically, he noted in his memoirs: ‘I landed at Port Darwin on 15 August, 1906 ... the feast of the
Assumption... There were three Catholics to greet me on the wharf.’ He added, ‘it took some courage to sit down
and remain there.’
Two brothers and a priest, Father John O’Connel, later joined him. During 1907–08 they resurrected the little
church that had been constructed by the Jesuits. They built a presbytery, a convent and a school and began teaching
a small number of pupils. In 1908, five sisters of the Order of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, who took over the
school, joined them. This enabled Father Gsell to explore his huge diocese from Alice Springs in the south to
Wyndham in the north. It took him five years to firmly establish the parish of Darwin. He then turned his attention
to the task dearest to his heart, that of establishing a mission for the Aboriginal people.
Several years of living in the environment of Darwin, coupled with the previous experiences of the Jesuits had
convinced Father Gsell of the need to establish his mission away from the centre of the white population. He turned
his eyes north to Bathurst and Melville islands which the Tiwi tribes populated. In 1909 Monsignor Gsell, (as he
is referred to from this time) opened negotiations with Joe Cooper, a buffalo shooter who had resided at Paru on
Melville Island from 1900. When it became clear there would be a conflict of interests, Gsell withdrew and decided
on a settlement on Bathurst Island. Having made up his mind, he moved quickly to have his work protected and
legalised by both Church and State. In September 1910 his administrative skills were rewarded when the then
South Australian Minister for the Northern Territory, Mr W J Denny, proclaimed Bathurst Island a native reserve.
He granted Gsell 10 000 acres (4 050 hectares) on the southeastern tip of the island. By 1911 Gsell had also gained
the approval of Dr Gilruth, first Administrator of the Northern Territory, to pursue his missionary plans. After a
preliminary inspection tour in April, Gsell set forth in June 1911 for Bathurst Island. With a voluntary crew of four