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primary schools in Darwin to high school level with the opening of St John’s College in 1960. This College
pioneered the provision of boarding facilities for isolated students and today the Catholic education system in
the Territory embraces excellent mission schools in Aboriginal communities and numerous urban primary and
secondary schools in both Darwin and Alice Springs. To achieve this O’Loughlin always maintained ‘close and
harmonious co-operation’ with government. He also supported the development of independent schools as a
member of the Northern Territory Finance Committee of the Commonwealth Schools Commission.
During his years as head of the Catholic Church in the Northern Territory Bishop O’Loughlin oversaw the
formation of many Catholic parishes and congregations throughout the north. These included St Joseph’s parish at
Katherine, St Paul’s Parish at Nightcliff, the Holy Spirit parish at Casuarina, the Holy Family parish of Sanderson
and churches at Nhulunbuy, Batchelor and Jabiru. In Central Australia, the Arltunga Mission was relocated to
Santa Teresa in 1952.
Perhaps the most well-known and substantial building project undertaken by the Bishop was the erection of the
St Mary’s Star of the Sea Cathedral in Darwin, which was begun in 1957 and completed in August 1962. It was
constructed largely from local stone and the Bishop took a personal interest in the work of the stone masons,
sometimes choosing suitable material himself at the quarry site. Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth was later to recall
that ‘in his own wily and canny way Bishop O’Loughlin maintained and supervised a massive building program
right throughout the Northern Territory. If we were to look around at the many and significant institutions operated
by the Catholic Church in the Northern Territory, we see that most of the buildings were constructed during his
time’.
Already highly regarded for his efforts in rebuilding the ‘Catholic Diocese’ after the war, Bishop O’Loughlin
became further respected as a dynamic force during the reconstruction of Darwin after its almost total devastation
by Cyclone Tracy in December 1974. Among many other roles he served on the Cyclone Tracy Fund Committee.
His activities often took him outside the strict confines of the church. He was quietly supportive of people trying
to seek asylum in Australia when they were threatened with deportation and he performed the marriage service for
Gladys Namagu and Mick Daly once it was established they were free so to do.
In the last few years of his life, Bishop O’Loughlin’s health began to fail. An old back injury sustained in a fall
from horseback caused constant pain and irritation and in early 1985, he had an operation to alleviate a weakness
and pain in his right leg. Through this infirmity it seemed, however, that very little would or could change the
pace of the Bishop’s busy schedule, much to the concern of others. Nothing stopped his enthusiasm and support
of the St Mary’s football team and he attended their matches as often as possible. He was also not averse to a little
gardening around the Cathedral when the need arose as Terry Smith, a former member of parliament, found to his
embarrassment. When he asked the ‘gardener’ how he might arrange to see the Bishop the reply was, ‘The Bishop
is busy right now but, if you come back around three o’clock, I am sure he will see you then’. Needless to say, the
gardener was the Bishop.
On the evening of Wednesday 13 November 1985, whilst visiting a parishioner’s home, Bishop O’Loughlin
collapsed. He was rushed back to St Mary’s Cathedral and on to the Royal Darwin Hospital. Diagnosed as suffering
from a cerebral haemorrhage the Bishop died in the early hours Thursday 14 November without having regained
consciousness. He had been a priest for just on 50 years.
As a tribute to the strength, purpose and dedication, of this quiet unassuming Territorian Bishop O’Loughlin was
given the first state funeral in the Northern Territory on 22 November. It was attended by well over 2 000 mourners
from the scattered corners of the globe, and the last respects were paid in an appropriately combined traditional
Aboriginal and Christian ceremony. The Bishop’s casket was interred in the crypt of St Mary’s Star of the Sea
Cathedral, Darwin. In delivering the eulogy the Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane, the most Reverend E J Cuskelly
echoed the feelings of all present, ‘He was a man with a gift for friendship who enriched the lives of many. He was
a friend to the Northern Territory and to everybody who knew him. He was a man of calmness, unperturbed and
with the ability to put aside problems of lesser importance. He was a man of great courage, undaunted in the
building of the Darwin Diocese. He was a friend to all men’.
Earlier that morning in a special sitting of the Legislative Assembly called specifically to move a motion of
condolence, the first of its kind in the Territory, homage was paid to this ‘man of wit, of vision, and above all a
man of the people’. Members from both parties paid their respects in a manner that leaves little doubt as to the high
esteem in which the Bishop was held. The Chief Minister, Ian Tuxworth, noted that justice could never possibly
be given to the Bishop’s numerous achievements or of their effect upon the Territory. ‘In the areas of Aboriginal
Health and Welfare, Catholic Education and the building and maintenance of religious and educational facilities
his work was always as ever marked with excellence and distinction.’ Bishop O’Loughlin’s personal motto was
Vinculis Dilectionis Trahere, ‘To draw together by bonds of love and kindness’, to which credo he adhered all his
life.
Bishop John Patrick O’Loughlin during his many years service to the Territory was awarded numerous civic
and religious citations for his service to the community through the Roman Catholic Church and in 1979, he was
made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). In early 1985, he became the recipient of
the highest award Rotary International can bestow, the Paul Harris Fellowship Award. In the January following
his death Bishop O’Loughlin became the first to be posthumously named Territorian of the Year. He had first been
named in 1984 but the honour had been held over as it was intended to be presented during his retirement year.
His name was remembered in the O’Loughlin Catholic College.
Fr A Bolt, MSC, ‘ St Johns College Silver Jubilee’, 1985; ‘Brotherhood in Mission, MSC’, Kensington Archives, Sydney; F Flynn, Northern
Frontiers, 1968; Northern Territory News, 14 November 1985, 15 November 1985, 22 November 1985, 26 January 1986; Northern Territory