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O’Loughlin was appointed to the staff of Downlands College, Toowoomba, in 1937 and he soon became
Prefect of Studies. He remained there until 1945 when the Army took over the college buildings to convert them
to an 800-bed hospital. College staff and students were evacuated to Dalby where available accommodation
was scattered over a kilometre or more of the town. Father Frank Flynn, a close friend and life-long colleague
recalled O’Loughlin during this period as being one of the pivotal figures in the dramatic changeover ‘when
at some unexpected point of emergency, there he was, sitting on the top step of an outdoor stairway with his
push-bike parked below, calmly smoking his pipe while evolving a plan to restore harmony. This type of scene
was the forerunner of many I was to witness in Darwin crisis situations over the years’.
In 1947, Father John O’Loughlin was appointed Director of Catholic Education for the Diocese of Rabaul
on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. About 500 schools were administered catering for about
17 000 children. The wartime devastation wreaked upon the province of Rabaul was extensive, and during his
service there, O’Loughlin became widely known and admired for his seemingly tireless devotion to duty. He would
often spend weeks at a time visiting and often teaching at various local Catholic schools. It was whilst visiting a
small village school in Vavu on the north coast of New Britain that Father O’Loughlin was to hear the news that
would shape his whole life. It is recorded that the Bishop of Rabaul made a special trip by launch to see him to
bring the news that he had been appointed Bishop of Darwin on 13 January 1949.
John O’Loughlin was consecrated on 20 April 1949 in the Cathedral of St Francis Xavier in Adelaide. He was
38 and in the ensuing 36 years, he became known as one of the finest church leaders in the Northern Territory.
In succeeding the Most Reverend Francis Xavier Gsell, Bishop O’Loughlin faced another Diocese still recovering
from the shattering effects of the Second World War. Housing was almost non-existent and all the pre-war freehold
land in the town had been resumed in 1946, the intention being that the central business district be moved to Daly
Street and everything else would be moved accordingly. It is largely due to the efforts of Bishop O’Loughlin
that this did not happen. Bishop Gsell had been outraged that a secular authority would deprive the church of
its freehold land. He wrote pastoral letters, preached sermons and lobbied the federal government. O’Loughlin
continued the fight which culminated in the minister of the day (without reference to the town planners in Darwin)
deciding that the Roman Catholic Church precinct could stay where it was. It had already been decided that neither
the Shell terminal nor the Hotel Darwin were to be moved but with this decision the plan was doomed.
It had been an unusual decision by the church authorities to raise one of such relative youth to the Bishopric but
as Senator Bob Collins (while serving as Leader of the Northern Territory Opposition) was to comment ‘a brave
and correct one’. He continued: ‘After the war the Catholic Church made a courageous decision. It appointed
a very young man as Bishop of the Northern Territory... It was what the Territory needed. John O’Loughlin’s
devotion to his job was unparalleled’.
The Bishop made massive improvements to the lives of Aboriginal people in all parts of the Northern Territory
and he is regarded as being a key figure in the push for the development of such fundamental services as Aboriginal
education, housing and health. He was outspoken on the need for voting rights for Aborigines and publicly deplored
the segregation of the races. In the 1960s, O’Loughlin believed that the means to solve the ‘native’ problem were
‘jobs, schooling and social acceptance by whites’. The main thing holding back assimilation, he believed, was the
attitude of Europeans, not Aborigines. At the same time, the Bishop was also aware of and warned against the
dangers in pushing the process of assimilation too far and/or too fast. He believed that ‘in the Territory Aboriginal
or Part-Aboriginal tradesmen were accepted by their white colleagues, made a sufficient family wage and had
self-respect The skilled artisan is the first step to aim at, rather than getting them through universities, that can be
left for their children’.
He had a personal, long and close association with the people of Port Keats, Daly River, Melville and Bathurst
Islands. In 1955 for example, he re-established a mission on the Daly River, and continued the pioneering efforts
of Bishop Gsell in supporting health and education services at Bathurst Island and Port Keats. These services were
to become an integral part of the overall development of these settlements. When the Leprosarium was moved
from Channel Island to East Arm in 1955 Bishop O’Loughlin, because the sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
were to run the establishment, was among those to approve the new site. He took a keen interest in the medical
developments that allowed it to be closed in 1983. He was known as a kind friend and father confessor to many of
the patients and regularly said mass at the Leprosarium.
It was at the Leprosarium that the concept of the Aboriginal Health Worker was developed. It was strongly
supported by Bishop O’Loughlin who, not being one to wait for government initiatives, quietly worked to ensure
that this concept of self-care became a reality. In the years preceding his death, he focused his activities upon
the Church’s initiative in relation to alcohol awareness in remote Aboriginal communities. He also actively
encouraged the work of the St Vincent de Paul Society. Not concerned solely with just the physical well being
of the Territory’s Aboriginal community, he was instrumental in the establishment of various Aboriginal village
councils to encourage Aborigines to assume greater responsibility within their communities.
His work in the field of health was not restricted to merely an administrative role, however, as former Minister
for Health, Ray Hanrahan, recalled: ‘He was involved personally in the care of the sick. For many years, Bishop
O’Loughlin was a familiar sight each Sunday in the wards of the old Darwin Hospital visiting not only his
parishioners but also the sick and lonely of all denominations. He had a kind and cheerful word for all and did
much behind the scenes to ensure the welfare of those in need’.
Bishop O’Loughlin concentrated much of his effort in ensuring that a good education based on Christian beliefs
was widely available throughout the Northern Territory. He played a very major role in furthering the development
of Northern Territory Catholic education in particular, and the non-government school systems in general. With his
guiding hand Catholic education in the Top End developed from post primary classes at St Mary’s and St Joseph’s