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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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convicts who had been sentenced for complicity in an attempt to overpower the troops and warders and to capture the island. As proof of the terrible condition of the convicts in Norfolk Island at this period, it may be stated that when Dr. Ullathorne announced to the prisoners which of them were to be reprieved and which executed the former burst into tears, whilst the latter fell on their knees and thanked God, preferring death to the miseries of confinement on the island. Bishop Polding now decided to send Dr. Ullathorne to England and Ireland to beat up recruits for the Australian Mission and to obtain additional funds. He accordingly left Sydney on May 10th, 1836, and after assisting the Bishop in reorganising the affairs of the Church in Van Diemen's Land en route, sailed from Hobart Town for England, where he arrived after a six months' voyage, during which he commenced writing a brochure on the convict system. During his visit he was summoned to Rome to report to the Pope on the Australian Mission and also took a potential part in exposing "The Horrors of Transportation," giving this title to a pamphlet which he published at the request of Mr. Drummond, Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1839 he gave evidence before Sir William Molesworth's parliamentary committee on transportation, which materially influenced the decision to discontinue the system. Whilst in England he also published a pamphlet entitled "The Australian Mission," which attracted a great deal of attention amongst his co-religionists, and much facilitated the objects of his journey, in connection with which he paid a long visit to Ireland and delivered a course of lectures in the churches of Lancashire. In the latter he also referred to the condition of the convicts in New South Wales and Norfolk Island, which excited much sympathy. He was successful in collecting a large sum; and having sent forward two detachments of missionary priests to Sydney, he himself set sail on his return to New South Wales in the Sir Francis Spaight in July 1838, with five sisters of charity, several school teachers, and three additional priests. Amongst the clergy whom he had engaged for the mission were three who were afterwards to become prelates of their Church in Australia—viz., the Rev. Francis Murphy, afterwards first Bishop of Adelaide; the Rev. F. Geoghegan, who became second bishop of that diocese; and the Rev. J. A. Goold, O.G.A., first Bishop and subsequently Archbishop of Melbourne. Dr. Ullathorne reached Sydney for the second time on Dec. 31st, 1838. On arrival he was hotly attacked in the press for the evidence he had given before the Transportation Committee, the colonists liking least his denunciation of the system of assigning convicts to private service. The storm seemed likely to render Dr. Ullathorne's further residence in the colony impossible, but he found a warm supporter in Judge (afterwards Sir Roger) Therry, and ultimately the Catholics started a paper of their own in Sydney, under the editorship of Mr. W. A. Duncan (q.v.), which effectually championed his cause. Dr. Ullathorne was now stationed at Parramatta, and in 1839 wrote his reply to Sir W. W. Burton's work attacking the Catholics of New South Wales. In 1840, as the result of a petition forwarded by the Catholic residents of Adelaide to Bishop Polding, he was sent to that city to organise a Church there and prepare the way for the appointment of a resident ecclesiastic. In this object he succeeded, though he was very coldly received by the civil authorities. On his return to Sydney, Bishop Polding pressed on his acceptance the proposed see of Van Diemen's Land, which was about to be formed under the scheme for the establishment of an Australian hierarchy then being prepared at the Vatican; but Dr. Ullathorne firmly repudiated the idea, saying that he had seen enough of bishops to compassionate them, not to envy them. Ultimately the Bishop consented to withdraw his name from a list (which it headed) of suitable appointees for the projected bishopric. About this time Dr. Ullathorne wrote to the Sydney press deploring the inflation of land values, which he justly predicted must shortly fall, to the great loss of the over-speculative community in Sydney. On Nov. 16th, 1840, Dr. Ullathorne left Sydney for what proved to be the last time, having decided to accompany Bishop Polding on a visit which he had resolved to make to Europe. They went viâ New Zealand and South America,

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