Robert Dunne (5 September 1830 – 13 January 1917) was the second

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

bishop of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and later he became its first

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

. Dunne was born in Ardfinnan,

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and was educated at Lismore Grammar School and the Irish College at Rome. After a brilliant collegiate course, Dunne was ordained priest in 1855, then appointed a master at St Laurence O'Toole Seminary,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, of which the Rev. James Quinn was president. When Quinn was made the first bishop of Brisbane he brought Dunne with him. They arrived at Brisbane in May 1861 and Dunne began to carry out the work of diocesan secretary in addition to his duties as a parish priest. Dunne soon became a prominent figure in the young city, and there was much regret when he was removed to

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

in 1868. On Quinn's death, Dunne became the second Roman Catholic bishop of Brisbane, and was consecrated on 18 June 1882. On 10 May 1887 Dunne was appointed the first Roman Catholic archbishop of Brisbane, holding the office for nearly 30 years. In 1890 Dunne visited Rome and during his absence the opportunity was taken of building a new episcopal residence for him. Dunne did not take a prominent part in public affairs, but his church work was unrelenting. And though he was glad to see new churches springing up everywhere, and was especially interested in the spread of new schools, he insisted strongly that the real foundation of the church was religion in the home. Dunne's health began to fail in 1910 and in 1912

James Duhig Sir James Duhig KCMG (2 September 187110 April 1965) was an Irish-born Australian Roman Catholic religious leader. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane for 48 years from 1917 until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was the longest-ser ...

became coadjutor archbishop. Dunne died in Brisbane on 13 January 1917.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunne, Robert 1830 births 1917 deaths People from County Tipperary Roman Catholic archbishops of Brisbane Australian people of Irish descent Irish expatriate Roman Catholic archbishops Roman Catholic bishops of Brisbane