Dean Matthew Horan (1842–1923) was a foundational figure in the history of Gympie, serving as the town’s inaugural Catholic parish priest for over half a century. He saw the rise of the Catholic church in Gympie from a tent, through to the magnificent stone structure that sits atop of Calton Hill today.
Early Life of the Rev Dean Matthew Horan
Matthew Horan was born in Kildare, Ireland on the 6th January 1842. His parents were John Horan and Sarah Quinn. Horan arrived in Australia aged 23 in 1865 via the ship ‘Golden Land’, landing in Maryborough. Horan’s family had a history in the Catholic Church, he was the nephew of Bishop James O’Quinn, the very first Bishop of Brisbane.
Establishing the Faith on the Goldfields
Soon after gold was discovered at Gympie in late 1867, Bishop Quinn decided a resident priest was needed for the thousands of miners and families flocking to the Gympie gold field. After an initial visit to the diggings by Fr Paul Tissot to sound out local Catholics, Quinn appointed the young Fr Matthew Horan as parish priest, sending him to “oversee the beginning of a new faith community” on the goldfields.
When Horan reached Gympie in 1867, the town was still a makeshift mining settlement of tents and rough timber buildings scattered along the gullies and ridges. He became Gympie’s first resident Catholic priest and would remain in that role for fifty‑five years, ministering continuously there until his death in 1923.
From Tent to bark Hut and Wooden Church
In these first years Horan’s work was basic and demanding: saying Mass, visiting scattered miners’ camps, and bringing some order and permanence to the Catholic presence on the field. At first he celebrated Mass in a tent, then upgraded to a simple bark hut as the number of Catholics grew and the settlement began to stabilise.
Recognising that Gympie was becoming a permanent town rather than a temporary camp, he purchased an initial piece of land for the Church on what became Calton Hill for £18. On this site he replaced the bark hut with a wooden church, giving the Catholic community its first solid, recognisable place of worship in Gympie.
St Patrick’s on Calton Hill
Horan steadily enlarged the Church landholding, extending that first purchase until Catholics controlled about five acres on Calton Hill, enough space for a substantial church and schools. The present St Patrick’s Church was built there between 1883 and 1887, the third and more permanent church for the parish, and it was blessed and opened in July 1887 by Archbishop Dunne.
The stone St Patrick’s quickly became a landmark above the town, visible from the surrounding goldfield, symbolising the growing stability of Gympie and the maturing Catholic community. A later plaque at the church records that the body of Dean Matthew Horan, by then recognised as one of the parish’s founding priests, is buried there.
Beginnings of Catholic Education in Gympie
From the earliest years, Horan saw schooling as essential to the life of St Patrick’s parish, and he began Catholic education in Gympie even before religious orders arrived. Long before the Sisters of Mercy or Christian Brothers came, he established a lay school near his church where local teachers worked to provide a Catholic education for miners’ children.
The first Catholic school in Gympie operated from about 1872, and Horan later personally travelled to Europe and Ireland to seek a religious order willing to support his mission. In response to his request, the Sisters of Mercy came to Gympie in March 1879, initially teaching in a private home before opening a one‑storey school on the Calton Hill site, which would grow into the complex of St Patrick’s schools.
The first timber building before the current stone version of St Patrick’s.
A Half-Century of Service
Horan’s tenure as parish priest spanned from 1868 until his death on the 6th July 1923, a duration of service that saw Gympie transform from a chaotic tent city into a prosperous regional center. Rev Horan passed away from influenza, he was aged 91. Rev Horan is buried on the eastern side of the current St Patrick’s Church, alongside he successor, Dean Michael O’Flynn.
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