Father Patrick Bernard Doyle Print Page

The bell tower was erected in memory of Father Patrick Doyle, who died in 1924. The opening of the church and the dedication ceremony was performed by Father Doyle, assisted by Father Downey, on the 26th April 1914.

The first priest serving the church was Father Patrick Bernard Doyle and in 1915 title to the church land was placed in the names of Doyle and Bishop John Heavey.

Father Doyle was a deeply spiritual man who was held in great affection and respect by his parishioners. He was born in Ireland in 1874 and joined the order of Saint Augustine in 1893. In 1899 he came to serve in north Queensland as assistant priest, then parish priest, at Cairns. In 1906 he was appointed to Herberton where he stayed, with a return to Cairns for a year between 1908 and 1909, until his death in 1924. He served various churches in his parish, besides teaching and playing sport at the Sisters of Mercy school in Herberton.

A unique occasion was celebrated on Pentecost Sunday in this beauty spot of the Cairns Hinterland in Northern Queensland. The late Rev. Father P. B. Doyle,O.S.A., often expressed his desire to have a bell and belfry attached to the pretty church which he had the happiness of seeing built about 12 years ago on an eminence overlooking the fertile valleys of the district. His lamented death intervened before his pious desire could be realised. Recently the parishioners decided to carry out his wish, and at the same time place a monument to his beloved memory. The bell was procured from a well-known Sydney foundry, together with its wrought iron belfry. The latter is set on foundations of solid concrete, in one of the ornamental projections of which is inserted a marble tablet, with a suitable inscription. That nothing might be wanting to the living expression of their veneration of the memory of the devoted priest who had laboured so long amongst them, his Lordship Bishop Heavey was invited to perform the solemn blessing at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. All the preparations having been duly made, and the bell placed in its temporary position for the purposes of the ceremony, his Lordship, assisted by Rev. Father Downey and by several prominent members of the Catholic community, enacted the solemn and touching ritual prescribed by the Church. The bell was named for St. Patrick. At the conclusion of the ceremony, which lasted well over half an hour, his Lordship briefly addressed the assemblage. He spoke of the elaborate ceremonial they had witnessed, and the beautiful appropriateness of the psalms and prayers which accompanied it. He referred to the significance of the bell, and its immemorial use in Christian worship, instancing the famous bell of St. Patrick and its remarkable shrine. He looked forward to the time when Yungaburra would be a big town, and when the sound of the bell would be heard oftener than it is now, and concluded by paying a well-deserved tribute to their late pastor, in whose remembrance the bell had been erected. Afterwards, on entering the church, his Lordship blessed two beautiful statues, one of the Sacred Heart, the other of the Blessed Virgin, recently placed in the sanctuary. 
Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW), 25 June 1925. 

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