{{short description|Roman Catholic cleric in Australia (1835–1925)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2011}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific-prefix = The Most Reverend | name = Matthew Gibney | honorific-suffix = | title = 3rd Roman Catholic Bishop | image = Matthew Gibney.jpg | caption = Bishop Matthew Gibney | motto = | province = Sydney | diocese = Perth | see = | enthroned = 1 November 1886<ref name=CH/> | ended = 14 May 1910 | predecessor = Martin Griver | successor = Patrick Clune | ordination = 14 June 1925 (Priest)<ref name=ADB/> | consecration = 23 January 1887 (Bishop)<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgibney.html |title=Bishop Matthew Gibney |work=The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church |date=20 February 2011 |accessdate=21 December 2011 }}</ref> | cardinal = | rank = | other_post = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1835|11|01|df=yes}} | birth_place = Killeshandra, Cavan, Ireland<ref name=ADB/> | death_date = {{death date and age|1925|06|22|1835|11|01|df=yes}} | death_place = Perth, Western Australia | buried = St Mary's Cathedral, Perth | nationality = Irish Australian | religion = Roman Catholic Church | residence = | parents = | spouse = | children v = | occupation = Roman Catholic bishop | profession = Cleric | alma_mater = Catholic Missionary College of All Hallows, Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland | signature = }} '''Matthew Gibney''' (1 November 1835 – 22 June 1925) was an Irish-born metropolitan bishop in Australia and the third Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth, serving from 1886 until 1910.
Gibney is perhaps best known for giving notorious bushranger Ned Kelly his last rites following a shootout at Glenrowan, Victoria, in 1880.<ref name=ADB>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |author=Callaghan, V. E. |title=Gibney, Matthew (1835–1925) |id2=gibney-matthew-6305/text10873 |accessdate=22 December 2011 }}</ref>
==Early years== [[File:Matthew Gibney.PNG|thumb|left|upright|Gibney at Christian Brothers' College, Perth]] Gibney was raised on the family farm in Killygorman townland, parish of Kildallan, County Cavan. Gibney studied for the priesthood at the preparatory seminary at Stillorgan and from 1857 at the Catholic Missionary College of All Hallows in Drumcondra, Dublin. He was ordained a priest in 1863 and arrived in Perth, Western Australia later that year.
On an 1880 trip through the Colony of Victoria, Gibney was travelling by train between Benalla and Albury when at Glenrowan, he disembarked to offer assistance during the Siege of Glenrowan. Ned Kelly and his gang had been cornered by the police in a local hotel, which the police set alight in order to draw out the remaining bushrangers. Gibney entered the burning building in an attempt to rescue anyone inside, and found the bodies of gang members Joe Byrne, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart, as well as the mortally wounded hostage Martin Cherry, who he helped retrieve and to whom he gave the last rites. Gibney also tended to the injured Ned Kelly following his capture, heard his confession and gave him the last rites.<ref name=ADB/><ref name="glenrowan">{{cite news | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5964748 | title=Father Gibney at Glenrowan | work=The Argus | date=19 July 1880 | accessdate=28 November 2014 | location=Melbourne}}</ref>
==Bishop of Perth== In January 1887, Gibney was consecrated as Bishop of Perth. His episcopate was marked by a number of poor investment decisions as the diocese purchased shops, offices, houses, and a hotel in Perth as well as a newspaper, exerting editorial influence by banning the publication of horse racing information, which led to the paper's eventual demise.<ref name=ADB/> As the diocese's debts mounted, Gibney was forced to resign in May 1910.<ref name=ADB/> During his episcopate he was closely involved with the founding of the Beagle Bay Aboriginal community north of Broome, along with what eventually became St John of God Health Care.<ref name=ADB/><ref>Sisters of St John of God, [http://www.ssjg.org.au/story/index.html "Our Founding Story"], Retrieved 2011-02-28. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041216060054/http://www.ssjg.org.au/story/index.html|date=2004-12-16}}</ref>
Gibney died of cancer on 22 June 1925 and was buried in St Mary's Cathedral in Perth.
=== Exhumation === During restoration work in the cathedral from 2003 to 2006, the brick and plaster crypt containing the coffins of Gibney and Bishop Martin Griver were discovered by archaeologists under the floorboards of the cathedral.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://cathnews.acu.edu.au/610/78.php |title=Ned Kelly's bishop's tomb found under Cathedral pews |work=Catholic News |date=16 October 2006 |accessdate=22 December 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author = Laurie, Tiffany | date = 14 October 2006 | title = Cathedral reveals the secret of its lost bishops | work = The West Australian | page = 3 }}</ref> ==Popular culture== He was played by John Fernside in ''The Glenrowan Affair'' (1951).<ref name="glen">{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-films-the-glenrowan-affair/|date=15 March 2026|access-date=15 March 2026|title=Forgotten Australian Films: The Glenrowan Affair}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} * Appointment of the Very Rev. Matthew Gibney, Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Perth, ''Western Mail'', 25 Sept. 1886, p. 11 *{{Kimberly 1897}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |title=Our cathedral : a history of St Mary's Cathedral, Perth, Western Australia |author=Winship, John A |location=Perth, Western Australia |publisher=Archdiocese of Perth |year=2010 |pages=240 |isbn=978-1-453-75519-8 |type=paperback }} *''Matthew Gibney (1837–1925) bishop of Perth'' by Rev. Kilian P. Mitchell, in Breifne Journal, No. 16 (1973–1975), pp. 562–579. *''Matthew Gibney (1837–1925) Bishop of Perth'' by Rev. Kilian Mitchell, in Breifne Journal, No. 37 (2001), pp. 402–405. *''The many missions of Matthew Gibney (part I)'' by Joan Frances Carney, in Breifne Journal, No. 37 (2001), pp. 405–435. *''The many missions of Matthew Gibney (part II)'' by Joan Frances Carney, in Breifne Journal, No. 38 (2002), pp. 537–567.
==External links== {{wikiquote}} {{commonscat}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title=3rd Catholic Bishop of Perth|before=Martin Griver |after=Patrick Clune | years=1886–1910 }} {{s-end}} {{Roman Catholic Archbishops of Perth}} {{Aquinas College, Perth}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibney, Matthew}} Category:1835 births Category:1925 deaths Category:Christian clergy from County Cavan Category:Aquinas College, Perth Category:Christian Brothers College, Perth Category:Alumni of All Hallows College, Dublin Category:Religious leaders from Perth, Western Australia Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Perth Category:19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia Category:Deaths from cancer in Western Australia Category:Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Category:19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Category:People from Killeshandra