The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Goold, Most Rev. James Alipius
Goold, Most Rev. James Alipius, D.D., O.S.A., first Archbishop of Melbourne, was born at Cork, Ireland, on Nov. 4th, 1812, and joined the Order of St. Augustine. Pursuing his ecclesiastical studies abroad, he met the late Bishop Ullathorne in Rome, and was induced by him to enter on the Australian Mission, and arrived in Sydney on Feb. 24th, 1838, by the Upton Castle, the same vessel which conveyed Sir George Gipps to the scene of his eventful governorship. Dr. Goold was one of the most energetic assistants of Archbishop Polding in consolidating the Catholic Church in the parent colony, and became Dean of Campbell Town in New South Wales. In 1847 it was determined at the Vatican to constitute a separate diocese in the Port Phillip district of the colony, and Dr. Goold was selected as the first Bishop of Melbourne, being consecrated in St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, in August 1848, by Archbishop Polding, assisted by Bishop Murphy of Adelaide. He arrived in Melbourne on Oct. 4th following, and accomplished a great work in the organisation of his new diocese. In 1850 he laid the foundation-stone of the still incomplete St. Patrick's Cathedral of Melbourne, which in its inchoate state is still the finest ecclesiastical edifice in the Australasian colonies. In 1872 Dr. Goold fulminated against the free, secular and compulsory education policy of the Francis Government, and in 1880 bad much to do in turning the tide against the Berry Ministry at the general election. A few months later the Catholic vote was thrown into the scale against Mr. Service, and in favour of Mr. Berry, who, however, did not succeed in coming to terms with Sir John O'Shanassy, who acted as the representative of the Catholic party. Dr. Goold was a member of the last (Ecumenical Council, and voted with the majority in favour of the dogma of Papal Infallibility. In 1874 the Pope, on his recommendation, created Sandhurst and Ballarat into separate bishoprics, and in the same year he was appointed Archbishop of Melbourne and Metropolitan of the province of Victoria, comprising the sees of Ballarat, Sandhurst, Adelaide, Perth, and Hobart. Dr. Goold, who was a member of the first Provincial Council of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia held at Sydney in 1844, and of the second Council of the Prelates of the Colonies held in Melbourne in 1869, was the object of an attempt at assassination by his former solicitor, Mr. O'Farrell, in 1883, but fortunately escaped without serious injury. Dr. Goold died on June 11th, 1886.