Born: 17 October 1892, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 31 October 1910, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained 26 July 1925. Posilopo, Naples
Final Vows: 02 February 1929, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, Australia
Died: 19 March 1970, St Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Father was a mechanic with the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works. He also owns property

Eldest of four sons.

Early education at St Ignatius School, Richmond and then St Patrick’s College, Melbourne. He then spent from April to August 1910 in the Audit Office of the Treasury Department.

Received by Father J Brown, Superior of the Australian Mission and sent to Tullabeg.

by 1916 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1921 in Australia - Regency
by 1924 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying
by 1928 at St Andrä, Austria (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Robert Peterson was educated at St Ignatius, Richmond, and St Patricks College, East Melbourne, and was in the public service briefly before entering the Society at Tullabeg, 31 October 1910. He was a university junior, 1912-15, and then studied philosophy at Jersey, 1915-18. He taught at Mungret for a few years before returning to Australia in 1920, where he taught at St Patrick's College, 1920-23. Theology studies followed at Posilopo, Naples, 1923-27, and tertianship at St Andra, Austria, 1927-28.
When he returned to Australia he went to Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and remained there until 1967. During these years he professed at various times fundamental theology, dogmatic theology, church history, psychology, biology, and taught French and Italian, He also instructed the students in liturgy and rites from 1935. He was consultor, 1930-66, prefect of studies, 1931-64, dean of discipline, 1939, editor of the “Jesuit Ordo of the Mass”, 1943-61, and in the last two years, professor of the history of culture and Western civilisation.
He was a good musician and amateur carpenter. His room contained gramophone records, fishing tackle, art reproductions, and carpentry tools. Each of his activities required special garb, such as overalls for carpentry, gumboots for fishing and an old coat for using the Gestetner copier.
In his early days he was a member of the college choir and the college orchestra. There was one piece in which he played half a dozen notes solo on his clarinet. This participation was at great cost to the player, but provided much entertainment to the students. His life was full of earnest activity and work, but he cherished a secret passion for listening to the wrestling on the radio.
He was the perfect secretary This was due not only to his tidiness, but above all to a humility by which he regarded himself as only suitable for doing the hack work while more talented men made use of him.
His last few years were lecturing in Christian art at Loyola College, Watsonia. All his life he spoke in clipped sentences. He peered at people benignly through rimless glasses, and displayed black, disciplined hair above a high, scholarly forehead. He winced at the Australian accent, and deplored the students' delight in Gilbert and Sullivan.
Peterson's work was solid and painstaking; he wasn't over-imaginative and his classes weren't exactly scintillating, but they were clear and precise. His lectures were punctuated now and again with an awkward sort of flight into poetry He was black and white in his opinions. He was also a man of culture who liked the fine things in life. He loved the classics both in literature and music. He produced drama, such as “Murder in the Cathedral”. It was a great success, and a good vehicle for a professor of eloquence to demonstrate his art!
Peterson also had a great love for cricket. He enjoyed watching games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was not good in company, finding it hard to mix with others. but he did make some close friends and especially among families.
He was a very learned man and a hard worker. His spirituality was classical and austere, and a gentle melancholy was part of his temperament. Yet he had the Ignatian capacity for fun, and enjoyed his participation in college musical concerts. Those who did not know him well might have thought him a poseur, especially in regard to the fine arts. This was due to his desire always to say and do the right thing.
He sustained a stroke in the latter years of his life and his powers were very much reduced. He died on the feast of St Joseph after being a patient at St Vincent's Hospital for half a year.

Born: 24 January 1887, Newtown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Entered: 9 August 1907, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 15 August 1919, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 25 January 1956, Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Parents live at Richmond Terrace, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Father is a storeman at Joshua Brothers Spirit Merchants, Pickles Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

One of three brothers.

Educated at St Ignatius Primary School, Richmond, Victoria, Australia and then St Patrick’s College, Melbourne. Then he was employed by Gavin Gibson & Company Ltd, Clarence Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Entered as Scholastic novice;
Came to Australia as Brother in 1913

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
James Jackson was educated at Richmond, St Patrick's College, and Xavier College. After some years in business, he entered the Society as a scholastic novice at Tullabeg, Ireland, 6 August 1907, but during his juniorate followed his original desire and became a brother.
He worked first as a secretary to the Irish provincial, 1911-13, and after domestic duties at Riverview and Loyola College, Greenwich, 1913-16, began a long period of his life at Xavier College, Kew, 1917-54. Here he keep the accounts, helped in the tuck shop, worked in the sacristy, and was pocket money dispenser. He retired to Loyola College, Watsonia, for the last few years of his life.
Jackson was a modest, gentle, retiring and observant religious. He showed an unconsciousness of self that was in harmony with great dignity. He was not abnormally meek, nor withdrawn, nor submissive. In fact his opinions on many subjects were decisively held, and others did not easily influence him. He was remarkably charitable, but this did not blind him to the weaknesses of human nature. He was never aggressive but could be firm when necessary, kind but not overindulgent. He lived a simple, humble life.
He was much appreciated at Xavier College, by staff and students alike. His account books were most neatly kept. He would attend Old Xaverian functions, but usually stayed in the background. He was not shy, but had a natural reserve. He had a genuine interest in people and was a friend to all. He enjoyed football and closely followed the Richmond club. While he never preached a sermon, his life was a testimony to the life of perfection that he had chosen.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - St Patrick’s College Melbourne student and then a clerk in commercial houses before entry

Born: 04 December 1892, Brighton Street, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1925, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1928, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 13 February 1955, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Older brother of Noel - RIP 1947

Parents were in the grocery business but are now retired and living at Ennis, Beach Road, Sandringham, Victoria, Australia.

Eldest of four sons (2 deceased) with two older sisters (1 deceased)

Education at St Ignatius primary school at 15 he went to Xavier College Kew (1908-1911). For six months after leaving school he was with GFA Jones, solicitor, as a clerk.

Received by Fr J Brown, Australian Mission Superior and sent to Tullabeg.

by 1919 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1923 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying
by 1927 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Torn Hehir, elder brother to Noel, was a cheerful youth, always full of life and well to the fore when anything was being done. He was good at football and cricket, and educated at Xavier College. He studied law after he left school, and surprised his friends when he decided to enter the Society at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, 7 December 1912. He later gained a BA at the National University of Ireland in classics, studied philosophy at Jersey, 1918-21, and did regency at Belvedere College, 1921-22, before theology at Ore Place, Hastings. Tertianship was at Paray-le-Monial, France.
Hehir returned to Australia in 1927 and was on the staff of Xavier College for one year before going to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, to take up duty as prefect of studies, a post that he held for eight years. He is remembered for being efficient and capable. The wayward quailed at the thought of an interview with him, but students found him most stimulating and inspiring. He had wide interests, was a voracious but selective reader with a most retentive memory.
In 1936 he was transferred to Riverview; but in 1937 he was back at St Aloysius' College for one year. The years 1938-39 were again spent teaching and as debating master at Riverview, but he returned again to St Aloysius' College in 1940 to take his brother Noel's place as rector. Sickness and the anxiety and worry of the war years caused him to age rapidly and he was a tired man when he was relieved of his burden in 1944. He gradually recovered to the extent that he was once again able to take the field as a football coach.
The best years of his life were spent at St Aloysius' College - he loved every stone of the place and he spent most of his holidays doing jobs in and around the school. He was interested in the senior students and enjoyed meeting Old Boys. Many of his former students, however, found him a very hard man, most severe in his manner and mode of disciplining. Most were scared of him, especially in his latter years.
For three years previous to his death he was deputy chairman of the NSW Catholic Secondary Teachers Association. He had most to do with the revision of the constitution of that body He was also the Catholic representative on the English syllabus committee for ten years.
He was a small man who worked hard and was steady and reliable. He was devoted to his younger brother, Noel, and after his death, Tom seemed to lose his own grip on life.