Joseph Dalton, SJ

Tullabeg 1833-1834 and Clongowes 1834-1836 I Joseph Dalton, SJ

Joseph Dalton, SJ (1817-1905), educationist, was a native of Waterford, who attended Tullabeg in 1833-4 and Clongowes in 1834-6. Becoming a Jesuit, he held the combined post of rector and prefect of studies at Tullabeg, before being sent to Australia in 1865 as first superior of the Irish Jesuit mission. Energetic and capable, he was responsible for the development of a number of churches and celebrated schools. The Irish Jesuits took over and reorganised the ailing St Patrick’s College in Melbourne. Dalton formed the Richmond and Hawthorn parishes, and purchased the land for Xavier College at Kew. In Sydney he took over and ran the North Sydney parish and established St Ignatius College in Riverview. He also purchased the original site for St Aloysius College in Sydney and took an active part in setting up the Jesuit school there. The three IrishAustralian Jesuit schools were modelled on the Clongowes/Tullabeg formula, with which Dalton was familiar. They provided a liberal education, based on the classics, together with science, mathematics and modern languages. Debating was encouraged. An attempt to establish a school in New Zealand failed, but the Australian schools were extraordinarily successful. This achievement was all the more remarkable when set against the background of hostility towards Catholics and their institutions then prevalent in the colony and the small number of Jesuits involved. Dalton promoted retreats, Catholic education, Catholic newspapers and lay participation in parish affairs. He spent his declining years at Riverview, where he was esteemed as ‘the venerable patriarch of the college’. The chapel at Riverview is deservedly named in his memory.