Father Duff

(1860-1906)

Father Duff- a saint or a sinner?

“One of the queerest characters of Perth and Fremantle is the Rev. Father Duff, a portly, rubicund Irish priest with a decided taste for commercial life - or rather for making money. He was reputed to be very wealthy, and had an interest in many hotels…” (reference)

“But those that go forth and leave their homes cheerfully and voluntarily to convey their pious message, travelling wearily over desert sands and through leagues of bush, are the noblest of their kin and most zealous in their desire for universal good. Theirs is not the greed of gold, the love of self, but nobler far the love of human souls…” Warren Bert Kimberly, on ‘Father James Duff’, in the History of West Australia. ( reference )

James Duff, was born in Tully, Ireland in 1860 and after being ordained as a catholic priest, arrived in WA in 1883.  In 1889 Bishop Gibney dispatched ‘Father Duff’ on a mission to the north-west provinces. He visited the Kimberley and travelled the Gold fields, where he gained insight into mining life. Duff also joined Bishop Gibney at Derby, where Gibney established a native mission. 

In 1892 he was the author of a small book "Landmarks, or the Young Man's Guide", which covered six out of twelve lectures he delivered to the Perth Catholic Young Men Society, on subjects such as “the formation of character’. (reference)

“It contains mature advice, moral and spiritual, for all. Every line breathes the sincerity of the writer and his utter abhorrence of every phase of sham.” ( reference )

In 1893, on the goldfields, he ministered to a population where many were dying of Typhoid and he started a church in Cue. After a year in Katanning he returned to the Goldfields where he became famous for being the first clergyman to ride a bicycle on the fields. His travels and nobility were heavily mythologised;

“The tales of his wanderings here, amid some desolate waste, some unwelcome thicket, is sad and pathetic. Often reduced to want, thirsty, hungry, sore in body and mind, he wearily pursued his course. Sufferings and privations reduced his system, and miracles saved him from fever and death”. (reference)

By the late 1890s he was based in Perth where he established the Catholic newspaper The W.A. Record, and he spoke about the obligation on Catholic brethren to support their only Catholic and Irish newspaper and to “counteract the mischief that the secular press can do”. (reference)

But Father Duff had hidden, conflicting and complex business dealings and soon they started to affect his reputation. As ‘Dryblower’, a Goldfields poet and commentator, who mentioned Duff a few times in his verses, said after his death:

The padre did a lot of good work in the Kimberley and other Northam fields before striking Coolgardie. There the allurements of bullion led him into a succession of sordid squabbles, with his partners… With all his lust for gold Duff was a humorous cuss, and his stereotyped remark, when asked advice re new businesses, was "Pubs is best me bhoy, pubs is best."

Another story about Father Duff was his response to a man who pointed out a corner on which a church was to be built:  " 'Tis so, me bhoy," he brogued, "but what a pity to sphoil it wid a church, whin 'it's an ideal sphot for a pub." ( reference)

Where Father Duff got his gold from remains a mystery- but by 1896 he was using it to buy hotels. Duff had a rather intriguing relationship with a widow called Catherine Malone (1867-1905). Malone applied for liquor licences for proposed hotels and acted as a front for Father Duff, who was the real financier for these hotels.

In 1896 Malone applied for a licence for premises in Claisbrook, East Perth and was successful in obtaining a hotel licence near the railway line. She later admitted Father Duff owned the land, he paid the mortgage off to the bank and she had a lease there for 7 years.

In 1897 Duff made plans to build the finest hotel in Fremantle: The Australia Hotel; with 100 rooms, on the corner of Beach St and Edward St, Fremantle. He engaged the services of another good Irish woman, Mrs Elizabeth Cecelia Griffin of Cue, to be the Proprietress. She also entered into a contract to lease the Hotel from him, for a period of seven years.

In 1899 Malone applied for a provisional certificate for premises to be erected in Stirling-street, Perth. When grilled in court she denied that she was Father Duff’s sister or that she was acting on behalf of Father Duff, however admitted having taken out a mortgage with Mr Lacey that would be paid by Duff, if she was successful. The application was deemed speculative and denied. ( reference)

In 1899, she also applied for a provisional certificate for a hotel at the corner of Stirling and Forrest-streets, in Kalgoorlie, which later became the Royal Hotel (owned by Duff). She admitted Father Duff had prompted her to apply for the license for the proposed hotel, and in reality that he was financing her. (reference)

In June 1900 Malone’s application was refused for a hotel in Maylands ( reference) and again in Nov 1900, for premises in Subiaco. (reference)

In 1901 Duff’s plans started to unravel. Firstly his brother Bernard Duff sued him for breach of contract for work he had done for him. (reference) Bernard also sued him over fraudulent promises made to him regarding partnership in his hotel properties in Kalgoorlie and Fremantle. Bernard claimed he was illiterate in business matters and had trusted his brother for all advice. He found his brother had mislead him over debts and made him sign documents of transfer without knowledge of proper facts. (reference) The Court ruled in Bernard’s favour but James appealed in August 1902 and it wasn’t until In May 1904 that the Supreme court established that Bernard’s original claim to a half share in the property was to be upheld. (reference)  

James Duff also had big theatre dreams. His desire to make an opera; dramatizing a Milton's poetry, to be called 'The Two Worlds', led him, in 1899, to ‘loosely’ commission an English musician and composer, Dr Joseph Summers (1839-1917) to write the music for it. Despite no written contract Summers claimed he completed 27 pieces of music, but was never paid properly for the music nor the work involved in training the choir, holding rehearsals for nine weeks, and the hire of rooms, piano, and other expenses. (reference) Summers refused to continue unless paid properly and so Duff engaged another composer, and considering himself to hold copyright over the music, simply took the music from Summers: 

On August 22, 1900, Harry Fitzmaurice, the defendants stage manager and agent, for the production of the drama in Perth, unlawfully, and without the consent of the plaintiff entered the plaintiff's office and took away the four volumes, which were still detained. The contents of the volumes were converted to the defendant's own use. (reference) 

Duff persisted in his desire to stage the musical drama and the first stage production of ‘Two Worlds’ was held 10 November 1900 at the Theatre Royal. (reference)

Well-known Goldfields commentator ‘Dryblower’ called the drama ‘atrocious’ (reference) and a somewhat cynical theatre critic at the Western Mail wrote:

Father Duff had set himself a stupendous task, and probably most of those who could realise what it meant had come prepared for a stupendous failure. On the programme the play was described as a dramatic oratorio…"The Two Worlds’’ is rather a sacred drama, with incidental music… The play is assuredly one to see. It is a question whether anything resembling it has been presented to an English-speaking audience since the Elizabethan age. Whether so singular a revival will commend itself to the modern theatre-goer may be doubted, but to have seen this page from the dramatic methods of medieval England placed before an Australian audience at the close of the nineteenth century is an experience that no ardent supporter of the theatre and no lover of the curious would willingly miss. (reference)

In August 1901 Summers sued Father Duff for copyright. Duff counterclaimed that the plaintiff had broken his agreement. The Jury, after a retirement which lasted for an hour and a half, returned a "verdict for the plaintiff on the claim for £37 16s. and a verdict for the defendant on the counter claim for one farthing.” (reference)

Summers continued to compose and teach music in Perth and under his conductorship a Philharmonic Society and a Liedertafel were established. (reference)

Litigation didn’t deter Father Duff and in 1902 he travelled to Ballarat in Victoria, to superintend the production of ‘Two Worlds’ there. (reference)

Litigation came in a torrent however in 1905, as Father Duff’s actions caught up with him:

Duff owned the Royal Hotel at 105 Forrest St. Kalgoorlie, (built around 1898) which catered for people that lived and worked along the railway line. It was used for accommodation for Italian labourers in 1916/17 and was still standing in 1936, but was torn down before the Second World War.

As per his pattern, Duff leased the Royal to a Mrs Bridget Bromley. After a cyclone in December 1903 the hotel was in a ruined state. Duff refused to carry out repairs, avoiding his responsibility and expecting Mrs Bromley to pay for repairs. In March 1904 the police tried to shut the hotel down, saying it no longer complied with the Licensing Act. Mrs Bromley transferred her licence to a Mr Byrne (reference) who also became angry with Duff after promises to take the repair money from the rent he paid were not upheld, he received dishonoured cheques and a verbal agreement to lease, was never put in writing. (reference)

In May 1905 Duff was sued by Mrs Annie Cockram over the North-East Coolgardie Carolina Syndicate shares he had bought to ‘help her out’ -but then refused to relinquish. The judge in the case said he was sorry to have to say it, but he was not able to believe Father Duff against the evidence of the other witnesses. (reference)

In July 1905 two accountants McLean and Williams sued Duff to recover the sum of £100 for services rendered in preparing the accounts of Duff & Duff. Duff won on a technicality (reference)

In Dec 1902 Catherine Malone had applied for an a liquor licence for a hotel to be built in Gingin. In September 1903 Duff was the registered proprietor of the hotel, which he had built and furnished. Around June 1904, according to Duff- it was mutually agreed between Duff and Catherine Malone, the hotel-keeper, that Duff should transfer his right, title and interest in the premises to Malone, in trust for him. She promised to pay him £500. It was agreed, that later they could do a re-conveyance. Duff duly transferred the title etc. but nothing was put in writing.

Catherine Malone died intestate on April 27, 1905. Bernard Duff was a pall bearer at her funeral but Father Duff did not attend. (reference) and the hotel was taken into administration by Patrick Murphy, her brother, who began living at the hotel. Murphy denied that any of Duff’s story was true, and took Duff to court in July 1905, saying and that Malone had bought the Hotel from Duff. (reference) The matter was settled with Murphy being awarded a sum but ordered to transfer all the deceased's interest in the Gingin Hotel, and also the interest in property in Tiverton-street, Perth, to Duff. (reference)

In Nov 1905 Mrs Griffin’s lease came to an end at the Hotel Australia. Duff refused to pay her the bond and other monies he owed her, which included improvements, furniture, board and lodging for Duff and his guests in 1904-1905, rates insurance, and dishonoured cheques.

Mrs Griffin took Father Duff to court and won. Duff admitted everything but the claim for furniture and improvements:

In the Supreme Court today his Honor Mr. Justice Burnside delivered judgement in the case in which Elizabeth Cecilia Griffin sued Father Duff, the owner of the Hotel Australia, at Fremantle, for the recovery of certain moneys. His Honor gave judgment for the plaintiff for £1500 in the first instance, because she already had judgment for £414 and for £364 in the dispute. (reference)

After Mrs Griffin was successful and Duff ‘s reputation was ruined, this ill-timed comment was written by a journalist at the Sunday Times on the 3rd December 1905:

“Duff, who has been making the pace warm of late, is deeply involved in financial matters. He has been unlucky in his litigation, and don't seem to know "where 'e are." Already his creditors are pressing him so closely that the sheriff has announced the approaching sales of several of the properties in which he is interested. It's about time that "Father" Duff took the hint and rid this oppressed State of his presence. ( reference)

It was not long after that Father Duff died.

The widespread question as to what he would do in the dark days of decrepitude and hard-upness was answered convincingly by Father James Duff last week. He died. Said to be 45, but looked ten years older. Though anything but a credit to his cloth of late years, there was a time when men spoke well of Duff, and more than one deed of human kindness will stand to his credit in the Recording Angel's script. (reference)

1906, Jan 1, Father Duff, the well-known priest and litigant, died at Fremantle today. (reference)

Duff had made a will on 21 September 1905. (reference) His will was published in the newspaper and in it he left his property and money to his brothers. However it seemed that he had overestimated his worth because many of his property’s were heavily mortgaged. (reference)

In 1907, Bernard Duff, after becoming licensee of the Royal Hotel, Kalgoorlie, carried on the tradition of not paying wages to his female staff, and was taken to court by barmaid Bessie Walpole, in the Kalgoorlie Police Court for for £1 10/, claimed to be due as one week's wages. (reference)

Father Duffs three hotels were bought by Castlemaine Brewery (of Fremantle) in 1907. (reference)

A final strange twist to this tale is that in his will Duff stipulated that his body be interred in the vault where the body of the late Catherine Malone, originally from County Clare, Ireland (aged 38), had been buried six months before, in the East Perth Cemetery. He also left money for masses to be said for both their souls by Bishop Kelly of Geraldton. (reference)

His last wishes to be buried with Catherine, were, not surprisingly, not carried out by the Catholic Church. His funeral took place at St. Patrick's' Church, in Fremantle, and proceeded to the Catholic cemetery at Karrakatta. (reference)

Jo Darbyshire June 2021