Francis Murphy (Australian bishop)  Bishop Francis Murphy (20 May 1795 – 26 April 1858) was an Irish-born Roman Catholic priest and first Catholic Bishop of Adelaide, South Australia. Murphy was born at Navan, County Meath, Ireland, eldest son of Arthur Murphy, brewer and distiller, and his wife Bridget, "née" Flood. Murphy was educated at St Finian's College in Navan, then the diocesan seminary and Maynooth College. was ordained deacon in 1824 and a priest in 1825; for four years he ministered to the Irish Catholics working at the Bradford woolen mills and for about seven years at St Patrick's, Liverpool, where he met Dr William Ullathorne who enlisted Murphy for the Australian mission. Murphy arrived in Sydney in July 1838. Two years later, in November 1840, when Bishop Polding left Sydney on a visit to Europe, Murphy was appointed vicar-general of the diocese during the bishop's absence. On 8 September 1844 Murphy was consecrated first bishop of Adelaide at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. In the following month he went to Adelaide, calling in at Port Phillip where he officiated at the first Pontifical High Mass celebrated in Melbourne. When Murphy began his work in Adelaide, he did not have a church, school or presbytery; and only one priest to assist him. People had gathered for Mass at private homes until Protestant businessman John Bentham Neals offered the use of a wooden store-house. Murphy continued to use the store-house until 1845. He was advised that a Mr William Leigh of Leamington, England, had purchased a number of town acres in Adelaide via his agent, John Morphett. After Leigh's conversion to Catholicism in 1844, he provided Murphy with the resources to purchase four acres in West Adelaide. Leigh also gave £2,000 to the Adelaide diocese for the construction of a church and presbytery. This money was invaluable at the moment, and though the adherents of the church were few in number and their means were mostly small, in less than two years there were three churches, and an additional priest had arrived. In common with the other faiths, the Roman Catholic church was allotted a small government grant for five years from 1846, and in that year Murphy visited Europe, returning in 1847 with two additional priests. In 1849, Murphy felt it necessary to renounce the government grant on account of the conditions imposed with it.