Venerable Archdeacon Francis Hales, of Launceston, Tasmania, died on the morning of Tuesday, July 10, 1900, aged 79.

He was born in County Dublin, Ireland, and his earliest years were spent with his father's regiment, which was stationed successively in Sydney, Hobart, and India. He returned home at an early age, and was at first destined for a military career. His name was, in fact, put on the list by the Duke of Wellington for a commission without purchase, and the commission was eventually given to a brother, after the subject of our sketch decided to enter the Church.

Having concluded his studies at Dublin in June, 1846, he went down to the town of Tuam, in the west of Ireland, to be ordained, prior to entering upon his duties as assistant to the Rev. William Baker Stoney, rector of Castlebar.

He arrived in time to witness one of the saddest and most awful of the tragedies in Ireland's story - the famine. This north-western part of Ireland, while it presented on its rockbound coastline much magnificent scenery, was inland bleak, and not very fertile. There were no manufactures; the only industry was agriculture, and the condition of the people was miserable. Poor as they were, however, there was still a greater depth of wretchedness in store for them - that of absolute starvation. In that ghastly year the potato disease destroyed the staple food of the country, and its spread meant a sentence of death to hundreds of thousands of people. One morning the field looked promising; the next the withering leaves announced the death of the crop, and the starvation of its wretched cultivators. The last potatoes of 1845 were gone, and there were none to replace them. No other food existed in the country, and had not help come the loss of life would have been greater than it was.

During this time, the population was diminished by death and emigration by more than a million. Every effort was made to combat the widespread distress, and for once persons of every class and creed united heartily to stem the tide of misery. The Rev. W. B. Stoney, by the help of his friends, used to supply a quart of boiled Indian meal every second day to about 700, and the committee of the town gave the same allowance to 4,000 persons every day. The Anglican clergy threw themselves into the efforts to help the people. In a group of adjoining parishes with ten clergymen, seven contracted fever, of whom five died, one being the father of the Rev. Canon Robert Potter, of Melbourne. Two recovered, one being the subject of this sketch.

In January, 1848, the Rev. Francis Hales landed on the mudbanks of the Yarra. At that time the population had not reached 10,000, and the coming of the Bishop Charles Perry, appointed by the Queen's letter patent, constituted Melbourne as a city.

Bishop Perry brought with him to his new diocese three clergymen - the late Dean Hussey Burgh Macartney, the late Rev. Daniel Newham, and the Rev. Francis Hales. There were already three in Port Phillip, as Victoria was then called - one at Melbourne, one at Geelong, and one at Portland.

The Rev. Francis Hales took charge of the parish of Richmond, and afterwards for a short time, of Gippsland, where he experienced all the hardships that the pioneers had to face in those days. His next few years were spent in Heidelberg (Victoria), and at the end of 1853 he went to Launceston, Tasmania, where he devoted himself to work in the parish of Holy Trinity. He was administrator of the diocese in 1882-83 on the resignation of Bishop Charles Henry Bromby, and again in 1888-89 on the resignation of Bishop Daniel Fox Sandford. He represented Tasmania at the general synods held in Sydney in the years 1876, 1881, and 1886. He celebrated his jubilee as a clergyman in 1896.

He was known as a scholar and a deep thinker. Dr. Alfred Williams Momerie, one of the leaders of religious thought in England, said of him: "There are few like him even in England; he is one of the few men who can help to keep the Church alive, and of whom she stands in such sore need."

At the request of Bishop Sandford, he published his views on the story of Creation as contained in the first chapter of Genesis, a theme which was at the time attracting a great deal of attention. He also published a pamphlet on the marriage with a deceased wife's sister question, and this attracted a good deal of attention from legislators in Tasmania and other colonies. He preached and published on the gambling question to such effect that Sir Edward Braddon, the then Premier, took some trouble in the debates in the House of Assembly to try and confute the Archdeacon's arguments.

He took a deep interest in all things affecting the public welfare, and discussed all public questions from the people's standpoint. He strongly advocated the opening of the Museum on Sundays, and the playing of bands in the parks on Sunday afternoons.

In celebrating his jubilee a wonderful amount of enthusiasm was shown by friends in various parts of the island, as well as by his own congregation, whose attachment to him was very strong. Congratulations and expressions of esteem came from all sides. Protestants of all denominations and Roman Catholics, no less than those of his own Church, appreciated his breadth of view, his fair dealing, his wide sympathies, and his strong desire for the welfare of the community.

He leaves a large family, some of whom are in Tasmania, and other in Sydney and other parts of Australia.