In 2025, MROBA established a Hall of Fame to recognise Old Boys whose achievements have brought honour to themselves, Marist College Rosalie, and the wider school community. It is the highest distinction an Old Boy can receive, recognising achievement, character, and a lasting connection to the school’s values and legacy.
The first inductee was Stan Pilecki, whose achievements, character, and enduring contribution earned overwhelming support from the Old Boys’ community. Read Stan’s synopsis below.
Voting Procedure 2026
The election of the two inductees for the 2026 MROBA Hall of Fame all voting will be carried out online making it simpler and quick.
VOTING CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON 30TH. SEPTEMBER 2026
There are eight nominees and you are required to rank your top three choices in order of preference.
Beside each candidate’s name you will see a plus (+) sign and by clicking on that symbol you will be able to read details of that candidate’s history and achievements. Once opened, the symbol will convert to a minus (–) sign and to close the synopsis, simply click again. This section is designed to help you choose and rank your final three selections. You can open all or one at a time.
CASTING YOUR VOTE
Before voting, you will be required to enter your personal details for each field, it is mandatory to complete this process. This allows us to confirm that each vote has been submitted by a current MROBA member.
Once your details are complete, select the candidates you believe are most deserved of induction.
Under each candidate’s name, you will see three preference options. Enter 1, 2 or 3 for a maximum of 3 different candidates. Please do not select more than three candidates, as your vote will be deemed null and void. DO NOT DUPLICATE THE POSITION EACH MUST BE UNIQUE.
Please take care when choosing your order of preference, as it may affect who is inducted into the Hall of Fame.
When you have finished, click the “Send Your Vote” button. Your vote will be automatically sent to the judges for recording after you hit the send your vote button.
SUMMARY
Please check your vote carefully before submitting it. Once you have submitted your vote you will not be able to change it. If you submit a second vote using a different email address, it will not be counted. Each vote will be matched against the email address in our member database to confirm that it is valid.
When voting closes, first-choice votes receive three points, second-choice votes two points, and third-choice votes one point.
The two nominees with the highest totals will be named the 2026 inductees. Any tie will be resolved under the Hall of Fame selection committee’s agreed process. You must select no more than three nominees, with no duplicate rankings. Invalid votes will be declared null and void, and no second vote will be allowed.
The two new inductees are expected to be announced and presented with replica awards at the 2026 AGM lunch. All eight nominees will be invited. If an award is presented posthumously, a family member or next of kin will be invited to attend on the presentation.
If you have any questions, please call me and I will be happy to help.
Jim Griffith – 0419 715 697.
2026 Nominees
Judge Connolly, Peter
COHORT OF 1936
Peter Connolly was educated at Marist College Rosalie before winning a scholarship to St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace, where he was both Dux and Head Boy in his final year in 1936.
The Hon. Mr Justice Peter Connolly became a QC, Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland 1977–1990. The elected member (Liberal Party) of the Legislative Assembly for Kurilpa 1957 to 1960.
The Honourable Peter David Connolly was born on 29 September 1920 in Bondi, New South Wales. Connolly interrupted his studies at the University of Queensland to undertake war service and enlisted in the Australian Army on 19 June 1940. He served in the Middle East (1940-42), New Guinea (1942-44), and Morotai and Borneo (1945-46), rising to the rank of captain. After the war, Connolly returned to the University of Queensland, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws with first class Honours and a University Medal (1948).
On 18 February 1949, Connolly was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland and commenced practice at the private bar in Rockhampton. He moved to the bar in Brisbane in 1953 and took silk on 30 May 1963. While at the bar, he served as president of the Bar Association of Queensland (1967-70), president of the Australian Bar Association (1967-68), president of the Law Council of Australia (1968-70), trustee of the Queensland Art Gallery (1959-83) and a member of the Supreme Court library committee (1964, 1967-68, 1970, 1972-77). He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1976.
On 31 October 1977, Connolly was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. While serving on the court, Connolly was also a member of the board of the Queensland Opera Company (1977-80) and a judge of the Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands (1982-94). In 1989 he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Queensland and, in 1992, was awarded a Master of Literary Studies degree in Ancient Greek. Connolly retired from judicial office as he approached the age of 70 on 12 September 1990. He later conducted the Connolly-Ryan Commission of Inquiry into the Criminal Justice Commission (1996-97). Connolly died on 2 May 2009.
Corkran, Terrence
COHORT OF 1934
Terrence (Terry) Corkran was educated at Marist Brothers’, Rosalie completing his education and was a cohort of 1934 only five years after the opening of the school. While at Marist Rosalie Terry was one of only five students who won the Keating Gold. It appears to have been one of the school’s highest academic honours, awarded for outstanding performance in the State Scholarship examination.
After completing his education at Marist Rosalie, Terry Corkran became a teacher.
After the outbreak of WWII Terry enlisted in the RAAF and was eventually seconded to the RAAF in Great Britain where he was trained to fly Liberator Aircraft.
EXCEPTIONAL INGENUITY AFTER CRASH OFF LOFOTON ISLANDS.FLIGHT Lieutenant, Terence John Corkran, R.A.A.F. of Rosalie, Queensland, has been awarded the Military Cross for courage and ingenuity in leading the survivors of a Liberator bomber crew who crashed off Norway into Sweden. The journey occupied 31 days.
They drifted for most of the second day and at about 18:00 hrs on the 30 May reached land. They lived for two days among the rocks. They tried to reconnoitre their surroundings and came across two German soldiers, the crew sat down and refused to move, one of the Germans went for help and after he had left the other was overpowered, tied up and put in bushes, they then made for the mountains. They were helped by two emergency packs of food they had prepared back at base containing eight tins of corned beef, sixteen tins of emergency rations – biscuits, chewing gum and malted mile tablets, two gallons of water, one quart of rum and a first aid kit.
The food kept them going for the first few days of their journey, which lasted 30 days. They had eaten nothing in the dinghies except chewing gum. They all had suitcases of personal kit with them as they were returning from attachment. One of the cases Corkran’s floated after the crash, it contained two pairs of shoes and a pair of galoshes, which helped with the difficult problem of footwear. The day after getting away from the Germans they came upon an isolated fishing shack in which they tried to obtain food. A Norwegian who gave them bread and butter told the crew that they, the Norwegians, were in a difficult position as he estimated that 5% of the population in the north were quislings. Because of the situation they decided to obtain food by theft, killing a lamb and attempting to milk a cow, not many in northern Norway. Berries from the woods also provided part of their food. On their journey they met no Norwegians who spoke English and they received no decisive help from anyone they met in Norway.
On the first day Walton along with Corkran devised a system by which they could get their bearings from the sun, which was then shinning day and night in northern Norway. They kept going east as best they could allowing for the lie of the valleys which they were following, there were few houses, but what there were, along with roads and villages were avoided. Sometimes they sheltered and rested in small woodmen’s huts. At other times they lived in caves and among rocks. Their walking speed was about two miles an hour, but more often they only made about half a mile. On some days they were too tired to walk, but tried to keep going but found the next day the going to be painful after a day of inaction. They walked at night because of the coldness and slept by day. As they neared the Swedish frontier, they began walking both day and night.
The first sign that the four were near the frontier was a reindeer fence, which they climbed. Later they discovered an earthen hut and on entering they collapsed to the floor as they had had no sleep for three days and were very weak, food had also been very short for the last few days. Three Swedes from a nearby farmhouse on a fishing / walking trip arrived at the hut to borrow a coffee pot and discovered the four airmen who were given food. One of the Swedes, a sort of auxiliary policeman returned to the farm where a travelling policeman was staying, he returned the next day with food and dressings for the airmen’s feet. Two days later they were taken to the farmhouse where they were very well entertained. Five days later they set out for Arjeplog, travelling on foot and boat down a series of lakes, and for the last stage of the journey, by bus. In Arjeplog, Walton and Pickering were hospitalised for five days, Pickering had been wounded when the 109 had attacked the Liberator, and on the journey a piece of shrapnel had been removed from his arm with a razor blade.
They crossed into Sweden on 30 June, possibly near Jackvik. After treatment they were interned at Falun for about seven weeks.
Before setting out on their “long walk” the four survivors had debated a plan to steal a fishing boat and sailing to Iceland, they however, discovered that the Norwegians only had sufficient petrol for short trips off the coast, this would have meant making most of the trip under sail, taking about fourteen days, assuming they were not detected by surface or air patrols. Another factor that helped them to make a decision was that they had learned that the Germans shot Norwegians whose boat was stolen.
The story of this gallant march was released by the Minister for Air. Mr. Drakeford on 2nd. December 1942 when he awarded the Terrence Corkran Military Cross.
Seven members of the crew were thrown into the water. ” Two were dead, but the remaining five boarded the two dinghies.
After two days one airman died. The four survivors continued in one dinghy and reached the Islands.
Crowley, Dan
COHORT OF 1981
Daniel Crowley was educated at Rosalie from 1977 to 1981, arriving as a skinny 12 year old in late January 1977. He was the first of six brothers to pass through the school’s doors, with the last of the Crowley clan completing his education there in 1996.
During his time at Rosalie, Daniel bumped around on the fringes of various age group and Second XI/XV cricket and rugby teams and served as a House Vice-Captain in his final year. He represented the school on Channel 7’s ‘It’s Academic’, though he was famously stumped by a question about the pademelon. He was fortunate to be inspired by outstanding teachers, in particular Mr Herd in English and Brother Darryl in Economics, with the latter preparing him well for Economics at University.
After a year working in the public service in 1982, Daniel enrolled at the University of Queensland in 1983, studying Arts and Law. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985 and an LLB with First Class Honours in 1987, along the way accumulating a remarkable set of academic prizes: the Butterworths Prize for Contract (1983), the Walter Harrison Prize for Land Law (1985), the John Hughes Wilkinson Memorial Prize in Law – for top student in graduating class (1987), the Morris Fletcher and Cross Prize in Law – – for top student in graduating class (1987), and the University Medal in Law (1987). He was also actively engaged in student life, serving as a Vice-President of the UQ Students’ Union in 1984, President of the UQ ALP Club in 1985, and President of QLD Young Labor in 1986. He also managed to hold down part-time jobs including packing groceries at the checkouts at Woolies in Indooroopilly Shoppingtown and a car park attendant in town.
In 1986, Daniel was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for Queensland — the first Old Boy of Marist Rosalie to have been educated entirely at the school to achieve that honour. He proceeded to Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1989.
He volunteered as a brancardier at Lourdes with the Oxford and Cambridge Universities Lourdes Pilgrimage for a week every year for about 15 years. He became an auxiliary member of the Hospitalité of Notre Dame de Lourdes
He attended the Inns of Court School of Law in 1989/1990 and was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in October 1990, having been awarded the Gray’s Inn Holt Scholarship in 1989 and Gray’s Inn Holker Senior Award in 1990.
Following pupillage, Daniel commenced full-time practice at the London Bar — a distinction he claims makes him the first male Queenslander since Lord Atkin to do so. He has appeared in numerous reported cases in the High Court and Court of Appeal, frequently alone and without a leader. He is a co-editor of the only practitioner’s textbook on the law of property damage. He is ranked in both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 legal directories in his principal areas of practice. He has received various lawyer/barrister of the year awards. He is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences.
He has also passed the California Bar Examination, been admitted as a licensed attorney in the State of California and appeared in its courts.
A Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a Chartered Arbitrator (C.Arb), Daniel practises both as an advocate and as an arbitrator sitting in international arbitrations.
He has given generously of his time to the profession, serving on the Commercial Bar Association Committee, the Bar Standards Board Standards Rules Committee and its Pupillage Sub-Committee, the Bar Council Education and Training Committee, his Chambers Management Board, and as his Chambers EDI Officer. As an ‘A’-grade Advocacy Trainer for Gray’s Inn, he has trained BPTC students, pupils, and new barristers. He has supervised and trained many pupils in Chambers who have gone on to successful careers at the Bar.
He supports various educational, sporting, RC and musical charities in the UK and QLD.
Although since leaving school in early December 1981, like everyone, Daniel’s path has been marked by blessings and trials, but he has always kept moving forward with faith and trust that God’s providence and grace will guide him.
An outstanding lawyer, a committed professional, and a proud Rosalie Old Boy — Daniel Crowley is exactly the kind of man Rosalie deserves to count among its own.
Bishop Emeritus John Gerry
COHORT OF 1945
EARLY LIFE AND ORDINATION
Bishop Gerry was born and raised in Brisbane and was educated at Sacred Heart, Rosalie, and Marist Brothers College, Rosalie. He was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on 21 December 1950.
PARISH AND EPISCOPAL SERVICE
He served the Archdiocese in several parish appointments, including Coolangatta/Burleigh Heads, St Stephen’s Cathedral, Stafford, and Herston. On 29 July 1975, he was ordained bishop, becoming the first Queensland-trained priest to be consecrated as a bishop.
At the Archdiocesan level, Bishop Gerry served as Vicar General and Vicar for Social Welfare.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
At the national level, he served as Chairman of Australian Catholic Relief, now known as Caritas Australia.
He also distinguished himself through service on the Social Welfare and Health Care Committees of the Australian Bishops’ Conference and the Christian World Service Commission of the National Council of Churches. Internationally, he served on the executive of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania.
LEGACY AND CENTACARE
Bishop Gerry was a driving force behind Centacare, the Archdiocese’s social services arm. In 1974, he was appointed Vicar for Social Welfare with a commission from Archbishop Francis Rush “to be in contact with and available to all institutions and agencies in the Archdiocese associated with welfare”. This commission evolved into Centacare, which continues today with a focus on social justice that reflects many of Bishop Gerry’s values.
REFLECTION ON MINISTRY
In a 2015 interview marking 40 years since his episcopal ordination, Bishop Gerry told The Catholic Leader: “Mary MacKillop’s words that ‘gratitude is the memory of the heart’ often come to me. I am filled with joy and gratitude for my ministry as a priest to God’s people as I reflect back on what has been a life of many blessings.”
TIMELINES AND MILESTONES
1 June 1927 – 13 December 2017
1942-1946: Studies for priesthood at Pius XII Seminary, Banyo
1946-1951: Studies continue at College of the Propagation of the Faith, Rome
1950: Ordination to the priesthood
Parish work in the Archdiocese of Brisbane
1951-1955: Coolangatta / Burleigh Heads Assistant Priest
1956-1961: Cathedral, Assistant Priest
1962-1974: Stafford, Parish Priest
1975: Herston, Parish Priest
1974: Appointed Vicar for Social Welfare
1975: Consecrated Bishop
1975-2003: Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane
REFLECTIONS ON THE PASSING OF BISHOP JOHN, BY FR. PETER DILLON
” Humble, happy, hospitable, and honest all qualities that rise to the surface when we mention the name of Bishop John Gerry, as do commitment, collaboration, conviction and consultation.
A testament to a man who always looked for the best in others and usually found it. “
Hogan, Hector
COHORT OF CIRCA 1949
Hector Hogan 1931 – 1960. Hector “Hec” Denis Hogan was born on the 15th. July 1931 in Rockhampton. After moving from Rockhampton his family ran a small corner store in Baroona Road almost to the highest point in that street.
Hector was an Australian athlete who competed mainly in the 100 yards and 100 metres sprint, where he was seven-times Australian 100 yards champion. He also competed in the 220 yards/200 metres, which he won twice in the Australian Championships, and the long jump which he won in 1954. He also competed in the triple jump.
Hector was educated at Marist College Rosalie and there are only scant records of which year he left the school. We do know that he does not figure much in the school’s sporting history until we discovered in the archives that he competed in the “Open” events while still in Junior (Year 10) when he won the high jump and ran third in the 220-yard sprint.
His athletic career blossomed after he left school.
His athletic talent was noticed at a carnival in New Farm Park, Brisbane. He joined the Brothers Amateur Athletic Club in 1948 and achieved success in the junior ranks. Later in his career, after moving to Melbourne in 1955, he joined the Oakleigh Athletic Club while preparing for the 1956 Olympics
In March 1954, he equalled the world record for the 100 yards (9.3 seconds) and 100 metres (10.2 seconds) on a grass track in Sydney. He won bronze medals in the 100 yards and 4 × 100 yards relay at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. His time for the 100 yards was 9.7 seconds. In the 1958 Commonwealth Games at Cardiff he won a bronze for the 4 × 100 yards relay.
He competed for Australia in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, where he won the bronze medal in the 100 metres.
Hector was the first male athlete to medal in the Blue
Riband Olympic event, the 200-metre sprint since Federation of Australia in
1901.
Hogan died on 2 September 1960 of leukaemia, leaving his wife, Maureen, and a son. He was interred in Nudgee Cemetery.
Hector Hogan remains the only Australian who has won a medal in the 100 metres since Australia competed as a country in the Olympic Games.
In 1985 Hector hogan was posthumously inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Maranta, Barry
COHORT OF 1952
Barry Maranta was educated at Marist Brothers’, Rosalie and was one of the few students who was College Captain for two consecutive years, 1950 and 1951. Barry completed senior (year 12) in 1952 and he represented the school in Rugby, Athletics, Swimming and Cricket.
Barry is also an Australian businessman and co-founder of the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Team. As well as being a founder of the Broncos he is currently a Sky Shades president. His grandson Lachlan Maranta, became a Brisbane Broncos player.
Some wonderful podcasts of the Broncos can be viewed by clicking the following link or pasting it to your URL.
https://www.youtube.com/@insideballpodcast
Barry was a former first grade cricketer and Rugby League footballer, Barry became a sports consultant and entered into a partnership with Wayne Reid, forming the organisation, International Sports Management.
After seeing an interstate Australian Rules Football match that utilised “State of origin” selection rules in 1978, he started trying to convince Queensland Rugby League President Ron McAuliffe to instigate a similar concept in rugby league. This would ultimately have long-ranging effects as the State of Origin series phenomenon took off, becoming one of Australia’s biggest sporting events.
By 1984, Maranta had been active in property development in Queensland for over fifteen years and was closely associated in business with former test cricketer and prominent Brisbane businessman, Greg Chappell.
In 1985, Barry Maranta expressed interest in fielding a Brisbane-based team in the New South Wales Rugby League’s Winfield Cup premiership, the top-level rugby league football competition at the time.
Barry was one of the principal owners of International Sports Management who had contributed to the advent of rugby league’s State of Origin concept. In 1986, Maranta joined Paul Morgan, Gary Balkin and Steve Williams to form the Brisbane club. All men had played for Brisbane domestic teams. Four organisations made bids for the team which would be established in 1987. Ron McAuliffe, had the support of the NSWRL over the Maranta-Morgan group, other groups included ‘International Syndicate’ led by John Sattler and Bob Hagan, and one by Darryl van der Velde (who would later be CEO of the South Queensland Crushers).
When the NSWRL decided not to have a Brisbane club in 1987, the groups went down, but in a final bid for the 1988 season, both McAuliffe and Maranta-Morgan bid for the club. The NSWRL finally decided to have a Brisbane-based team and thus the Brisbane Broncos were born. The rights originally were going to go to the McAuliffe based group, but when it was realised that they didn’t have the funds to support the club, it was given to Maranta-Morgan.
However, the Maranta-Morgan group did not please everybody, especially Australian Rugby League chairman Ken Arthurson, who decided to add other (now defunct) Queensland-based teams, Gold Coast for the 1988 season and the South Queensland Crushers in 1995 season.
Maranta was instrumental in the takeover of the ailing London Crusaders club in the English capital. London, who were founded as an offshoot of Fulham Football Club inside nine weeks and played their first competitive fixture in late August 1980, had a patchy existence until the company that owned the club went into receivership in the early spring of 1994.
The club, the only British professional rugby league club outside of the code’s northern heartlands at the time, was run by the Rugby Football League while a new owner could be found. Maranta and his Brisbane colleagues saw London as a way into another topflight competition although London were playing in the second tier of British rugby league at the time.
Brisbane completed their takeover of London Crusaders in April 1994 and the renamed London Broncos began life in the August of that year. The interest of Maranta’s fellow board members was proven to be short-lived however, and after London had been placed in the embryonic Super League (which was launched fully in the summer of 1996), his colleagues withdrew their interest. Maranta and fellow director Gary Balkin remained but Virgin Group founder Richard Branson took an initial stake in the club and later increased his holding to outright ownership after Maranta sold his interest in 1998.
Maranta returned to Australia. The London Broncos made their only Challenge Cup Final appearance so far at the old Wembley Stadium in May 1999, Branson relinquished his interest in 2001 and the London Broncos brand was ‘retired’ in September 2005, becoming Harlequins Rugby League under the ownership of Ian Lenagan.
McClelland, James (Jim)
BM OAM COHORT OF 1975
James “Jim” McClelland BM OAM was educated at Marist Rosalie and is one of Queensland’s most respected and decorated lifesaving volunteers, recognised nationally for both acts of exceptional bravery and a lifetime of dedicated service to the community.
Jim’s association with the Ithaca-Caloundra City Life Saving Club began in 1971 and has spanned more than five decades of active patrol work, leadership, education, administration, historical preservation and community service. Throughout this time he has contributed thousands of volunteer hours to lifesaving and water safety throughout Queensland and Australia.
In 2019, Jim was awarded the Bravery Medal (BM), together with his brother Hugh, for a heroic rescue undertaken on 9 January 1974. As teenage lifesavers, the brothers risked their own lives in cyclonic surf conditions to save two young girls who were being swept out to sea by powerful currents off Caloundra. Battling heavy seas for more than an hour, they successfully kept the girls afloat until rescue was possible, displaying courage, endurance and selflessness of the highest order.
In recognition of decades of outstanding service to lifesaving, Jim was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2022 Australia Day Honours List. His contribution has extended from frontline lifesaving patrols to governance roles at State, National and Commonwealth levels within the Royal Life Saving Society.
A passionate historian and custodian of Australia’s lifesaving heritage, Jim researched, wrote and published The Bronze Medallion & Lifesaving Story and Numismatic History of the Royal Life Saving Society–Australia, helping preserve the history and traditions of lifesaving for future generations. He has also served on the Royal Life Saving Commonwealth Heritage Working Group and has been recognised with numerous distinguished honours, including Life Membership of the Ithaca-Caloundra City Life Saving Club and Life Membership of Royal Life Saving Queensland.
Through his bravery, leadership, scholarship and lifelong commitment to protecting others, James McClelland has made an extraordinary contribution to lifesaving in Queensland and Australia and stands as an enduring example of service above self.
FR. Warbrooke, Ashley
PP COHORT OF 1962
Ashley was born in February 1947 in Brisbane and grew up in the suburb of Corinda. His early education was at St. Joseph’s, Corinda before moving to Marist College before completing his education at Senior Level in 1964, Rosalie where he joined his brother Kent who was two-year’s older than Ashley.
He was the school captain in 1964 and served as a Cadet Under Officer that same year.
Ashley was also an accomplished athlete, playing 1st XI cricket in 1963-64 and 1st XV rugby in 1962-63-64. He was part of the TAS Athletics teams and was in the TAS champions team of 1962, alongside legendry athletes from “Rosa” Harry Williams and Paul Maughan.
Ashley’s ambition was to become a priest and he needed his parent’s consent to enter the Seminary. Dad believed Ashley needed to experience life outside of school before committing to the priesthood. After a set period of time Ashley’s parents agreed, they would consent to his entry into Banyo Seminary.
After finishing school, Ashley worked for a year at the Commonwealth Government’s Customs House. After completing his 12 months at Customs House, Ashley announced that he still desired to become a priest and entered Banyo Seminary.
During the year, 1965, while waiting out the year before he could enter the seminary Ashley played Rugby under 19 with Wests Toowong and was part of a premiership winning team. His passion for golf was evident, although he never joined a club or gained a handicap. However, he was a very skilled golfer and had scored par for 9 holes several times.
One of my fondest memories of Ashley was when we went on a family trip to the Gold Coast. Ashley, always the adventurous one, convinced us to try surfing. Despite the initial struggles, he managed to stand up on the board and ride a wave, his face beaming with joy. It was a moment that truly captured his spirit – determined, joyful, and always up for a challenge.
Another memorable anecdote was during a family barbecue. Ashley, known for his sense of humour, decided to entertain us with his impersonations of famous personalities. His impersonation of our school principal, Brother Cloman had everyone in stitches. It was moments like these that showcased his ability to bring laughter and joy to those around him.
SEMINARIAN PERIOD
Fr. Ashley pursued his seminary studies at Pius XII Seminary, Banyo, Brisbane. Over the years the number of seminarians has decreased, leading to More space being allocated what is now The Australian Catholic University. He was ordained on 9th. August 1972.
PRIESTHOOD YEARS
Fr. Ashley’s first posting was to St. Catherine’s in Wishart, now Upper Mt. Gravatt, where he served for three years. Throughout his priesthood he has held various positions, including Darra Jubilee Parish with Dr. Dan Carol, St. Agatha’s in Clayfield, St Mary’s in Ipswich, St. Flannan’s in Zillmere and various positions relieving priest in a number of parishes. He also served as Priest Secretary to Archbishop Rush for five years.
Fr. Ashley also took a sabbatical for twelve months, visiting the Vatican and attending Mass, although not in the official capacity as priest. During this time, he spent three months in America and three months in Israel travelling with fellow Priest and buddy, Dr. Wrex Woolnough. After his sabbatical, Fr. Ashley had several minor postings before serving St. Peter’s in Rochdale from 1998 to 2014, then at Star of the Sea, Cleveland from 2014 to 2021.
WHEN IS RETIREMENT NOT RETIREMENT?
Fr. Ashley was very similar to Fr. Bob McGuire in Melbourne in that both these priests had one thing in common. Fr. Ashley said he was retired but not in full-time ministry. His philosophy was he will continue he would continue to fill in for other Priests across the Brisbane Archdiocese, when free, he will enjoy a round of golf with friends.
Ashley performed marriages, christenings and also did requiem masses for Marist Rosalie Old Boys over many years and never forgot his roots.
Cast your vote
Voting closes midnight 30 September 2026. Winners will be announced at the AGM.
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2025 Hall of Fame Recipient - Stan Pilecki (1964)
Former Australian prop Stan Pilecki, who played 18 Tests for the Wallabies, died December 20 2017, aged 70. He had become the first player to log 100 caps for Queensland, in a career that spanned three decades. Pilecki earned his first Wallabies cap in 1978, at the age of 31, before tours of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Fiji and Argentina in a seven-year international career.
He was born in a German refugee camp in 1947 before his family emigrated three years later to Australia. Stan attended Marist College Rosalie – Graduating in 1963. Stan was an outstanding sportsman played in the First XV.
A stalwart of Wests Rugby Club in Brisbane, Pilecki played 221 A Grade games and was the first Wallaby from the club – the gentle giant off the field!. Such was Pilecki’s influence on rugby in Queensland, the Reds’ Player of the Year award, the Pilecki Medal, is named in his honour.
Rugby Australia president Tony Shaw said: “We’ve lost one, if not the greatest characters of our sport”. “His impact on the field was more than matched by the contribution he made away from rugby, embodying the spirit that makes the game truly great.
Former teammate Simon Poidevin added: “Today Australian Rugby lost one of its great characters in Stan Pilecki.
“Stan was one of the most-authentic rugby players the world has seen, universally loved by all those who had the privilege to play alongside him and feared by those who opposed him.”
Presentation to his son, Bart will be awarded on 5th December 2025 at a function.