page_title: Michael Martin Clancy
section_title: Church buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Martin Clancy / Church buildings
caption_attribution_description: English: Ruins of the Roman Catholic Church in Innisfail after the 1906 cyclone Stark remainders after the cyclone are the twisted frames and the lone bell tower.
context_page_description: Father Michael Martin Clancy OSA was an Irish-Australian Roman Catholic priest. He was the first resident Parish Priest in Geraldton, a town and parish in North Queensland, Australia. He was an inspirational parish priest who developed the Parish, established Catholic education in the Johnstone River district and built Innisfail's present Mother of Good Counsel Church. He played an important part in the development in the town and the district. Father Clancy was enthusiastically involved in the life of the town, local committees and governing bodies. He was instrumental in the changing of Geraldton's name to Innisfail in 1910. He also advocated for forging a link to the Atherton Tableland and the use of Mourilyan Harbour by shipping. Mount Father Clancy Garreth McGonnell near the Beatrice River was named in his honour.
context_section_description: The 1906 Queensland cyclone destroyed the Church but the bell tower standing beside it survived. A new church was built of silky oak and with two sets of stumps supporting the frame to make it stronger but this was not enough to save it from the 1918 Innisfail cyclone. After the cyclone, the silky oak framework of the church was visible lying on its side but the priory was destroyed and the school razed to its floor boards. In 1920, the community began to fund raise for a new church that would withstand cyclones. Funds were raised by cake stalls, raffles, dances and concerts. 12,000 pounds were raised over four years, half of it in direct donations, many of them from towns people who were not Catholics. The plans for the church were drawn up in 1922 by Maurice Lordan. Father Clancy had decided that the new church was to be built of concrete and devised a method for transporting sand and gravel to the building site at minimum cost. The plan involved gaining permission to construct a section of portable track to meet the existing CSR tram-track so that gravel could be collected from the North Johnstone River at Goondi and carted to the building site in boxed cane trams drawn along the track by horses. Builders and volunteers came from all over the parish during construction. Mother of Good Counsel Church was blessed and opened on August 5, 1928. Aware of the large debt remaining on the church, Father Clancy had collectors among the large crowd present at the opening and the church debt was considerably reduced that afternoon.
  In 1930, he was ordered to take a holiday and was farewelled by the whole town. On his return, a 400-guest reception was held, and he was appointed to a committee to enquire into direst shipping between Brisbane and Mourilyan Harbour. He was a strong advocate for the opening up of the Palmerston Highway from the Atherton Tablelands to Innisfail and the developing of Mourilyan Harbour as a port. Mount Father Clancy near the Beatrice River was named in his honour.
caption: Ruins of the church after the 1906 cyclone
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