24 Feb 1948 – 8 Jan 2009

Originally from Port Pirie, South Australia, where he attended the Salesians school, Ian was later to become the Australian Provincial of the Order.

His seminary and university studies were in Victoria. In 1974, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Monash University. Ian was ordained in St Mark’s Cathedral in Port Pirie, 1975.

After teaching in several Salesian schools and being awarded a PhD from Monash University for his thesis on mediæval history, he was chosen as the Australian Provincial of the Salesian Order in 1997.

Fiji and Samoa are part of the Australian Province of more than 120 Salesian priests and brothers. His time as Provincial was completed in 2005.

Ian was offered a year as a visiting research professor at the Catholic University in Washington DC. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007, he continued to preach retreats in the UK and Samoa as well as Australia.

He is remembered as an outstanding priest, a true son of Don Bosco, and as an academic.

He was one who loved bushwalking and sport. It is said that he arrived at the Salesian Novitiate at the age of 18 with a suitcase in one hand, and a cricket bat in the other.