Welcome to the Lockington, Victoria, Australia.

The naming of Lockington

"From the advent of irrigation in 1911, the need for a township was felt, but the actual site was not decided upon until 1915, when the Cohuna-Elmore railway line was opened. The station was first known as Bamawm, and the post office still used the old name of Pannoobamawm, which was rather confusing, until the Progress Association was requested by the railway authorities to submit a list of names from which a choice would be made.
A person much in the news at that time was illustrious Fr. Lockington, S.J., noted author, lecturer and preacher, and a suggestion was made that his name be included in the list. This found favour with the Railway Commission, there being no other station in Victoria of that name, and so it was adopted for the station and the post office. The names were gazetted in May,1921."

(From Then the Water Wheel Turned: a history of Lockington and District 1867-1967, by Fae Stevens and Elizabeth O’Brien.)

WILLIAM JOSEPH LOCKINGTON, S.J. (1871-1948)

William Joseph Lockington was born in February,1871, at Ross, New Zealand. Ross is approximately 19 miles south of Hokitika, in Westland (west coast), South Island. He was the eldest of eight children, six sons and two daughters, born to Elisha Lockington and his wife, Mary.

Elisha was born in Sudbury, Derbyshire, England, and emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1856, with his parents and other family members. In 1861, he went to New Zealand and settled at Ross, where he worked as a builder and sawmiller. He married Mary Canfield at Hokitika, in 1870.

Mary was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, of Irish parents, Sarah (nee Fitzpatrick) and Joseph Canfield.

William Joseph Lockington (known as Will), grew up to become a schoolteacher. While the family resided at Ross, he taught at state schools, in the town of Ross, and at Donoghues in the Ross district. He remained in that district in the early 1890s, when his parents moved to Waitahu, near Reefton. Reefton is also on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Will later joined his parents there and, from 1894, was headmaster of the school at Capleston, in the Reefton district, until May, 1896. He then resigned his position, and left New Zealand, to enter the Jesuit Novitiate, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Will Lockington undertook studies in Ireland, Jersey, and in England, before receiving a teaching appointment to Crescent College, Limerick, Ireland. He was ordained a priest in July, 1910, and then spent some time in the United States before returning to Ireland. In 1913, Father Lockington returned to Australia, giving his first lecture tour in the United States while en route. He became a national figure in the years 1913-1923, lecturing, preaching and giving retreats from Townsville to Perth, and also in New Zealand.

Father Will Lockington held positions of responsibility within the Jesuit Order in Australia from 1914 until 1947. He taught at Xavier College, Melbourne and was also involved in the development of Newman College there. He was rector of Riverview College, Sydney, for a number of years. He was highly regarded as a teacher and for his passionate interest in social justice. His health began to fail in 1932, but he continued to teach, and to carry out whatever other work was asked of him. In 1947, he was sent to the parish of Toowong , Brisbane, Queensland, and it was in the Mercy Hospital, Brisbane that he died on 10 October, 1948.

(For the above information, we are grateful to Father Lockington’s niece and nephew in New Zealand)

"Nothing but the best was his maxim and he instilled this into all in his charge. His dream was to have a technical school in every college…We feel that he would be honored to see the progress of his namesake town. Could it be that something of his high spirit and endeavour, together with his name, lives on in our midst."

(From Then the Water Wheel Turned: a history of Lockington and District 1867-1967, by Fae Stevens and Elizabeth O’Brien. (right) )

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