The Most Famous

RELIGIOUS FIGURES from Australia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Australian Religious Figures. The pantheon dataset contains 3,187 Religious Figures, 8 of which were born in Australia. This makes Australia the birth place of the 44th most number of Religious Figures behind Jordan, and Peru.

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Australian Religious Figures of all time. This list of famous Australian Religious Figures is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.

Photo of Truganini

1. Truganini (1812 - 1876)

With an HPI of 71.15, Truganini is the most famous Australian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages on wikipedia.

Truganini (c. 1812 – 8 May 1876), also known as Lalla Rookh and Lydgugee, was widely described as the last of the "full-blooded" Aboriginal Tasmanians after British colonisation and one of the last speakers of the Tasmanian languages. As a teenager with limited options during the Black War, in which her mother was stabbed to death, her uncle was shot, and she was raped, Truganini became a guide to George Augustus Robinson in expeditions to capture and forcibly exile the remaining Indigenous Tasmanians. Truganini was later taken to the Port Phillip District where she engaged in armed resistance against the colonists. She was then exiled, first to the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island and then to Oyster Cove, Tasmania. After Truganini died in Hobart in 1876, her skeleton was placed on public display at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery despite her wishes, since there was a fascination with Indigenous skeletons at the time. Her remains were finally cremated and laid to rest in 1976 on the 100th anniversary of her death. In being mythologised as "the last of her people", Truganini became the tragic and triumphal symbol of the conquest of British colonists over an "inferior race". In modern times, Truganini's life has become representative of both the dispossession and destruction that was exacted upon Indigenous Australians and also their determination to survive colonial genocide.

Photo of James Harrison

2. James Harrison (1936 - 2025)

With an HPI of 65.07, James Harrison is the 2nd most famous Australian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

James Christopher Harrison (27 December 1936 – 17 February 2025) was an Australian blood donor known as the "Man with the Golden Arm" for his prolific history of donations, 1,173 times between the ages 18 to 81. Harrison primarily donated plasma after his blood was found to contain antibodies against the Rh D antigen, making them useful in preventing Rh disease, and was one of the founding donors for the New South Wales Rh Program.

Photo of George Pell

3. George Pell (1941 - 2023)

With an HPI of 61.19, George Pell is the 3rd most famous Australian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

George Pell (8 June 1941 – 10 January 2023) was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 2002, he faced recurring accusations of sexual abuse, although his subsequent sexual abuse conviction was quashed on appeal to the High Court of Australia. Pell served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy at the Vatican from 2014 to 2019 and a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers from 2013 to 2018. Ordained a priest in 1966 and bishop in 1987, he was made a cardinal in 2003. Pell served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014), the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) and an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne (1987–1996). He was also an author and columnist. A conservative, Pell maintained a high public profile on a wide range of issues, while retaining an adherence to Catholic orthodoxy. Pell worked as a priest in rural Victoria and in Melbourne and also chaired the aid organisation Caritas Australia (part of Caritas Internationalis) from 1988 to 1997. He was appointed a delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention in 1998, received the Centenary Medal from the Australian government in 2003 and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours. During his tenure as Archbishop of Melbourne, Pell set up the "Melbourne Response" protocol in 1996 to investigate and deal with complaints of child sexual abuse in the archdiocese. The protocol was the first of its kind in the world and was subjected to a variety of criticism. In 2018, Pell was convicted of child sexual abuse, and served 404 days in prison, much of it in solitary confinement. On appeal the convictions were quashed and Pell acquitted in 2020 by the High Court of Australia in the decision Pell v The Queen. A separate investigation by the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith into these allegations of abuse concluded upon his acquittal by the High Court. However, in January 2025 it was announced that the Australian National Redress Scheme had accepted that Pell abused two boys in Ballarat in the 1970s, with compensation paid to one of the boys in question five weeks prior to Pell's death. According to findings released by Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2020, Pell knew of child sexual abuse by clergy by the 1970s but did not take adequate action to address it. Pell said he was "surprised" and that the royal commission's findings "are not supported by evidence".

Photo of Edward Cassidy

4. Edward Cassidy (1924 - 2021)

With an HPI of 60.74, Edward Cassidy is the 4th most famous Australian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Edward Idris Cassidy AC (5 July 1924 – 10 April 2021) was an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church who was president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 1989 to 2001. He headed the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews. He spent most of his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See both in Rome and overseas. He was made a cardinal in 1991.

Photo of Edward Clancy

5. Edward Clancy (1923 - 2014)

With an HPI of 60.20, Edward Clancy is the 5th most famous Australian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Edward Bede Clancy AC (13 December 1923 – 3 August 2014) was an Australian Catholic bishop and cardinal. He was the seventh Catholic Archbishop of Sydney from 1983 to 2001. He was made Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Vallicella in 1988.

Photo of Norman Thomas Gilroy

6. Norman Thomas Gilroy (1896 - 1977)

With an HPI of 59.55, Norman Thomas Gilroy is the 6th most famous Australian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Sir Norman Thomas Gilroy (22 January 1896 – 21 October 1977) was an Australian bishop. He was the first Australian-born cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

Photo of Mary MacKillop

7. Mary MacKillop (1842 - 1909)

With an HPI of 53.21, Mary MacKillop is the 7th most famous Australian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (in religion Mary of the Cross; 15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister. She was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with Fr Julian Tenison-Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites), a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor. The process to have MacKillop declared a saint began in the 1920s, and she was beatified in January 1995 by Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI prayed at her tomb during his visit to Sydney for World Youth Day 2008 and in December 2009 approved the Catholic Church's recognition of a second miracle attributed to her intercession. She was canonised on 17 October 2010, during a public ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. She is the first Australian Catholic saint. Mary MacKillop is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Brisbane and of Australia.

Photo of Peter Hollingworth

8. Peter Hollingworth (b. 1935)

With an HPI of 50.91, Peter Hollingworth is the 8th most famous Australian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Peter John Hollingworth, (born 10 April 1935) is an Australian retired Anglican bishop. Engaged in social work for several decades, he served as the archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane in Queensland for 11 years from 1989 and was the 1991 Australian of the Year. He served as the 23rd governor-general of Australia from 2001 until 2003. He is also an author and recipient of various civil and ecclesiastical honours. In May 2003 Hollingworth became the third Australian governor-general to resign, after criticisms were aired over his conduct as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane in the 1990s.

Photo of Pat Cummins

9. Pat Cummins (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 27.41, Pat Cummins is the 9th most famous Australian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Patrick James Cummins (born 8 May 1993) is an Australian international cricketer who captains the Australia men's national cricket team in Test and One Day International cricket. Cummins is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and one of the greatest bowling captains of all time. Cummins was a member of the Australian team that won the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, vice-captain of the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup win, the winning captain of the 2021–23 ICC World Test Championship and the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, and captained the team to the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship final. Cummins made his Test debut at the age of 18 in 2011. Injuries then forced him out of international cricket until 2015, and out of Test cricket until 2018. After the completion of the 2018–19 home cricket season in the Australian summer, Cummins was awarded with the Allan Border Medal in recognition of being the best performing Australian cricketer of the year and was also nominated ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year in 2019. He was appointed as Australia's Test captain on a permanent basis in November 2021. In 2023, he was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy by the ICC.

People

Pantheon has 9 people classified as Australian religious figures born between 1812 and 1993. Of these 9, 2 (22.22%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Australian religious figures include Peter Hollingworth, and Pat Cummins. The most famous deceased Australian religious figures include Truganini, James Harrison, and George Pell. As of April 2024, 1 new Australian religious figures have been added to Pantheon including Pat Cummins.

Living Australian Religious Figures

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Deceased Australian Religious Figures

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Newly Added Australian Religious Figures (2025)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Religious Figures were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 7 most globally memorable Religious Figures since 1700.