Fr David Wilson remembered for cheerfulness, faith and friendship

The Burnie-Wynyard Catholic Parish is offering prayers for Fr David Wilson SM, who has died aged 89.

He served in the parish in the early 1970s.

He was a Marist for 61 years and a priest for 54. He served as a missionary in the Solomon Islands and had a long ministry with Asian students in Australia.

According to Marist Fathers Australia News, he was born in Adelaide and became a fitter and turner when he left school.

Two years after completing his apprenticeship he became a Catholic, went to Papua New Guinea and trained as a primary school teacher.

He then worked in Bougainville for two years where he met Marist priests, brothers and sisters. This led to him joining the Society of Mary. In 1963 he entered St Peter Chanel’s Scholasticate, Toongabbie, NSW, and was ordained on 22 May, 1971, at St Patrick’s Church, Church Hill, Sydney.

He then served in Burnie for a year, the Solomon Islands for eight years, Hunters Hill parish for a year and then St Patrick’s Church, Sydney where he became involved in supporting overseas students.

In recent years Fr Wilson belonged to the Maryvale/Montbel community, Hunters Hill. He moved into Baptist Care, Marsfield, last year, where he died peacefully on 26 February.

The Marist Fathers Australia report added: “Marist confreres, hostel staff and Fr David’s many Asian friends will remember his unfailing cheerfulness, faith and friendship. May he rest in peace.”

Fr David Wilson SM, 10 August 1936 – 26 February 2026