[1] The journey from Italy to Fremantle, via London, took four months and Confalonieri, alongside Irish priests James Fagan and Nicholas Hogan, arrived in January 1846.
On 1 March 1846 they left Fremantle to head to their final destination and they had to first travel to Sydney and then the Torres Strait Islands; at one o'clock in the morning of 24 July 1846 their ship, the Heroine, struck a reef there and sank within six minutes.
Confalonieri, and a number of other passengers, where able to cling to the topmast head and Nelson, a Newfoundland dog owned by the ship's mate Mr Ral, helped move the survivors to a nearby reef where they were picked up from at daylight.
He was greeted warmly by James McArthur, the commandant, who soon after arranged for the construction of a home for him on top of the Red Cliffs to the side of Black Rock about 29 kilometres (18 mi) from the main settlement; this was done for Confalonieri as he was impractical in relation to domestic matters and did not even know how to mix or cook his ration of flour.
[1] As well as ministering to the community Confalonieri also studied the Iwaidja and spent significant amount of time exploring the Coburg Peninsula and preparing maps, showing the clan areas, and making small vocabulary lists of seven of the local dialects.