Good advice behind the bar at the Everton Hotel, formerly the “Keady Hotel”.
There seems to have been something in the blood which lead Keadys thru the generations to have a go at running pubs.
John Keady (1812-1884) kicked off the tradition when he became the Publican of the Prince Alfred Hotel in High Street, Preston in 1876. He renamed it, “Keady’s Hotel”, remaining the Publican until 1882, when the name reverted to the Prince Alfred Hotel. It closed as a pub in 1922, but the building remains at 133 High Street, Preston, Victoria.
John’s son James Henry Keady (1843-1936) was also running a pub about the same time in Murchison through the late 1870s until he got into financial difficulties.
While John’s son Patrick (1837-1923) did not seem to have a go at running a pub, three of his sons certainly kept up the family tradition.
John Henry Keady (1867-1929), along with his wife Christina Gerecke(1874-1941) operated the Keady Hotel at Everton over the period from 1904-1937. The Keady (now Everton) Hotel hasn’t changed much since that time.
Patrick’s son, Michael Thomas Keady (1869-1940) spent most of his working life as a publican in New Zealand. Michael moved to New Zealand with his brother Patrick John Keady (1876-1951) after returning from service with the Australian 3rdNSW Mounted Rifles during the Boer War. Michael ran pubs are various locations including the Edinburgh Castle Hotel in Auckland where he was the publican in 1919. Both Michael and Patrick lived out their lives in New Zealand.
The Koetong Hotel on the Murray Valley Highway between Albury and Corryong was also in Keady hands in the early 1900s. The publican is recorded as James Keady, but it is not clear if this was James Henry Keady, noted above or his nephew, James Keady (1890-1941) another son of Patrick Keady. Irrespective of who was the publican, one can imagine that the Koetong Hotel was a regular water hole for the two large Keady families who lived at Koetong at the time. The Koetong Hotel still serves a cold beer.
Keady Family in Victoria 