There didn’t seem to be any involvement of the Keady family with the armed forces until the 1890s. With lingering troubles between the British establishment and the Irish settlers perhaps this is not surprising.
The Keady family were strong supporters of the Irish Republican movement, with their names appearing quite often in the published list of contributors to various organisations supporting Irish independence back “home”.
Two sons of Patrick Keady (1837-1923) , Michael Thomas Keady (1869-1940) and Patrick John KEADY (1876-1951) joined the 3rd New South Wales Mounted Rifles and served in the Boer War in the period May 1900 to May 1902.
The brief history below for the 3rd NSW Mounted Rifles, sourced from The Australian War Memorial provides some background to the formation of the Corp and their role in the Boer War.
Michael and Patrick were living in pretty remote circumstances at Koetong about the time they enlisted and would no doubt have met the criteria of being “good shots and riders”.
Source: The Australian Boer War Memorial
The brothers seemed to have survived their expedition but when they returned to Australia they would have found economic conditions very harsh, so according to one of their descendants both headed off to New Zealand looking for a brighter future. They both eventually married and lived out their lives in New Zealand.
Micheal Keady – future life
Micheal took to the family tradition of running pubs and went on to manage a number of Hotels in the Auckland area. The only photo of Michael which can be found is a Police mug shot from 1926 when he was in his mid 50s. Micheal was trying to improve his profit margins and was found in possession of certain alcohol which had mysteriously disappeared from a warehouse. He received a hefty fine and 3 months in jail.
Michael Keady 1936. Source: New Zealand Police Gazette
Patrick Keady – future life
Patrick seems to have taken up sheep farming. Perhaps this was also a tough profession in New Zealand at the time because he enlisted in the army again, this time for New Zealand. Patrick enlisted in the Otago Mounted Rifles in August 1914 and after a long journey was stationed to Gallipoli where he suffered gunshot wounds to his left arm and left side on 6 August 1915. After medical treatment in Malta and England he was eventually repatriated to New Zealand in March 1916.
The rest of his life was spent around Orepuki and Tuatapere just west of Invercargill in the extreme south of New Zealand. The only photo of Patrick with the border collie below, suggests he lived his life out on the land.
Keady Family in Victoria 
From where in Ireland did these Keady’s originate
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Michael Thomas Keady (1869-1940) was born in Avenue, Victoria and Patrick John Keady (1876-1951) was born at Nagambie, Victoria . Their father Patrick was probably born near Laurencetown, Co Galway, Ireland. He was baptised there on 8 April, 1837.
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