Margaret O’Leary – Keady Family in Victoria

Martin Charles Nicholas KEADY (1880-1952)

Martin was the eighth child of John Francis Keady and Margaret O’Leary, the younger brother of our Grandfather, Thomas Patrick Keady.

Our grandfather, Thomas Patrick Keady was 6 years old, when his younger brother Martin was born in 1880 at Kialla East, near Sheparton on 16 August, 1880. Martin had 6 siblings at the time, as John and Margaret had lost 2 children in infancy, John Henry in 1874 and Michael in 1878.

The only girl in the family, Mary Ann Keady was born a year latter in 1861 at Sheperds Flat, which is just north of Daylesford, Victoria.

Sometime in the 1880s John Francis and his family moved East to Koetong along with the families of his brothers, Patrick and James Henry.

Martin’s childhood and early life would have been on the fairly isolated farming community of Koetong. He is listed as a grazier in the electoral rolls of the early 1900s, through his 20s and early 30s.

On 9 March 1916 at the age of 35, Martin was admitted to the Royal Park Receiving House and Hospital for the Insane in Melbourne. Martin spent some 7 years as an inmate until he was transferred to the Beechworth Hospital for the Insane on 8 April 1923.

Martin’s condition was described as follows in a Doctor’s report prepared for an Inquest into his death in 1952.

“He was regarded as a case of schizophrenia with marked deterioration and his mental condition showed little change over the years”.

Sadly, Martin spent 29 years in Beechworth Asylum until his death, aged 71 in 1952.

At the time of his death he only had one surviving sibling, his older brother Daniel Keady who was living at Bullioh, near Koetong.

Martin died on 28 February, 1952 after spending a few weeks in the hospital ward of the Asylum.

It is highly likely that he had minimal or no contact with family members after he was admitted to the Asylum. Hospital administration records at the time of his death describe him as “Invalid, 70 years” and note that he had “No relatives” and there were “no friends” to defray the cost of a funeral.

No records can be found regarding his burial, but in the circumstances it is most likely that he was buried in a paupers grave at Beechworth Cemetery.

Clearly, Martin must have been a pretty tough character to survive some 36 years locked up in the Mental Hospitals in the first half of the 20th Century.

First in the Family, Jack Keady

John Dennis “Jack” Keady with Foxie, c 1910

John Dennis “Jack” Keady with Foxie about 1910, probably taken at Powlett River (Wonthaggi) because Jack looks to be about 2-3 years old. Jack was the first child of Thomas and Lillian Keady, born in Albury on 30 December, 1907.

This photo is on a postcard, undated, from Lillian Keady (nee Crawford) to her mother-in-law Margaret Keady (nee O’Leary) who was living at Koetong, near Corryong .

The original postcard was in the personal collection of Molly Keady.

Interesting to note that Lillian refers to herself as “Lilly” when signing off the postcard, and refers to her husband, Thomas Patrick Keady as “Tommy”.

Family connection to Border Checkpoint

You might have noticed the roadblocks recently set up to limit travel between Victoria and New South Wales at Albury. The key checkpoint is located on Wodonga Place, just after the road crosses the Murray from Victoria. This is not the first time this location has been a critical checkpoint for travellers between New South Wales and Victoria.

The checkpoint is right in front of the Albury Regional Museum which has close family links to the Keady family.

Albury Regional Museum, Wodonga Place, ALBURY

(Sourced: “Turk’s Head at the Union Bridge: From Licenced Hotel to Regional Museum) Dirk HR Spennemann. Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University)

Originally the Museum building was developed as a Hotel in the 1850s, went through many developments and incarnations until it finally closed as a Hotel in the 1920s. One of its many names was the Turks Head Hotel.

Our grandfather’s Uncle and Aunt, James Oddie and his wife Elizabeth (nee O’Leary) were the licensees of this hotel from December 1885 – June 1891.

Refresher on the Keady connections

Mathew John “Barney” O’Leary and his wife Johanna (nee Lombard) arrived at Port Phillip aboard the “Enmore” from Cork, Ireland on 4 October, 1841 about a month before John and Honora Keady arrived. They brought their daughters Johanna who was 5 years old and Betty who was only 8 months old.

By 1845 the O’Learys were living at Merri Creek, the same location that John and Honora Keady had established their family home. We know the O’Learys lived at Merri Creek because they received some notoriety because of an incident near the corner of Little Bourke Street and Swanston Street in April 1845 when taking their triplets to be baptised. Barney hit a tree stump which tossed the three babies and their nurses on the side of the road. (Very hard to imagine a tree stump in Little Bourke Street>)

One of the O’Leary girls, Margaret O’Leary married John Francis Keady (our Great Grandfather) on the 1 November, 1869 at St Patrick’s, Kilmore.

Margaret’s sister, Elizabeth Mary O’Leary married James Oddie, an Englishman from Lancashire in 1868 at Beechworth. James and Elizabeth went on to have eight children.

It would seem that the Oddie family moved from Beechworth to Albury in the mid 1880s. James was the licensee of the “Turks Head” Hotel from December 1885 to June 1891. At the time this was the main crossing point of the Murray River on the road from Melbourne to Sydney. The main clients were passing travellers who had to stop to pay a Bridge Toll when crossing the adjacent Union Bridge if heading south to Victoria, and those who had crossed the Bridge heading north had to stop for Customs Inspections.

You’d think there would have been quite a reasonable amount of interaction between the Keady family living at the fairly remote Koetong township in Victoria, upstream on the Murray, and the Oddie family at Albury.

The Oddie family maintained a strong connection with Albury with some of the girls living out their lives in the town.

In addition, Margaret and Elizabeth’s father, Mathew “Barney” O’Leary finished his days in Albury, passing to the other side in 1897 at the ripe old age of 102.

So if you see the roadblock on the Evening News, or you are travelling past going north or south once the restrictions ease, you will be able to look at the Museum and take pride that a distant relative used to pour beers there for weary travellers !

Irish Families Stick Together

The Keady family no doubt formed close friendships with other Irish immigrants when they arrived at Port Phillip in November 1841. One family in particular, Mathew “Barney” and Johanna O’Leary formed a close relationship with John and Honora Keady.

The trip from Cork for the O’Learys and the other 96 sponsored immigrants took them just over 4 months. The shipping record notes that Barney and Johanna could not read or write and that Barney’s occupation was “Farm Servant”.

By 1845 the O’Learys were living at Merri Creek, the same location that John and Honora Keady had established a home for their family. We know the O’Learys lived at Merri Creek because they received some notoriety because of an incident near the corner of Little Bourke Street and Swanston Street in April 1845.

The article below from “The Port Phillip Herald” of 3 April 1845 gives a good explanation of the near tragic accident.

Also the following article from “ The chronicles of early Melbourne, 1835 to 1852: historical, anecdotal and personal/by “Garryoweb”” gives a slightly less artistic description of the incident. It is worth noting that it is reported that the triplets were only the 2nd set of triplets born in the colony.

The triplets were Ellen, Mary Anne and John. Baptism records show Barney and Johanna had two other children after they arrived in Australia, Catherine, 1843 and Mary in 1846.

Jumping forward 24 years and John Francis Keady (1840-1902 ) marries Margaret O’Leary at St Patrick’s, Kilmore on 1 November, 1869. Details on the Marriage Certificate means Margaret would have been born in 1835, and her place of birth was given as County Limerick, Ireland. This would suggest that the “Johanna” listed on the shipping record was indeed Margaret.

The following image is the only known photo of Margaret which was found in the family bible of John Francis Keady.

Margaret Keady (nee O’Leary) (1836 – 1923)

Margaret O’Leary (Sourced from Family Bible)

Margaret O’Leary arrived at Port Phillip aboard the “Enmore” on 4 October 1841 with her parents Timothy and Johanna and 8 month old younger sister, Betty. Margaret was 5 years old when she arrived.

Margaret seems to have spent her early life in Melbourne and then moved to the Kilmore area where she married John Francis Keady at Saint Patrick’s Church on 1 November 1869. Both John and Margaret were 28 years old at the time of their wedding.

Margaret had nine children all of whom were born around the Nagambie and Sheparton areas. Sadly two children died in their infancy.

Margaret and John moved with their family of seven in about 1890 to the small township of Koetong which is on the Murray Valley Highway between Tallangatta and Corryong.

Life must have been tough for Margaret as two sons died quite young, John Mathew Keady in 1889 and Denney Keady in 1905. To make matters worse both of her youngest children were committed to the Asylum at Beechworth. Mary, her only daughter was committed in 1906 and died in the Asylum in 1912. Martin her youngest son was committed to Mont Park Hospital in 1918 and subsequently transferred to Beechworth Asylum where he died some 30 years latter in 1952.

In her later years Margaret seems to have lived with her son Daniel who was a farmer at Bullioh not far from Koetong. Margaret was living with Daniel when she died on 16 August 1923 at the age of 88. Margaret is buried at the Albury Pioneer Cemetery.