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.
Keady Family in Victoria 