Patrick John Keady moved to New Zealand about 1905 with his brother, Michael Thomas Keady (1869-1940).
Patrick and Michael grew up with their family at Koetong, Victoria, Australia. In their 20s they enlisted with the 3rd NSW Rifles to serve for Australia during the Boer War in South Africa.
The family story is that times were tuff on the land and so they both moved to New Zealand about 1905.
Patrick subsequently joined the New Zealand Army and served at Gallipoli where he was wounded in 1915. Shortly after being repatriated to New Zealand, Patrick married Janet Crawford (1894-1970) in 1916. They had only one child, Jean Elizabeth Keady (1921-1970).
The above photo of Patrick and Janet has been shared by Dean in New Zealand. It is a great find given there are so few photos of the early Keady family. Many thanks to Dean.
One interesting fact shared by Dean is that Patrick was a publican in the town of Orepuki where he seems to have spent most of his years in New Zealand. It is good to see Patrick kept up the family tradition, as his grandfather John Keady (1812-1884), his brother Michael, and some of his other siblings were no doubt skilled in pouring a beer.
Baptism of John and Mary Keady 23 April, 1840, Parish of Tisaron and Galen, County Offaly, Ireland.
Background
The first Keady family arrived in Melbourne on 29 November, 1841 on the sailing ship Frances from Liverpool.
John Keady (1812-1884) and his wife Hanora (1811-1892)(nee Kenny) arrived with four children; Thomas (8 years old), Patrick (5 years old) and twins John and Mary (18 months old). The shipping record confirms that John and Mary were twins.
Their origin is identified as Kings County, Ireland, later to be renamed Offaly County.
See more detail on family arrival. Click on link below.
The only record found until recently of the family (Birth, Deaths or Marriages) was the Baptism record for Patrick Keady, the 5 year old mentioned above. With the help of the East Galway Historical Society, Patrick’s baptism was tracked down to 8 April, 1837 at Laurencetown, County Galway.
New piece of the puzzle
A recent search through the Family Search web service, a free web service provided by “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”, hit gold. A record was found for the baptism of Joannem Keedy or Kiedy, with his parents being Joannis Keedy or Kiedy, father; and mother, Honorae Kenny. Screen shot below. (Website: family search.com)
For all those who have forgotten their high school latin, this Baptism record can be translated as John Keady(name of baby being baptised), father – John Keady and mother – Honora Kenny.
Unfortunately, the image of the original scanned page from the Parish Register cannot be viewed on “FamilySearch”. However, images of the scanned document can be viewed at the National Library of Ireland (NLI) website. Knowing the Parish name (Tisaron and Galen) and date, the original page can be viewed. The relevant entry from the Register is shown below.
Reading across from the numeral, “23” two names can be seen, Joannus and Mariam. In other words, John and Mary, confirming that this is indeed the record of the Baptism for the twins of John Keady and Honora Kenny.
While this record only shows the Parish name, and not a particular Church or Town, the Parish location is very close to Laurencetown where Patrick was baptised.
These Baptism records suggest that the Keady family were living in the vicinity of Ballinasloe, County Galway. This general vicinity is where the three Counties of Galway, Roscommon and Offaly(Kings) converge.
Further support for this location is demonstrated in John Keady’s naming of his properties in Australia as “Somerset”. This is the name of an Irish homeland just a couple of miles from Laurencetown.
Sad Endnote
Sadly, John’s twin sister Mary died in February 1842 only a few months after arriving in Melbourne. Mary was buried in the Old Melbourne Cemetery, which became the Queen Victoria Market carpark. There are no records available for the period when Mary was buried.
With the family spread far and wide it was rare for the children of Thomas Patrick and Lillian Keady to gather together. However, Lillian’s Eightieth Birthday in February 1961 was one exception. While most of Lillian’s children, their spouses and many grandchildren were there, a couple of exceptions were son Thomas and daughter, Mollie who lived in Western Australia at this time.
The photos below are a great reminder of the day, and with the collective help of a few cousins, everyone has been identified.
In 1961 Lillian was still living at the family house, 51 Cameron Street, Wonthaggi where she had raised her family with Thomas Patrick Keady. Thomas had passed away some 15 years earlier on 14 June 1946 at the age of 71.
Interestingly, the house still survives at 51a Cameron Street, although the large veggie patch which the boys toiled in under their father’s strict supervision has clearly been developed as another house many years ago.
John Keady (1812-1884) helps with the first “Campbellfield and Pentridge Steeplechase”.
John Keady had purchased a large parcel of land on Sydney Road in 1853, just 6 miles from Melbourne. It’s hard to imagine, but this was all farmland at the time. The parcel of land was 559 acres or 226 hectares.
Adjacent to his property on Sydney Road was the Wheatsheaf Inn which would have been a watering hole for those heading out of Melbourne to the Goldfields.
John’s land known as Somerset Estate had a frontage of nearly 1 mile on Sydney Road and a frontage along the Merri Creek of about 4 miles. (According to newspaper advertisements from 1854 when he tried to sell the property, shortly after purchasing it). It is understood that the Sydney Road frontage was opposite the current Fawkner Cemetery.
By advertisement in the major papers in July 1861 it is announced that, “The First Grand, Pentridge and Campbellfield Steeplechases will take place on Saturday, 20th July, 1861”.
Source: Trove
Of note is that J Keady, Esq. was one of the five Stewards for the day. Probably more interesting is that the 2 mile course which started near the Wheatsheaf Inn went across John Keady’s land.
There are some quite detailed accounts of each race provided in “The Argus” which can be found via Trove which is part of the National Library.
For those interested, “Happy Jack” won the first in a canter. “Fivey” took out the second after “Royal Charlie”, who was blind in one eye hit the last hedge and came in second. In the final race “Fivey” fronted up again and led all the way. Apparently it was a most successful day with no serious accidents.
John had already had some experience with horse racing as he had been a Steward for the Brunswick and Pentridge Races conducted on Saturday, 5th May, 1860. This event had a real local focus. Six races were conducted and in three of the races the horses needed to be owned by property holders in Brunswick and Pentridge.
Source: Trove
The most interesting race was no doubt the last. The “Cabmen’s Race” which was open only to horses used by local cabmen operating in the area. The horse had to be ridden by the cabman, who could not be under 9 stone. First prize was a full set of harness.
Comprehensive race descriptions were provided in local newspapers but are not in the best quality to reproduce. However, it’s worth noting that Mr Horsington’s “Smuggler” won the cabmen’s race over 1 mile. (Credential’s for Smuggler sound a little dubious.!)
While John Keady certainly played a role as a steward in these early race meets organised by the local community, conducted on informal tracks laid out on their farmland, he does not appear to have been a active participant. No record can be found of his name amongst the entrants nor results published for these events.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to influence so many areas of our lives. Photoshop has introduced an AI module to its program which converts black and white photos to colour. The photo below is a colourised version of the photo of Fred, Thomas Patrick and Jack Keady which appeared in the most recent blog.
It really is like magic, so I thought it should be shared. It certainly seems to bring these family members to life.
The photos in the previous post had quite a few blemishes including dark patches, light patches and many fine scratches or dust spots.
Most of these have now been fixed with the help of Photoshop. While they can’t be returned to the original photo quality, the photos below are certainly an improvement.
Roy Keady(left), Thomas Keady,jnr (centre), Fred Keady Fred Keady(left), Thomas Patrick (Snr), probably John Dennis “Jack” Keady on right
Request: If anyone has the originals of these photos, or knows who has, it would be great to hear from you.
These two photos have popped up from various sources amongst the Keady cousins at different times. As with many photos, unfortunately there are no captions on the back, no date, no description, nor notes on the people in them.
Roy Keady on left, wearing footy jumper under jacket, right hand holding billy on top of swag. Fred on right, hand on bicycle crossbar. Person in middle possibly Thomas Keady holding handlebar of bike. Joan thinks it could also be Jack..
However, we can be sure of a couple of the people, and fairly certain that the photos were taken by Fred, who was an apparently an avid photographer, even doing his own developing. (Fred even took his camera when he was serving in the Army during WW II).
Fred Keady on left. Two others unknown. Joan thinks the person on right could be her father, Jack Keady. Man in centre looks a lot older than the other two. Could be Thomas Patrick Keady (snr).
What do we know for sure ?
Fred Keady is standing on the right, leaning on the bike in the first photo, and standing on the left in the second photo. This was confirmed by Fred’s daughter Veronica. Looking closely you can see he is wearing the same shirt and hat.
Roy’s son Michael confirms that it is Roy standing on the left in the first photo, wearing a footy jumper.
Identification of the other’s requires a bit of an educated guess as to when these photos might have been taken. They certainly look like they are on the road with their swags and billys. Realistically the only time they are likely to have had to hit the road was during the worst strike at the Wonthaggi Coal Mine in 1934. The strike lasted for 5 months from March to July, 1934. All accounts from the time suggest the miners had a terrible time just surviving.
In 1934, Thomas Patrick (senior), Jack and Roy were all working at the State Coal Mine. Thomas Patrick (jnr) had left the mine in 1929, Bob in 1933 and it is unclear what Fred was doing. (Fred’s employment record show he started in June, 1927, aged 14, but his termination date just says, “LEFT”. Sounds like he might have done a runner at some stage because all the other employment records for the Keady boys are very precise as to their termination dates.)
Unless someone has a marked up copy of this photo which will help with identification, let’s assume they are all members of the Keady family on the road trying to survive during the 1934 strike.
The middle person in the first photo is most likely Thomas Patrick (jnr) as he is a similar height to Roy and Fred and has a rounded face, as in the other few photos of Thomas. He looks a little older too. While not working at the mines, Thomas was still living at 51 Cameron Street, Wonthaggi, the family home.
In the second photo, the middle person is definitely quite a bit older than Fred, and may well be Thomas Patrick (Senior). Which leaves Jack on the right of the photo.
Note of Explanation. There a quite a few versions of these photos circulating amongst the cousins which caused a lot of head scratching. It turns out some of them are mirror images of the above photos. Fred must have been mucking around in his dark room as he developed them. The give away is the chain sprocket on the bike, it is always on the right side of the bike !
Happy to be corrected on anything above if someone is fortunate enough to have a marked up copy or the original of the above photos.
Irrespective of the accuracy of my detective work, it’s worth keeping in mind what a tough year, 1934 must have been for the Keady Family in Wonthaggi. All the older members of the family in all likelihood had no work, and at home Lillian was still looking after Kevin (16yo), Jimmy (15yo), Molly (12 yo) and George (10yo).
The Keady Family at Wonthaggi seemed to take great pride in the family car. The family Buick was a feature of some great photos. Without any knowledge of Buick’s of the time one can only imagine it was a fairly large car to fit the extended family of ten children.
One reliable source has reported that Thomas Keady used to keep his workplace, as the Engine Driver at the Wonthaggi Coal Mine meticulously clean. No doubt the Buick was pampered and polished with the same loving care.
Looks like the family has stopped on the side of the road for a picnic.
Thomas Patrick “Tommy” Keady and wife Lillian are sitting in the grass. Eldest son, John Dennis “Jack” sitting in grass by the front wheel with his younger brother Fred leaning on the bonnet.
Unfortunately there were no notes or captions with this photo so identification of the rest is an educated guess. Assuming the very small boy sitting on the bonnet next to Fred is George, born in 1924, this photo was probably taken about 1928.
This would suggest the other young boy on bonnet is Jimmy (b 1919) , and possibly Kevin (b 1918) standing on guard with his cricket bat next to Lillian. Roy (b 1915) is three years older than Kevin and would have been 13 years old at this time. (Perhaps Roy was taking the photo.)
Finally there is a small girl sitting in the grass behind Jack’s left arm, probably Molly. Molly would have been 6 years old. (You have to look hard to spot Molly)
Unclle Dan visits Wonthaggi
This classic photo with Thomas Patrick looking a bit like “Lurch” from the Addams Family is probably taken about the same time as the previous one, with younger boys of the family, Kevin, Jimmy and George missing.
The occasion is a catch up with Thomas’s younger brother, Daniel (2nd from left) and his wife Julia. Whether, the Keady family have travelled up to Tallangatta to Daniel’s farm or Daniel and Julia have travelled down to Wonthaggi is unknown.
Robert “Bob” spent many of his early years living with his Uncle Daniel and Auntie Julie, who had no children.
Again no notes came with this photo.
Going from left to right, Robert (or possibly Fred), Daniel, Julia, Francie, Roy, Jack, Molly, Lillian and Thomas Patrick.
There are also two mystery faces hidden in the shadows of the car. An adult is leaning out the driver’s window and there is a small boy leaning out the passenger window.
Three young boys on kickboard of Keady family car. Left, most likely Kevin Keady. Given the boys look to be of similar ages, others are likely to be Roy and Jimmy. Photo was probably taken about 1924-25 given the age of the boys.
Any feedback on identification mistakes or history of the car would be most welcome.
Update on the Family Car
The Family Car is confirmed as a General Motors, Buick Standard or Master Six model which were produced in America from 1925-1928. This was regarded as a luxury car of the time.
Sourced: Pinterest
It is pretty hard to pick the exact model without being able to see under the bonnet or the interior trim. However, Thomas’s car seems to have a soft-top which suggests it was the “Touring” model. There were quite a few variations on the standard model including a 5 seat and 7 seat version. I guess we can surmise that he went for the 7 seat model if he could afford it, given the size of the family.
For the motoring enthusiasts, this model had a straight six engine with either 4.2 or 4.5 litre capacity. The brochures of the time claimed it was capable of 70 miles per hour !
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.
The photo below is the only known family portrait which includes the whole family. Given the youngest member of the family George, (standing centre front) looks like he is in his early teens, the photo was probably taken about 1935.
Keady family about 1935. Left to right back, Roy, Francie, Thomas, Jack, Lillian Crawford. Middle row left to right, Robert, Molly, Kevin, Fred, Jimmy, Thomas Patrick Keady. George standing centre, front. (Source: Brian, Molly’s son)
Neither the occasion or location are noted on the photo, although it sure looks like the front verandah of 51 Cameron Street, Wonthaggi.
The quality of the photo is not bad after some repair work to remove small scratches and dust, unfortunately it looks like Thomas and Jack in the back row have moved slightly when the photo was being taken. Their faces are a little blurred and this can’t be fixed.
Get in touch if you would like a high quality copy.
Keady Family in Victoria 