Shivaun's Family Tree Website
Lonergan family
* * *
Part 1: Patrick Lonergan (c1851 - 1901)
Early life
The earliest confirmed Lonergan was Patrick Lonergan. He was born c1851 in County Tipperary, Ireland. His father was also Patrick Lonergan but nothing is known of him or who Patrick Jr's mother was. Civil registration in Ireland began in 1864, 27 years after it began in England and Wales (Scotland started in 1855). Parish baptism, marriage and burial records were maintained before and after 1864 but they provided few details so it is difficult to identify ancestors with certainty before the mid-19th century. Although there had been a census taken in Ireland since 1821 (detailing household members' names, ages, occupations and relationships - twenty years before the England and Wales' census would include such information), there are no surviving returns from the 19th century, except for a few random fragments. A fire in the Public Records Office in 1922 at the start of the Irish Civil War destroyed the 1821 - 1851 returns. The 1861 and 1871 originals were deliberately destroyed as part of government policy. (The individual household schedules from the English and Welsh censuses were also destroyed for this same reason but the information had been copied into enumerators' books beforehand and still survive). The 1881 and 1891 census returns were destroyed towards the end of World War I (some have speculated they were pulped because of paper shortages or to save storage space). [1]
Marriage to Honoria Keating
Patrick was a Roman Catholic and worked as a labourer. He married dressmaker Honoria 'Norah' Keating (c1846 - c1924) in Moycarkey Parish, County Tipperary, 13 January 1870 (more information about her appears in the Keating section). At the time he was living in Ballymoreen, halfway between Littleton and Horse and Jockey. According to the 1901 Irish Census, Patrick was able to read and write. A national education system had been in place in Ireland since 1831 but it is not known where Patrick may have attended school. It would have consisted of rote-learning of the 'Three Rs' of reading, writing and arithmetic (and sometimes the girls were not taught much of the latter), some geography, and agriculture for the boys and needlework for the girls. Education was not compulsory (that occured in 1892 for all children aged six to fourteen) and children usually remained at school until they had learned to read which was considered more important than being able to write. Their texts were heavily British-centric and there was no place for Irish history and culture to be taught. [2]
After their marriage, Patrick and Honoria lived in the Two-Mile-Borris area but by 1875, they were living with Honoria's father in Blackcastle Townland. In 1901, they were still living in the two-room house Norah had grown up in, renting it from farmer Daniel Maher, who had lived next door and rented the house to the Keating/Lonergans for over 50 years! Family lore says they had thirteen children, though Honoria stated on the 1911 census that she had had eight children: John, Patrick, James, Mary, Honora, William, Catherine and Thomas. The five sons all emigrated to Australia in the early 20th century with only two having any children themselves (and of those children who lived to adulthood, none went on to have any children themselves).
Patrick was a farmer according to the 1901 Irish Census. He died 26 September 1901, aged 70. The cause of death was effusion of the brain, which he had been suffering from for a week. It is not known if this was the result of an accident. It is not know when Norah died. [3]
Children of Patrick and Honoria
John Lonergan (c1870 - 1949) was baptised 22 October 1870 in Moycarkey Parish, County Tipperary, Ireland. The family was living in Borris and his sponsors were William Hennessy and Mary Ryan. After receiving some education he worked as a labourer. He married twice and both his wives were called 'Mary Kelly'. He married servant Mary Kelly I (c1873 - 1906) 10 February 1901 in Littleton Parish. They lived with his parents and John worked as a general laborer. They had two children: Hanoria (Norah) born 05 January 1902 and Patrick born 02 June 1903. Patrick was referred to as 'Small Paddy' to differentiate him from his namesake uncle! Mary died 28 January 1906, aged 33, after suffering from phthisis (tuberculosis) for three months. John then married Mary Trevaskis (née Kelly) (c1871 - ?) 08 September 1906 in Two-Mile Borris Roman Catholic Chapel.
Mary Kelly II was a Roman Catholic and had been born c1871 in Tipperary. She emigrated to Australia (probably with her family) and never received an education. She married Australian miner John Trevaskis (1886 - 1906) in St Paul's C of E Church, Charters Towers, Queensland, 23 December 1893 and they had two children: Hanoria (Nora) (1895 - ?) and John Henry (1905 - 1978). The marriage was not a happy one with John deserting his wife and children more than once, assaulting Mary, and failing to provide adequate child support. John died in hospital 18 January 1906, aged 37, in a mining accident: a small truck fell down a mine shaft on top of him and fractured his skull and caused other internal injuries.
Mary returned to Tipperary with her children and married John Lonergan. John however left Ireland within three years and emigrated to Australia. It is not known why his wife, children and step-children remained in Tipperary. In 1911 Mary was living in a one-room house in Two-Mile Borris Townland with John Henry while her daughter Nora was a servant for the O'Connell family in Shanballyduff, Moyne. Mary's step-daughter Hanoria was living with her aunt Catherine Gleeson (née Lonergan) and her family. Her step-son Patrick was living with his grandmother Honoria Lonergan (née Keating). There is no confirmed record of Mary after 1911 although she did witness her daughter's marriage to labourer Michael Kavanagh in 1922.
John departed London 27 November 1909 on board the steamer 'Whakatane' with his brother Thomas and 501 other immigrants bound for Queensland, Australia. Since the 1830s the various colonies of what would become 'Australia' had sought non-convict settlers (specifically young, married males with an agricultural or trade background and single female servants). The cost of steerage passage was about £17 (about £995 today) which was how much a rural labourer might earn in an entire year. As a result, colonial governments introduced assisted-passage schemes to encourage emigration of predominantly British people and sent agents to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to facilitate their schemes. Queensland had officially separated from the Colony of New South Wales in 1859 and within a couple of years Tipperary newspapers (amongst many others) were carrying reports of land and emigration schemes for the newest colony. The widespread economic depression of the 1890s halted many of the assistance schemes although Queensland continued.
In 1900 John's brothers Patrick and James had emigrated to Queensland with William following in 1902. After six months' residence they would have been eligible to nominate friends and family for emigration after paying a warrant. Although John and Thomas were listed as 'nominated' (as were the majority of Irish migrants) it seems John was the actual sponsor for both of them, rather than one of his Queensland-based brothers. In 1905 the fee was about £5 for males under 40 and £10 for those over 40 and it is likely the fee was at a similar level in 1910. John listed his age on migration documents as 32, although he was actually 40 - possibly to avoid paying an extra £5! John and Thomas, and their brothers before them, needed to demonstrate they were not 'undesirable' immigrants (by having a criminal record or being a carrier of a contagious disease). They also could be subjected to a dictation test, requiring them to write out fifty words in any European language - a test deliberately designed to fail non-European migrants (and limit non-British subjects) in keeping with the official 'White Australian Policy'. However as the Lonergan brothers were from the United Kingdom, they were unlikely to have been given the test. [4]
The voyage took just under two months via the Suez Canal and the Whakatane disembarked passengers at Thursday Island, at the far-northern tip of Queensland, and then at various ports as it made its way south to the capital Brisbane where the majority disembarked 21 January 1910. The ship's arrival generated a lot of interest (for the wrong reasons) in the Queensland newspapers. The 'Brisbane Courier' devoted one and a half columns the day after the ship berthed cataloguing complaints by the passengers, but also allowing the captain a right of reply. There had been a major bout of seasickness at the Bay of Biscay and the accomodation and food were criticised. However some passengers were happy with the voyage and pointed out "... you have to rough it a bit, especially on an immigrant ship". At Brisbane, John and Thomas would have been met by immigration officials and were given free accomodation and railway passes so they could meet up with friends and relatives or gain employment.
It is not know where John went immediately after his arrival but by 1912 he was living in Tipperary Point, Mount Morgan, a town just south of Rockhampton, where some of his brothers were living. John appears to have left Mount Morgan as quickly as he came, unlike his brothers who stayed until the local mine's misfortunes led them to try their luck elsewhere. It is not known where John was during World War I or the immediate years after but it is possible he moved from place to place in northern Queensland working as a labourer. Despite his nomadic existence, John would have been required to vote in elections as it became compulsory to do so in Queensland from 1915 and in federal elections from 1924. John was automatically enfranchised when he arrived in Australia: the 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act allowed both male and female British subjects aged 21 years or over to vote, with no property or marital qualifications (unlike in Ireland where John might not have met the minimum property value requirement). Until 1948, there was no concept of 'Australian citizenship' and people born in any part of the British Empire - or had been naturalised - were regarded as 'British subjects' (the notable exceptions being Indigenous Australians, and others referred to as 'aboriginal natives' of other continents). [5]
In May 1926, John's two children Norah and Patrick arrived in Brisbane on board the 'Themistocles', almost certainly as nominated immigrants. Family stories say that 'Small Paddy' was obliged to leave the fledgling Irish Free State as he had been on the losing side of the Irish Civil War. It is not known at what point they were reunited with their father but they were all living in the Rathdowney area, in south-east Queensland, by 1928. Norah found work as a live-in waitress in the Rathdowney Hotel and it is likely Patrick was a labourer helping to construct the new standard railway gauge line between Brisbane and Kyogle in New South Wales. John was living in the 'Railway Camp' at Dulbolla, a hamlet just east of Rathdowney, along with three of his brothers and their respective wives. Dulbolla was one of three camps that had been established in south-east Queensland for the more than 1000 men building the line.
Australia's rail history dates from the 1850s. Even before any track was laid, a New South Wales colonial government Act in 1853 standardised track gauges (the inner width between rail tracks). This was to avoid the difficulties England was experiencing at the time where a range of gauge widths was being used. However the Act was quickly repealed and the separate colonies adopted different gauges for their developing rail networks based on various geographical and financial reasons. There was also the view that the colonies were not likely to link their rail lines, especially as the vegetation was so dense! But by the 1880s, the colonies were starting to establish interstate railway links and encountering problems at their borders. Despite many meetings between the Premiers and the advent of Australian Federation in 1901, nothing was resolved until the 1920s. It was said that in 1917 a person had to change trains six times when travelling from Perth to Brisbane owing to the different gauges used and it was only in 1995 that interstate tracks were finally standardised!
As part of an agreement made between the states in 1924, a new standard gauge line would be built across the border of Queensland and New South Wales. Work begin in 1926 and various newspapers in the two states and beyond reported the project's progress. One of the main engineering feats was constructing a double line tunnel through the McPherson Range which formed part of the state border (a single line tunnel had originally been envisaged but that was eventually deemed too dangerous). It took a year for the two gangs of miners working on the tunnels from either side of the border to meet in the middle in late 1929. A spiral was also built because of the steep elevation of the area.
John was described as a 'labourer' at the camp (as opposed to a 'miner'). Conditions were tough. The men would have three weeks' break over the Christmas holidays but when the work recommenced they still had to contend with difficult terrain, erosion and landslides. In February 1928 severe flooding caused the Dulbolla camp to be abandoned with everyone in the area heading for higher ground. Despite the hardships and the lower standards of safety in that era, during the whole construction period there was only one reported death of a worker. The new line's opening was marked with great fanfare in September 1930 with an inaugural run from Sydney to Brisbane carrying dignatries, including state and federal ministers. The Queensland acting Minister for Transport praised the 'splendid workers who had toiled in all weathers to complete the work' as reported p4 of the Lismore 'Northern Star', 29 September 1930. He also spoke of the improvements that would happen as a result of the quicker journey time in the exporting of tropical fruit and chilled meat betweens the states! [6]
The project's completion came ironically as the Great Depression was beginning to be felt throughout the world after the Wall Street crash of 1929. Unemployment in Australia reached a peak of 32% in 1932. John was living in Grey Street in South Brisbane at the time with his brother William's family. He was still described as a labourer but by 1937 he no longer seemed to have an occupation. He was in his mid-60s and may have become infirm. Along with William and his wife, John moved around the corner to Peel Street, ironically a couple of hundred metres away from South Brisbane station, the terminus of the Sydney-Brisbane interstate line. By the middle of World War II John had moved out and was living by himself in Stanley Street, just up the line near Vulture Street station (now South Bank station). John died 10 May 1949 at Mater Misericodiae Hospital, aged 79. He had been suffering from tuberculous bronchpneumonia and pulmonary tuberculosis for two months. He was buried two days later in plot T in an unmarked grave in South Brisbane Cemetery, a notice appearing in that morning's edition of the 'Courier Mail' advising relatives and friends of the funeral that afternoon.
Norah married farmer Edward 'Ned' George Lucas in 1931 and died in Canungra, Queensland in 1979. Patrick married Margaret Mary Hannigan (née Hanley) in 1943 and died in 1966 in Casino, New South Wales. Neither sibling had any children.
Patrick (c1872 - 1938) was baptised 28 April 1872 in Moycarkey Parish. The family was living in Borris and his sponsor was Kate Hennessy. He received some schooling and then worked as a farm labourer. In 1900 Patrick and his younger brother James emigrated to Queensland on a free passage scheme. Migration from Ireland to Queensland and many other destinations had actually declined in the decade prior. It had peaked in the decade immediately following the Great Famine (or Irish Potato Famine) of 1845-49 when a fungus decimated the potato, the staple food for many Irish. One million people were estimated to have died because of hunger or disease and some two million emigrated to Great Britain, the United States, Canada and the Australian colonies. The numbers emigrating fell steadily (for the most part) over the next few decades but they remained high (compared to other nationalities) because of poverty, evictions and famine. However by the turn of the century, Irish farmers were experiencing better times and a change in British policy made it easier for tenants to buy the land they lived on.
The Queensland colonial government was still keen for Irish migration to continue but in some parts of Ireland, potential migrants were being swayed to choose the United States or Canada as their destination. Irish wages were not much of an incentive to stay (being quoted at £7 to £12 a year) but in some places there was opposition to the whole concept of emigration. Between 1885 and 1899, numbers of Irish migrants to Queensland went from almost 3,000 to 300, but still accounted for 25-30% of all migrants from the British Isles and Europe. Some Irish newspapers in Belfast advertised 'Free Passages' to Queensland in 1899 which were specifically aimed at rural labourers and it is possible some newspapers in Tipperary carried similar advertisements. Patrick and James might have been made aware of such a scheme and decided to try their luck on the other side of the world.
They departed London 31 March 1900 on board the SS 'Jumna' along with more than 450 others, the majority 'free' passengers. It appears nothing remarkable happened during the voyage as the only newspaper account gave over half a column to recite the pleasant experiences of the sole 'lady passenger', Lady Tozer (p6 'The Brisbane Courier' 20 May 1900). She was however the wife of Queensland's Agent-General (the state or colonial equivalent of a High Commissioner to London) so a person of some importance with news to share of Queen Victoria and Australia's own Madame Melba! If the Lonergans had been female domestic servants they might indeed have experienced some personal advice from Lady Tozer which she dispensed en route to prepare the women and girls for life in the 'Antipodes'.
In other colonies, migrants' ships almost always berthed at the capital cities and poverty and lack of skills meant the new arrivals rarely moved away from these cities. There was a deliberate policy in Queensland however to populate the northern cities and towns from Cooktown down to Brisbane. Although the Lonergans were originally contracted to land at Brisbane, at some point that was altered and they disembarked at Townsville 20 May. Townsville was the fourth largest city in Queensland at the time, with a population of 15,500 (Queensland had almost 500,000).
It is not known how long they stayed in Townsville. They paid the passage of their younger brother William two years later and he also disembarked in Townsville. By 1914 Patrick was living in Tipperary Point, Mount Morgan. The town grew out of a mining camp established by three Morgan brothers in 1882. The Mount Morgan Mine was a gold mine (it was once considered the largest in the world) but ore and copper were also mined there, all three using underground mining methods. After World War I the mine faced falling prices and increasing costs. In 1925 there was a fire and the mine ended up being flooded to control the fire. Two years later the company went into liquidation but was re-established as an open cut mine the following year. Patrick, William and Thomas stayed living in Tipperary Point for a number of years (John appeared to move away early on). Tipperary Point and the nearby Tipperary Flat were part of an area known as 'Little Ireland' and accommodation was the humble shack. A wooden suspension bridge (or swinging bridge) was built across the Dee River which allowed workers to get from Tipperary Point to the mine easily. Although the Lonergans were always described as 'labourers', it is most likely they were employed by the mine and perhaps worked underground. [7]
When World War I began in August 1914, Australia committed to raising a force to support Britain. Volunteers formed the Australian Imperial Force and initially only men aged 18 to 35 were being sought (which precluded all the Lonergan brothers except Thomas). Patrick was 42 at the time but even if he had wanted to enlist, he would not have made the strict height requirement, falling short by one inch of the 5'6" needed. He probably would have met the chest measurement of being over 34" though! As the war progressed and the casualty rates grew, the various requirements were eased to allow more men to volunteer. However, it was not enough and the government was compelled to pursue a policy of military conscription. Two divisive plebiscites were held in 1916 and 1917 but they were both defeated and Australia remained only one of two countries involved in World War I that did not introduce conscription.
Eight months before the first plebiscite was held, Patrick decided to enlist. He applied at a recruiting office in Mt Morgan 26 February 1916 and passed a medical examination two days later in Rockhampton (although it was noted he needed dental treatment). He enlisted as a private 29 February and took the oath to serve until the end of the war. He spent just over a month with the 11th Depot Battalion in Brisbane and in April transferred to the 19th Reinforcements/15th Battalion. He received five Australian shillings a day (a further one shilling was paid out on discharge) which was the highest pay of any private amongst the Allies (British privates 'took the King's shilling' but their pay was later increased to three shillings). Soldiers were required to allot 2-3 shillings to their wives or next of kin and Patrick arranged for three shillings a day to be paid to his brother William back in Tipperary Point.
Patrick's stint in the AIF was short and unfortunately not distinguished, with many examples of misconduct. He had only been in service for 19 days when he went 'absent without leave' for 36 hours, forfeiting four days pay as punishment. Less than a month later he went AWOL for nine hours, was 'inappropriately clothed' and drunk. He forfeited pay, was fined and admonished. He was given four days leave to travel back to Mount Morgan as he needed to arrange 'business matters' with William and sell some 'stock' (possibly cattle). Only a few weeks later he went AWOL for twelve hours and received 14 days' detention. The following month the offence was 'Neglect of Duty when on Sentry' and he received seven days detention. It seems he only completed four weeks out of twelve weeks' training in drills, 'musketry' and marching. The dental treatment that was recommended at Patrick's enlistment could not be undertaken: Patrick apparently had lost too many teeth over the years and was not able to chew ('mastication inefficient' as the medical officer described it). He was discharged from Enoggera Rifle Range 21 July, declared 'dentally unfit'. Had Patrick remained with the 19th Reinforcements, he would have departed in August for France and perhaps fought along with the 15th Battalion at Bullecourt in 1917 and Villers-Bretonneux in 1918. [8]
James (c1873 - 1939) (This person is still being researched.)
Mary (c1875 - 1908) (This person is still being researched.)
Honora (1877 - 1961) (This person is still being researched.)
William (c1879 - 1951) (This person is still being researched.)
More information about Catherine (Kate) (1881 - 1995) appears in Part 2.
Thomas (c1883 - 1964) (This person is still being researched.)
Next: Catherine (Kate) Lonergan
Footnotes
[1] www.census.nationalarchives.ie;
www.findmypast.co.uk
[2] Two-Mile-Borris National School website (www.scoilmochaomhog.com);
Queen's University Belfast Irish education website (www.qub.ac.uk/sites/irishhistorylive/IrishHistoryResources/Shortarticlesandencyclopaediaentries/Encyclopaedia/LengthyEntries/Education/#d.en.419768);
www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/education-primary-public-education-national-schools-1831
[3]
Cashel diocese baptismal and marriage records courtesy of Tipperary Family
History Research centre (http://www.tfhr.org); Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911
(www.census.nationalarchives.ie); Irish civil birth, marriage,
death records, Irish baptism records (www.rootsireland.ie); Ireland
Census records,
civil
birth, marriage, death records, Irish baptism records (Ancestry.co.uk)
[4] Newspaper reports
(https://trove.nla.gov.au);
www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/immigration; 'More People
Imperative: Immigartion to Australia, 1901-39' by Dr Michele Langfield,
National Archives of Australia (1999) (http://guides.naa.gov.au/more-people-imperative/index.aspx);
'Emigration and the Labouring Poor: Australian Recruitment in Britain
and Ireland, 1831-60' by Robin F Haines, Macmillan Press Ltd (1997)
[5] www.parliament.qld.gov.au;
www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/Fact_Sheets/fact_sheets/fact3.pdf
[6] History of rail in
Australia website (https://infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/history.aspx);
Australian Bureau of Statistics Year Book Australia, No. 53, 1967
(Chapter 13) and Year Book Australia, No. 56, 1970 (Chapter 12); www.rathdowney.org.au/history;
National Museum of Australia (www.nma.gov.au); newspaper reports
(https://trove.nla.gov.au)
[7]
Queensland
Official Year Book 1901 (www.abs.gov.au);
'Irish migration to Queensland, 1885-1912' by Sister Mary MacGinley
(1974), 'Queensland Heritage', 3, 1: 12-20; www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Irish_Potato_Famine;
Historical Census and Colonial Data Archive (hccda.ada.edu.au); 'An Old Mining Town in Queensland: Mount Morgan' by F.L. Golding
(1978), 'Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 10 3:
75-86 (https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/); 'Mining Towns: Making a
Living, Making a Life' by Erik Eklund (2012) University of New South
Wales Press; newspaper reports
(https://trove.nla.gov.au)
[8] Australian War Memorial (www.awm.gov.au);
www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs161.aspx; wikipedia
