From Clare to the wilds of Victoria

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murf
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

From Clare to the wilds of Victoria

Post by murf » Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:26 am

The "Clare relevant" collection from 60 issues of The Irish Link which are being progressively provided by the Local Studies Centre should prove to be a rich source of info especially for OZ and NZ researchers.
https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... h_link.htm

The entry for CALLINAN (Issue 10) makes mention of surveyor Michael Callinan (1830 – 1920).
His obituary in the Advocate following his death describes some of the challenges that Michael faced in his work as a surveyor.
The deceased was born in Ennis, Co. Clare, in 1830.
After qualifying in Ireland as a surveyor, he arrived in Victoria in June, 1854,
and soon after entered its public service as a field surveyor............
...a plan was developed for the future settlement of people on the lands of
Victoria. The balance of the 87,884 square miles (22,836,287 acres) had
to be explored, surveyed, measured, and mapped out.
As the late Mr. James Smith has explained in his "Cyclopaedia of Victoria,"
"Rivers had to be traced to their source, and their windings and direction
carefully defined. Labyrinthine ranges of mountains, clothed to the very
summit with dense masses of timber, and teeming, during the summer months,
with venomous snakes, had to be crossed; tracks had to be blazed through
forest sanctuaries previously untrodden by the foot even of a blackfellow;
and, for the purposes of investigation, high peaks had to be scaled,
thickly-wooded spaces cleared of their trees, and cairns erected so as
to serve as signal stations and as the angular points which are, of course,
indispensable to a geodetic survey."
Mr. Callanan bore his full share of the hardships and dangers of that
early period in Victorian settlement................
....Deceased was engaged in field survey work until 1869, his first
labours being at Werribee, which formed part of the Melbourne district, and later
in Westernport and the remainder of Gippsland.
His final appointment as Surveyor-General was undoubtedly well earned,
but long delayed.
He retired from his arduous labours in 1895, followed by the good wishes of
all who knew him, whether in his professional or social capacity.
Deceased was a foundation member of the Celtic Club of Melbourne,
and through life a practical and generous supporter of Ireland's national cause.
He died at his daughter's residence, Essendon, at the age of 90 years. His
wife, Margaret, predeceased him some three years ago.
They left nine children, in the persons of
Edmond, Annie, Madge, Charley, Nellie, Mother Fidells (Brlgidine Order),
Captain Ernest F., Frank, and Jack, to whom we tender our sympathy.
May his soul rest in peace.
Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 - 1954) Thu 12 Aug 1920 Page 13

see the full article at:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... 20callanan

murf

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: From Clare to the wilds of Victoria

Post by Sduddy » Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:40 pm

Hi Murf

Yes, the new donation of a list of those Clare people mentioned in the first 10 issues of The Irish Link (as seeking relatives) is great and is very welcome indeed and I am looking forward already to the next batch.
Well done for making the connection between Patrick Callinan, whose descendants are looking for relatives in Ireland, and that obituary for his cousin, Michael Callinan. I read obituary with interest.
I must say I was very impressed with the amount of detail the descendants had found and put together in 1986. I noted Patrick’s marriage to Dorcas Scales in Kilrush in March 1854, but when I looked at my transcription of the record I saw, with a feeling of heart-sink, that I had written “Darkey” Scales. Then I looked at the original and I forgave myself: https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls ... 5/mode/1up.

Sheila

murf
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

Re: From Clare to the wilds of Victoria

Post by murf » Fri Aug 12, 2022 1:17 am

Hi Sheila
Yes I agree about that Dorcas entry. There is no way known that I would have interpreted it as Dorcas.
But according to
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Dorcas
there are numerous versions, including Darcey.
Makes me wonder in what source the "Dorcas" version originated in this case.

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: From Clare to the wilds of Victoria

Post by Sduddy » Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:49 am

Hi Murf

I think Saint Dorcas was honoured mainly by the Anglican Church. Looking at that marriage record, you may have noticed that Dorcas Scales had converted to Catholicism (probably in order to marry Patrick Callinan). Saint Dorcas is also called "Dorcas the Seamstress," and Dorcas Institutions, as far as I can make out, were set up by the Established Church (Anglican Church) and involved ladies helping the less fortunate by sewing garments for them. Samuel Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, mentions a Dorcas Institution in the parish of Kilmore, in Co. Meath, and Thom’s Irish Almanac for 1865 (page 2) mentions a Dorcas Institution in Clondalkin (near Dublin). So I think the name Dorcas for girls was mainly used by Church of Ireland people. Having said that, I can’t find any examples just now, except this one of a Dorcas Gubbins in “Pedigree sketches from the 1808 Limerick Tontine Schedule”: https://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Pedig ... hedul1.pdf (scroll down to No. 76).

Murf, all of the above is a sample of how much interest a new donation can generate, and how a little side-road of history is opened up.

Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: From Clare to the wilds of Victoria

Post by Sduddy » Mon Aug 15, 2022 9:40 am

Hi Murf

I am looking now at the new batch of Clare people in Australia (seeking relatives in Ireland): https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... h_link.htm. The entries are interesting stories in themselves, plus I continue to be amazed at the amount of detail the descendants in Australia have put together.
One example:
Martin McNamara, born 1820, in Tulla, County Clare, son of Michael and Mary (nee O’Dea) McNamara. Married there, 1845, Johanna, daughter of John and Eliza (nee Scanlan) Scully. Arrived Mahurangi, New Zealand, 1863, in “Alfred”. Worked as gum digger there, then farmed at Waipipi. Died 1895. Son, John McNamara, born 1858, married Sarah Anne McDonald. Their son, Lawrence William McNamara, married Winnifred Mary Prendergast from County Waterford. Enquirer seeks relatives in Ireland.
I did not find a record of the baptism of Martin, but found the baptisms of two other children of Michael McNamara and Mary O’Dea, and see that the address is the townland of Glendree. Martin’s marriage to Johanna Scully must have taken place in another parish, but I see that the baptisms of two of their children, including John b. 1858, took place in Tulla. By looking at the transcription by mother’s name, I see that another child, Mary, was born on 27 Apr. 1853, but the priest has written Matthew McNamara instead of Martin McNamara: https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls ... 9/mode/1up One can only hope that researchers take the trouble to look at the transcriptions by mother’s name. The addresses for Michael and Judy/Johanna are Fortane, Maryfort and Tulla.

Sheila

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