At the end of my previous post, my 2x great-grandfather Jeremiah Phelan had left his job as a policeman in Sydney and had made his way to Victoria, together with his new wife Mary. In 1857 Mary gave birth to their first child, Mary Elenor, and on the birth certificate it was recorded that they were living in Collingwood, and Jeremiah was now working as an overseer. Two years later a second daughter was born at which time the family was living in South Melbourne. Soon after this they would travel by Cobb & Co Coach to make a new home in Kyneton where Jeremiah worked as a builder and two sons were born. Another move followed in about 1863, down the road to Macedon, where they would remain for good, my great-grandfather Joseph Matthew Phelan being the first of five more children born there.
Perhaps there was so much movement in these early days as Jeremiah was struggling to find his feet. In Macedon he worked in yet another occupation, variously recorded as carter, drayman or wood dealer. Life was not getting any easier, The Argus reporting him as an insolvent in July 1864, due to 'want of employment and pressure of creditors', with a debt of £27 8s 1d. It wouldn't be the first time that Jeremiah would be involved in the courts. In 1869 a Jeremiah Phelan was fined five shillings for obstructing the thoroughfare opposite the Theatre Royal in Melbourne (in Bourke St, where Target now stands). If we can't be absolutely sure that this was our Jeremiah, we can have more confidence about this appearance as a witness at the Gisborne Courthouse in 1892, over a fracas at Macedon. What was interesting was that the case was only brought to court on the strength of an article written by the Macedon correspondent to the Kyneton Guardian, which detailed a 'pugilistic encounter' that followed 'filthy and disgusting language' close to the police station, whose constable, 'in whose hands rested the responsibility of keeping order in the town being conspicuous by his absence'.
The Woodend Star of 29 October reported that when Jeremiah Phelan entered the box, he 'wished to know if his expenses would be guaranteed, and was answered in the negative'. Now we have seen that money was tight for the Phelans, but to ask for expenses to be paid for a court appearance would seem ambitious! He then 'refused to answer a question put to him by Constable Kavanagh as to whether he was [the] correspondent of the Guardian or not. He was in bed at the time the disturbance took place. He commenced a rambling statement on the case, and was told by the Bench to hold his tongue and ordered him to quit the box. He left the building talking to himself' [!]. It's articles like these which are 'gold' for researchers, I feel this really helps paint a picture of what my ancestor was like. We also know, from a Gisborne Gazette obituary written after his death, that Jeremiah was of a retiring nature and despite having a 'great interest in public events', did not 'offer himself for many public positions', so it is easy to imagine that he was not very comfortable having to give evidence in the box, and preferred the relative anonymity of being a 'correspondent'!
In his later years Jeremiah was listed as Macedon's Commission Agent. He also collected the census for the town as an 80 year old in 1901. He was involved in the founding of the Macedon Water Trust and served as secretary for about ten years, which is at least one public position we know he held. He resigned only on account of failing eyesight, just two years before his death, aged 86, in 1908.
Incidentally, the former Gisborne Courthouse is now the Gisborne & Mount Macedon District's Historical Society headquarters, which is where I first obtained the Woodend Star's article about Jeremiah's grumpy court appearance. So it was rather poignant to first read the account in the very room in which it had occurred over a century earlier!
Perhaps there was so much movement in these early days as Jeremiah was struggling to find his feet. In Macedon he worked in yet another occupation, variously recorded as carter, drayman or wood dealer. Life was not getting any easier, The Argus reporting him as an insolvent in July 1864, due to 'want of employment and pressure of creditors', with a debt of £27 8s 1d. It wouldn't be the first time that Jeremiah would be involved in the courts. In 1869 a Jeremiah Phelan was fined five shillings for obstructing the thoroughfare opposite the Theatre Royal in Melbourne (in Bourke St, where Target now stands). If we can't be absolutely sure that this was our Jeremiah, we can have more confidence about this appearance as a witness at the Gisborne Courthouse in 1892, over a fracas at Macedon. What was interesting was that the case was only brought to court on the strength of an article written by the Macedon correspondent to the Kyneton Guardian, which detailed a 'pugilistic encounter' that followed 'filthy and disgusting language' close to the police station, whose constable, 'in whose hands rested the responsibility of keeping order in the town being conspicuous by his absence'.
The Woodend Star of 29 October reported that when Jeremiah Phelan entered the box, he 'wished to know if his expenses would be guaranteed, and was answered in the negative'. Now we have seen that money was tight for the Phelans, but to ask for expenses to be paid for a court appearance would seem ambitious! He then 'refused to answer a question put to him by Constable Kavanagh as to whether he was [the] correspondent of the Guardian or not. He was in bed at the time the disturbance took place. He commenced a rambling statement on the case, and was told by the Bench to hold his tongue and ordered him to quit the box. He left the building talking to himself' [!]. It's articles like these which are 'gold' for researchers, I feel this really helps paint a picture of what my ancestor was like. We also know, from a Gisborne Gazette obituary written after his death, that Jeremiah was of a retiring nature and despite having a 'great interest in public events', did not 'offer himself for many public positions', so it is easy to imagine that he was not very comfortable having to give evidence in the box, and preferred the relative anonymity of being a 'correspondent'!
In his later years Jeremiah was listed as Macedon's Commission Agent. He also collected the census for the town as an 80 year old in 1901. He was involved in the founding of the Macedon Water Trust and served as secretary for about ten years, which is at least one public position we know he held. He resigned only on account of failing eyesight, just two years before his death, aged 86, in 1908.
Incidentally, the former Gisborne Courthouse is now the Gisborne & Mount Macedon District's Historical Society headquarters, which is where I first obtained the Woodend Star's article about Jeremiah's grumpy court appearance. So it was rather poignant to first read the account in the very room in which it had occurred over a century earlier!
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