Phelan and Atkin Family History

When my sister Sue first looked into our family history some 25 years ago, her biggest discovery was probably the divorce of Mum's maternal grandparents, Nicholas and Margaret Lawless. For years Mum and her siblings had believed that their grandfather had died in an electrical accident. However this was not so: the reality was the marriage had ended in a divorce newsworthy enough to have made papers across the country! The year was 1905, so divorce was still seen as scandalous - being Roman Catholics wouldn't have helped - and making this case even more notable was that the petitioner was Margaret. In those days, divorces were harder to be won when instigated by the wife.  Nicholas and Margaret Lawless, possibly on their wedding day Nicholas Lawless had been born in Gordon near Ballarat in 1868, but sometime around 1888 his family moved to Gippsland, as that area was opening up to farming. Similarly Margaret Catherine Kenny, who had been born in Warrnambool in 1875, had moved a...

The Cowan brothers: Charles standing, Ken seated at right (with younger brother Arthur seated at left) One of the interesting parts of my journey in family history research has been discovering the many men in our family who served in the Great War. Dad in fact had uncles on the Phelan side who served that he himself didn't recall. But there were another two who were definitely remembered: Ken and Charles Cowan were the two eldest sons of Joseph Charles Martin Cowan and Florence Davenport, and would also have been Dad's uncles were it not for the fact that both were killed in the horrific conflict. Ken and Charles were among the first men to sign up in support of the empire. On 11 August 1914, just one week after the declaration of war, the call went out for volunteers in Australia. Four days later, on 15 August, both boys showed up to heed that call, Ken enlisting at Melbourne and Charles at Moonee Ponds. Harry Kennett (Ken) Cowan was 20 years old, had been working as a grocer...

The First World War claimed the lives of several members of the Phelan and Atkin family trees, however not as many suffered the same fate in the Second World War - in fact it may have only been one: Dad's first cousin George Kennett Charles Gilbert Clark, known as Ken. The name 'Kennett' was likely bestowed in honour of Ken's (and Dad's) uncle Harry Kennett Cowan, who was one of those to be tragically killed in the preceding war. Harry, also known as Ken, and his brother Charles Cowan both paid the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War; I will write about their wartime experience in a future post. Ken Clark was the son of Harold and Essie Clark (nee Cowan) and was employed as a window dresser at the time of his enlistment, on 20 May 1940 at Brighton, a month after his 25th birthday. His initial posting was to the 2/14th Battalion and he embarked at Sydney on 19 October on the Aquitania , arriving in the Middle East on 25 November. He spent over a year there, but...

Welcome to my first post in a very long time! Despite Covid seeming to be the perfect opportunity to power ahead with my research and blogging, I actually found myself concentrating on other projects. I hope to get back into the research soon, but I did have this post sitting around as a draft from when I was researching my Phelan ancestors: it is about a family link to an American World War II Flying Ace, James Mugavero: James Dennis Mugavero was born on 3 July 1920 in Port Huron, Michigan. He grew up there and attended Port Huron Junior College before enlisting in the U.S. Army following the United States’ entry into World War II. He applied for pilot training, was accepted, and was sent to Arcadia Field, Florida, for Primary Flight Training, with Basic Flight School at Bainbridge Field, Georgia. He subsequently earned his wings and commission as a Second Lieutenant at Marianna, Florida on 1 October 1943. Following additional training in the P-47, Lieutenant Mugavero was sent to the ...

At 5.35pm on the evening of 2 September 1948, the ANA DC3 airliner Lutana (pictured above), took off from Archerfield Airport in Brisbane on a routine flight to Sydney. It was carrying 10 passengers and 3 crew, including the pilot, Captain John Drummond. Above Coffs Harbour the captain reported that there was heavy ice on the plane, and was given permission to descend slightly. At 7.56 he reported that he was over Williamtown air base near Newcastle, and after brief further contact at 8.12pm, all looked on track for the expected 8.55pm arrival at Mascot. Except that it never arrived. Reports of an aircraft heard flying very low off Terrigal in misty rain at around 8.15pm led to initial fears that the Lutana had crashed into the sea. Several RAAF planes and civil aircraft searched the sea without luck the next day. On September 4 an oil slick near Swansea was spotted, lending weight to the theory of a crash at sea. Among the passengers listed missing was a  Mr Rossiter of 392 Uppe...

Welcome to my first post in several months! A lot has gone on in this time: made redundant after nearly 25 years at Lonely Planet, I've been concentrating on taking the opportunity of this time off to get a lot of 'digital admin' done. I've also been lucky enough to score some casual genealogical work with Jan Worthington, who was my supervisor when I did my Diploma in Family Historical Studies in 2017-18. That work has made me less motivated to spend hours on my own research, but I'm starting to get back into it. And so here we are with some new material for your reading pleasure! As you might remember I had been working on my Cowan ancestors, and had posted about my great-grandfather Joseph Cowan who was an architect and Mayor of Essendon. I am now delving into his children and their families. His eldest child was Magdalene Elizabeth Cowan (Dad's Aunty Madge). She married Herbert Rossiter, and it is through this family that we have a link to a woman who was we...

A little postscript after my series of posts on my great-grandfather Joseph Charles Martin Cowan that I just had to share. On 12 December 1890 the North Melbourne Advertiser was reporting on Essendon council business, and noted that "Cr. Cowan moved that the Railway Commissioners be requested to keep alight the lamp on the west side of the Ascot Vale Railway Station in Bloomfield's Paddock. A good deal of free love went on here at nights to the disgust of the residents.' This prompted the following from the  Melbourne Punch on 15 January 1891, who felt so strongly that they were moved to poetry! How hideously unsympathetic men may become as they grow old! We don't suppose that rhyme will touch their flinty hearts, but the situation demands a stanza, and it shall have it – though we should be slain by public subscription afterwards. O, Councillors of Essendon, Famed for your gifts of tongue, Do you forget completely The days when you were young? Ah, you co...