Phelan and Atkin Family History

I have always enjoyed saying I'm 1/16th Italian. I've often been asked if I have a European background, so it's fun to be able to provide that answer. Though so far, my DNA test is showing no evidence of this background! Nevertheless, it is true, my family does have one Italian ancestor. He was my 2x great-grandfather and his name was Antony Gasperino. His arrival in this country dates back to the 1850s, in quite unusual circumstances, on a ship named the General Hewitt . But before we even make our way on board that ship, what little we know of Antony's early life deserves a mention. Antony (presumably Antonio in his native land) Gasperino was born on the island of Elba in 1836. From his marriage certificate we know that his father was Lawrence (Lorenzo) Gasperino but his mother's name is not recorded. On his death certificate her name is listed as 'not known'. It's strange that even the informant at the time of his death (his son Joseph) would not kno...

Lieutenant Edward Kenny And now to the youngest child of Trafalgar's Kenny family: Patrick Edward Kenny...or perhaps Edward Patrick Kenny (it depends which records you look at)...but known as Ted. Due to his wartime achievements, I think he is definitely one of the more notable characters in our family tree. Ted was born in Trafalgar in 1887. When war broke out in 1914, Ted was a 27-year old bank clerk/accountant in Wonthaggi but the following year decided to enlist in the AIF. He was posted to the 4th Light Horse Regiment (12th Reinforcements) and in November embarked for Egypt. After a year or so with the Light Horse, on 28 January 1917 Ted transferred to No. 1 Squadron, Australia's Flying Corps which had been raised at Point Cook back in Australia the year before. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and after flight training and a course in aerial gunnery, was graded as a pilot on 25 July. (The squadron was at that stage considered part of Britain's Royal Flying Corps, so ...

Louis and Ellen Borland of Roma, Queensland had three daughters: Dorothea Isobel (known as 'Doss'), Nellie Dawn (known as Dawn) and Maisie Frances. Back when I was starting out my research, Mum said that my Auntie Rita remembered them as very good-looking. Presumably these girls made a visit back to Gippsland on occasions and, being just a few years older, must have made an impression on a young Rita. Another digression for close family: I suspect that the youngest of my aunts, Auntie Roma, was named at least partly in honour of their home town, given the family connection (Roma was born in 1933, when these girls would have been about 22, 17 and 15). Also, Roma's middle name was Dawn, perhaps this was also a nod to her Queensland relative.  The 1930s and 40s saw the Borland girls mentioned regularly in the local newspapers, particularly the Western Star and Roma Advertiser (published in Toowoomba): from a young age at fancy dress balls through to their teenage years, making...

Regular readers will know that over the last few weeks I have been researching the Kenny family of Trafalgar: Patrick and Catherine, their children and families. The final series of posts on this family centre on their two youngest children, Ellen and Edward, both of whose early lives could hardly have been further apart, but later on would find themselves together raising families in the same small Queensland town. Firstly I will look at Ellen Kenny, although to be honest this is more about her husband, Louis Borland. (Unsurprisingly given their status in society, women were largely invisible in the newspapers of the day, unless you were interested in what they wore to the various social events on the calendar, in which case you are spoilt for detail!) Louis Boyd Borland was born in Omeo in 1879 and was the grandson of John Borland Snr, who was on the David Clark , the first ship to ever sail from the UK to Melbourne in 1839. The Borlands moved to Orbost while Lou was still a chil...

After the sad story about the death of Patrick and Catherine Kenny's second child John, I'm afraid my next story is also not a happy one. Patrick and Catherine's third child was Mary Lillias Kenny. Mary married Trafalgar farmer, Joseph Walter Hulley, in 1907 and had four children: Edward, James, Joseph Jr. and Mary. The elder Mary died just short of her 50th birthday in 1929, and while this was relatively young, she was at least spared the family's grief that would be all too prevalent over the coming years. By the 1930s Joseph Hulley (Sr) was a timber worker and in 1936 was the victim of a nasty accident. While splitting timber deep in a gully at Sea View, a slip of his axe nearly severed his leg between the knee and ankle. His workmates fashioned a stretcher but couldn't get him out of the steep gully and Hulley had to be winched out. From there he could be driven to hospital, but was said to have shown 'great fortitude' during the ordeal and was able to p...

Life on the land had its share of dangers in the 19th century, and sadly the Kenny family were to experience this first-hand in 1888 with the death of their second child, and eldest son, John Caven Kenny. John was a little brother to my great-grandmother Margaret Kenny. Once again, I'll let the newspapers of the day tell the story ( Gippsland Times , 10 December 1888): An accident, which terminated fatally, occurred on Saturday morning last to John Kenny, a lad 11 years of age, son of Mr Patrick Kenny, farmer, of Trafalgar. It appears that Mr Kenny on that day, accompanied by his son, visited his paddock, which is situated some little distance away from the town. On arriving there, a strange bull was observed to be grazing on the land. The father at once instructed the boy, who was on horseback, to drive the animal out. When he attempted to do so, the beast rushed at the lad's horse, bringing it to the ground. Before the unfortunate boy had time to clear himself, the horse was ...

Readers of this blog might recall the story of Margaret Lawless' divorce from her husband Nicholas. This came just a decade after her father Patrick Kenny had his own trip to divorce court. In my previous post I wrote about Patrick's wife Catherine (Phelan) - but as mentioned there, she died in 1891 at just 40 years of age. It was Patrick's second marriage (to widow Elizabeth Green, nee Kelly) that went awry. While one could assert that Margaret Lawless came out of her divorce with her reputation enhanced, the same cannot be said for her father in 1896.  The case was covered so well in the newspapers of the day, that I will let you enjoy all the details straight from those involved...firstly from The Age, 28 August 1896: A REMARKABLE DIVORCE CASE. CHARGES AND COUNTER CHARGES. ALLEGATION OF CONSPIRACY. A HUSBAND'S ACTS OF CRUELTY. Some remarkable evidence was given in the divorce suit of Kenny v. Kenny and Quinn, which was heard by Mr. Justice a'Beckett in the Suprem...