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JAMES McNAMARA (1841 - 1942) believed he was born in Pitt Street, Sydney on 9 August 1841. No records have been found to support the claim or establish if he had any siblings. He came to Queensland with his parents at the age of ten. As a 16 year old, James worked the South Burnett wool sheds, shearing 100 sheep a day. While employed at Jondaryan in 1864 he met his future wife Mary Fuller. They were married at Nanango on 13 February 1867. After almost four decades as an itinerant stockman, shearer and overseer James selected a property "Rosebank" at Jandowae in 1892 and turned to farming. He died 1 April 1942 aged 100 years. |
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MARY ANN McNAMARA nee FULLER (1850 - 1934) born at Battle in the English County of Sussex, 12 August 1850. The seven year old departed England for Australia on 24 October 1857 with father Fred, mother Bridget, brothers William and Thomas and sisters Julia and Sabina. They arrived aboard the "Irene" at the Moreton Bay Colony, 11 February 1858, 111 days after leaving Liverpool. Mary's union with to James produced 12 children including two sets of twins. All but three children survived. Mary Ann was a well known midwife travelling alone by horse and buggy to remote selections in the district. She died in Dalby Hospital on 16 June 1934. |
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FRANCIS JOHN McNAMARA (1868 - 1872) was born to 17 year old Mary Ann McNamara on 4 February 1868 at Mondure in Queensland's South Burnett district. His father was employed there as a station stockman. Tragically, John died of jaundice when almost 5 years old. The cause of death is difficult to explain and at odds with an account that John had broken his neck in a game of leap frog with station children. There was no formal funeral. A family friend, shepherd Henry Vogler read "Service of the Church of Rome" at the graveside. Francis John was buried at an unknown location at Mondure Station, 26 August 1872. |
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JAMES JOSEPH McNAMARA (1869 - 1959) born at Tarong Station near Nanango, Sunday, 15 June 1869. Like his father, James Joseph was an expert horseman and drover. He married Mary Ann O'Brien of Helidon 1 April 1900 and worked as head stockman and overseer for Charlie Persse at Hawkwood Station in the Chinchilla district from 1911 to 1918. James was also a mail contractor servicing the Darr Creek, Burra Burri run. He used his father's "Rosebank" property at Jandowae as holding yards and changing station for horses used on the round. In latter years he was caretaker at Jimbour House. He died in the Dalby District Hospital 11 November 1959. |
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SABINA FONTAINE nee McNAMARA (1873 - 1968) born at Burrandowan Station in the South Burnett, 4 March 1873 six months after the death of the family's first born, 4 years old Francis John. She married August Fontaine, son of a French immigrant at Dalby Presbytery on 4 April 1892. She and Gus left Jandowae after a family disagreement and spent years wandering outback Queensland before turning to sugar cane farming near Proserpine, Queensland around 1902. The diminutive Sabina, barely five feet tall bore 16 children between 1894 and 1918. She died at Proserpine on 1 December 1968 aged 95 years. |
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FRANCIS " FRANK" McNAMARA (1876 - 1957) born at Gayndah 5 June 1876 when his father James worked at nearby Ideraway Station. Frank married Helen "Nellie" Fletcher at "Strathgyle", Bell on 19 December 1917. He was the second McNamara to marry a Fletcher. Younger brother Ted married Helen's older sister Annabella ten years earlier in 1910. The couple had no children and worked their selection "Redlands" close to "Rosebank" at Jandowae. Frank and Nellie lived a very private life and virtually nothing is known about them. Frank died in the Jandowae Hospital on 19 March 1957 and was buried in Jandowae cemetery the next day. |
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WILLIAM McNAMARA (1878 - 1979) born at East Swamp Toowoomba on 25th March 1878. Will lived to over 101 years. He married Hannah Kenafacke on 20 April 1908 but tragically lost both her and son William Francis after birth complications in 1909. Hannah, on her death bed is said to have asked her best friend Mary Lee to care for Will. The promise was kept when William and Mary married on 7 June 1911. The couple had two children Sylvester William (1913) and Anthony (1924). Mary died in 1957. Will outlived all his brothers and sisters, dying in Brisbane on 11 April 1979, two months after youngest brother Charlie. |
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EDWARD PATRICK McNAMARA (1881 - 1955) born at the Auburn Hotel Wednesday, 12th January 1881. On 28 December 1910 Ted married Annabella eldest daughter of Neil Fletcher, the original selector of "Strathgyle" a large cattle property at Bell. The couple worked the selection for the next 30 years raising two children Neil and Mary. Bella died in 1939. Nine years later Ted married Yorkshire born school teacher Elsie Large in 1948 and left his beloved "Strathgyle" as ill health began to take its toll. Ted became a father again at the age of 70 with the arrival of son Clifford Noel in 1950. Ted died at the family home at Banyo, Brisbane on 19 January 1955. |
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JOHN "JACK" McNAMARA (1883 - 1946) the elder of twins born at Dalby, 23 June 1883. Jack never married. He became well known as a mail contractor in the Dalby district and led the transition from horse and cart to motorized mail delivery in 1920. Jack's love of horses and a passion for the punt saw him, his trotter Midget and brother-in-law Ted Cherry make many hit and run raids in Brisbane at the Jack Wren owned race track at Kedron Park. In a family renowned for its longevity Jack died at the young age of 63 years on 13 September 1946 after suffering an epileptic fit and crashing his Chevrolet Tourer into a tree near Dalby. |
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MARY ANN¹ McNAMARA (1883 - 1883) the younger of the twins born at Condamine Street Dalby possibly the home of Julia Hall, sister of Mary Fuller. Midwife, Mrs. McEvoy held great fears for the new-born's well being. Doctor William Howlin, the attending physician could provide only primitive post natal care. There was little hope that the child would survive the week. Mary Ann died seventeen days later on 13 July 1883. In circumstances similar to the funeral of her eldest brother Francis John, she was buried at the Dalby cemetery without any formal religious ceremony. There is no record of the internment. |
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SARAH McNAMARA (1885 - 1887) the elder of twins born at Cadarga Station, 20 July 1885. Midwife Janet McDonagh attended the birth of the family's second set of twins. Unlike the tragedy two years before both twins survived. But fate again struck a cruel blow twenty two months later when Sarah suffered a fit of convulsions and died suddenly. It is believed that she choked on watermelon seeds while playing with the other children at Cadarga Station. She was buried in an unmarked grave dug by her father and brother James Joseph somewhere on the property on 18 May 1887. The Chinchilla gravesite has never been be located. |
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MARY ANN² CHERRY nee McNAMARA (1885 - 1960) the younger of twins born at Cadarga Station, 20th July 1885. She was the second child to be named Mary Ann. She married Edward Cherry from Taabinga Village at St. Joseph's Catholic Church Dalby, 24 December 1907. Mary Ann² lived at her father's "Rosebank" property at Jandowae for over a decade raising her family while husband Ted worked to clear their selection 'Bellbrook", a dairy farm near Iron Pot Creek. The couple had four children, Agnes (1908), Muriel (1910), Edward (1912), Norman (1915). Mary Ann² died in Gayndah on 22 November 1960. |
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CHARLES PARIS McNAMARA (1887 - 1979) born at the Auburn Hotel, Tuesday 7 April 1887 and named for the midwife Mrs. McDonagh nee Janet Paris. The "Burrandowan Cyclone" was regarded as one of the finest horseman in the district. He earned his nickname for the speed he completed his tasks. On 20 December 1939 aged 52 he married Kingaroy Hospital matron Jane Horrobin. The marriage was childless. Charlie left Coven Station soon after his marriage and became a wardsman at Kingaroy Hospital. He died on 23 February 1979. Mystery still surrounds the disbursement of his modest estate as no record of Probate has ever been discovered. |
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MINNIE MAY McNAMARA (1890 - 1978) born 11 May 1890. She never married. On 15 March 1922, she was declared insane and committed toWillowburn Special Hospital, Toowoomba. Minnie never recovered from a failed romance. Her admission papers record, "Disappointment in love some six years ago". Brother William claimed she had been "jilted at the altar". Minnie spent the next 65 years in an asylum all but forgotten by her family until 1956, when William made contact with the Hospital superintendent. On 20 January 1978, she died alone and almost unnoticed. Nephew Anthony McNamara and his wife were the only family to attend her funeral. |
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Copyright © 2009 John A McNamara.
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