Edmund O’Gorman
| First name | Edmund |
|---|---|
| Last name | O'Gorman |
| Country of Origin | Ireland |
| Date of Birth | 1838 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1863 |
| Submitted by | Leonard Johnson |
Story
Born the son of Thomas O\’Gorman & Johanna Fitzpatrick, farmers in County Limerick. The O\’Gormans were rural Munster Irish & lived a typical western Irish country life in a stone cabin on a small allotment. They survived by subsistence farming, growing their own staples – potatoes, turnips, wheat, barley, oats & green crop vegetables.
Edmund O\’Gorman lived through the Great Famine from 1845 to 1849. He left Ireland for Liverpool sometime between 1854 & 1860. It was common knowledge in England & Ireland that the Australian colonies were places of freedom, opportunity & prosperity, that they needed young labourers & welcomed Irish immigrants. In 1862 Edmund O\’Gorman decided to emigrate to Victoria. A passage broker sold him a ticket in steerage for fifteen pounds. In November he began his long journey. He passed through the Liverpool Emigration Depot & boarded the emigrant passenger ship, Royal Family, which sailed on 8 November 1862 & arrived at Hobson\’s Bay on 28 March 1863. Having paid his own passage Edmund was not subject to the requirements for assisted immigrants, he was free to leave the ship without being interviewed by the Victorian Government Examining Board. For a fare of nine pence, he caught a train into Melbourne\’s city centre where he found work as a labourer. He stayed in Melbourne for the remainder of his life.
Edmund was from an Irish agricultural background & his primary work skill was that of farm labourer. He described himself as a ‘farmer residing in Melbourne\’ & later he worked as a hansom cab driver.
In 1871 he met Mary Josephine Hourigan, probably through one of the many close Irish supportive communities in Melbourne. Over 100,000 Irish immigrants arrived in Victoria between 1830 & 1860 – most of these came from Munster. One of Edmund & Mary Josephine\’s mutual attractions was a connection to their Munster homeland.
They were married in the Church of St Francis in Melbourne on 29 July 1871. Between 1872 & 1893 they had 9 children. Edmund supported his family working as a hansom cab driver; Mary Josephine stayed at home & raised their family in the difficult circumstances of urban life in nineteenth century Melbourne. They lived together in Carlton for the whole of their married life.
Edmund O\’Gorman died from tuberculosis, aged 54, on 30 September 1898 & buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Mary Josephine died 12 years later.
Edmund O\’Gorman belonged to the Irish diaspora of the 1860s & the resultant emigration of large numbers of Irish people to Australia. 20 years of hard work as a farmer & hansom cab driver identified him as one of Victoria\’s sturdy Irish labouring men who happily lived a modest workman\’s lifestyle in his new country of Australia.