Patrick Maguire
| First name | Patrick |
|---|---|
| Last name | Maguire |
| Country of Origin | Ireland |
| Date of Birth | c.1814 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1856 |
| Submitted by | Patricia Braden |
Story
Patrick Maguire and his wife Ann Noble lost 3 children in 3 weeks in Ireland and decided to come to Australia. Their daughter Dorothy wrote a wonderful portrayal of their early years which is abbreviated here.
‘We left Ireland and caught the Sailing Ship ‘Ben-Nevus’. We had some very severe storms and were blown off course many miles but eventually reached Sydney after 6 months. We continued our journey by Steamer to Wollongong then travelled by bullock dray over bush tracks to the property where my father was Overseer.
In 1862 he took up a Selection of Land in Kangaroo Valley and built a shelter for us to live in. It consisted of slabs, bark roof and earth floor. We settled down to a life of struggle and toil, clearing enough ground to plant corn and potatoes. We only had one cow and our tools were a hoe, a spade, wedges and one mallet. In early years our crops were chipped in by hoe. Not easy when it came to acres. Our first wheat crop was a failure, taking the rust, and all our hard work gone for naught.
We had no clock, having to guess the time by tree shadows and the hourly laugh of the Jackass, called the ‘settlers\’ clock’. We made our own candles in a mould with Bees wax. We grew our own wheat and ground it into flour to make bread. Our damper was made on the hearth and covered in hot ashes to cook. Later luxuries were a camp oven, 3 legged pot, iron kettle and tin teapot. We had much to contend with, crops failing, drought, bushfires, caterpillars, grasshoppers, floods. Snakes, hundreds of them, all sorts and colours, had many narrow escapes. Pests such as wallabies, paddy melons, bandicoots, native and tiger cats, dingoes, played havoc with young calves, poultry and pigs. When the crops were ripening it was my job, wet or dry, to keep the native birds off them. That meant running up and down all day to frighten them.
We did not attend school as there was no school in the Valley. Our nearest store, 60 miles (100 klms) away, was Wollongong. Had to follow the blazed track over the Mountain as only Pack Horses were used and the journey took 3 days to get there and back. Father only went every three months for supplies. On one trip he bought a crosscut saw and had to carry it on his shoulders all the way and walk on foot as his Pack and Saddle horses were both heavily loaded.’ Patrick died in Kangaroo Valley in 1906 at 92 years of age and was buried beneath the headstone he had kept under his bed for 10 years.