Patrick McGuigan

Story

Patrick McGuigan, my great great great grandfather (born 1807) came from Clonfeacle, County Tyrone, Ireland. Patrick married Jane Morrison of Benburb, County Tyrone, at the Roman Catholic Church in the Parish of Clonfeacle on the 24th April 1837.

Patrick was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and had a dislike for the English. This dislike no doubt increased when they hung his brother and nephew. I do not know the reasons for these hangings. The information I have to hand shows that Patrick was involved in the constant disruption of the Orangemen (Protestant) Parades during his time in Ireland, an apparent normal activity for the ‘over the top\’ hard line Roman Catholics. Because of these activities his court appearances were many, but I have no knowledge of the results of such visits.

Patrick worked in a small local brewery which I believe was called McGrievie\’s Stout Brewery prior to leaving for Australia in 1841. The reason for leaving Ireland is unclear, but it may have been because of his activities with the IRA and pressure from the English that gave him no other option. However there may have been another reason. Irish history shows that several years of potato crop failure (a prelude to the Great Famine of 1845-50) together with poor employment prospects, saw hundreds of thousands leaving Ireland at that time to seek a better life in Australia or America.

One of the greatest human ecological disasters in the history of the world began in Ireland. A fungus from North America established itself in Ireland and commenced to destroy the potato crop. When the fungus had run its course at least 1.5 million, possibly as many as 2 million, Irish had died and another 1.5 to 2 million had emigrated.

Patrick and Jane McGuigan sailed to Sydney as Bounty Emigrants with 343 others on the emigrant sailing ship ‘Broom\’ (889 tons) out of Port Glasgow. This ship arrived in Botany Bay on 13th February, 1842. Of the 345 souls who embarked on this journey, seven adults and twenty children died on the voyage. Two of those children were the sons of Patrick and Jane.

Upon arriving in Sydney, I am told that Patrick established a Brewery, and called it McGuigan\’s Australian Brewery. I have been told by a fellow researcher that he was the sole proprietor of the Brewery, a tremendous feat, considering he could neither read nor write on arrival in Sydney. Unfortunately the Brewery burnt down around 1860, and he subsequently took a selection of land on the Macleay River on the North Coast of New South Wales. This particular farm was at a place called Long Reach, which was also known as Summer Island. The ‘1885 Stock Returns & Stock Owners Census\’ quotes the following under his name:-

Patrick McGuigan 54 acres 7 horses 13 cattle 23 pigs

Patrick and Jane had three more children whilst living in Australia. Thomas (my great great grandfather) Jane and John.

Jane McGuigan (Morrison) died at Summer Island farm of Sporadic Cholera on 31st March 1862. She was 52 years old.

Patrick McGuigan has been described by several sources as a hard and tough man who backed down to no-one. He was a man who carried his English and Protestant prejudices to the very end. He died at the Summer Island farm of asthma on 22nd March 1886. He was 79 years old.

Patrick left an estate of £6,900. He left £400 to his son John, and his property at Summer Island to his daughter Jane. Jane married a John McCabe in 1867, who was related to the then Bishop McCabe.

Jane and Patrick are buried side by side in Frederickton Cemetery, near Kempsey NSW.

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