William Kelly
| Town/City | Reynella |
|---|---|
| First name | William |
| Last name | Kelly |
| Country of Origin | Ireland |
| Date of Birth | circa 1832 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1857 |
| Submitted by | Heather Rayner |
Story
For William Kelly, the prospect of employment and higher earning power abroad must have been factors in his decision to emigrate and escape the poverty at home. In 1857 he left Kilkenny, Ireland, with two brothers, James and John and a sister Mary Ann. Another sister, Ellen and her husband Thomas Morrissey, had emigrated to South Australia two years earlier. They went to Plymouth, England and boarded the ‘Omega’ which sailed on 13 August, 1857 and arrived at Port Adelaide on 15 November, 1857.
William settled on the Fleurieu Peninsula at Yankalilla where he met Margaret Dahill who had arrived from Ireland in 1855. They were married on 3 February, 1863, in the home of John Clark at Wattle Flat. This home was used for Catholic services before the St. Peters Catholic church at Normanville was built. Like most people of that time they worked hard and Margaret often remarked, “I was married from the dang wash-tub and straight back to it – no honeymoon”. They had a family of six – Bridget, Ellen who died aged four, William, John, James and Michael.
William was a labourer and helped build many of the early roads and bridges in the district. He died on 9 August, 1897 aged 65.
Margaret lived to 100 years and became known to all as ‘Granny Kelly’. During her 80 years residence in South Australia she never visited Adelaide but in her late eighties she accompanied her sister and her husband, Mary and John Cheeseman, by horse and buggy to Victor Harbor and there saw a train. At the ‘Back to Yankalilla’ celebrations in 1929, Margaret met the Governor of South Australia, Sir Alexander Hore Ruthven, V.C., who said to her, “I hear you are in your nineties’ and she responded with, “how did you dang well find that out.”
Margaret passed away on 22 August, 1934 and both she and William are buried in the Normanville Catholic Cemetery.
Their daughter Bridget married George Backshall of Normanville on 13 November, 1883. In the early 1890’s they bought 180 acres of land about 3 mile east of Yankalilla which they called ‘Wattle Dale’ due to the wattle plantation George planted. Wattle bark was in demand as its high tannin yield made it suitable for tanning leather used in footwear, harness and many other items in common use at that time. George, like many others in the district, used to strip the bark from the trees to sell at the mill in Yankalilla.
Three sons were born to them – William Edward, John Francis and Albert who died when 8 days old. Bridget died on 29 November, 1914 and George on 29 October, 1944.