Curran Wright History

Tag: death

  • Herbert Curran and Kelleen Cullinan

    My paternal grandparents, Herbert Curran and Kelleen (also known as Queenie) Cullinan met in 1918 at the Pooncarie Ball (in New South Wales, Australia).

    Herb and Queenie wedding day

    They married on June 4, 1919 at Mullingar Station (New South Wales), in a dual wedding with Herb’s mate, Ernie Page who married Herb’s sister, Annie Herbert. Herb was 22 years old, Kelleen was 20 years old.

    Herbert and Kelleen lived at the following places during their life together:

    • 1919 Curlwaa (corner of Channel and Poplar roads, lot 5, section 2), Victoria. This was a dried fruit and citrus block.
    • 1920 Mullingar Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales
    • 1921 – Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie, New South Wales
      • Herb and Kelleen lived in the original slab hotel building (erected 1875 – demolished 1925) which had an iron iron roof, and was located on McKinley and Mallara Street. 
      • The existing Telegraph Hotel (see image below) began life in 1922, the year Herb and Kelleen moved to Benetook Avenue. This hotel was completed in 1925.Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie

    1925 Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie (Photo by Greg Curran 2009)

    • 1922 – Benetook Avenue, Mildura, Victoria
      • Mud brick or adobe house, destroyed in Murray River floods in 1956 (Curran, D. The Family History of Michael Curran1836-1997)
    Benetook Avenue, Mildura, 2011
    Benetook Avenue, 2011
    • 1925 – Cowra Avenue, Mildura
    • 1926 – 1939 66 Eighth Street, Mildura
    • 1939 – 1972 Thirteenth Street, Mildura (Herbert and Kelleen)
      • This was a fruit block (grapes and citrus)
    13st Mildura (next to rail-line) in 2011
    • 1972 (1st November) Herb dies of a heart attack
      • He is buried at Mildura Lawn Cemetery
    • 1972 – 1993 Thirteenth Street, Mildura (Kelleen)
    • 1993 Kelleen dies.
      • She is buried at Mildura Lawn Cemetery
    At their 13th Street. Mildura property

    See Herbert Curran page for additional photos.

  • Michael Cullinan

    Michael Cullinan is my Great Grandfather (father to Kelleen Lillian Cullinan, my paternal Grandmother). He was born in 1852 (2 August) and died in 1924 (20 August) at the age of 72 years. He is buried in Broken Hill cemetery in New South Wales, Australia.

    Here is where Michael Cullinan lived:

  • Betsy Wakefield

    Betsy Wakefield is my Great Grandmother. She was mother to Kelleen Lillian Cullinan, my paternal Grandmother and 6 other children.

    Betsy was born on 12 April, 1861, in Hackham, South Australia and died on 2 June, 1904.

    Betsy’s death was a little over a year after her 2 year old daughter, Catherine drowned in the Darling River at Kelleen Station, near Pooncarie in NSW.

    Betsy’s parents, Thomas Wakefield (from Haslingford, England) and Tamar Speed (from Balsham, England) immigrated to Australia (Port Jackson, Sydney), on the ship Una in 1849. They arrived in South Australia in 1854.

    Betsy met Michael Cullinan, her future husband, through her brother, Tom (who worked alongside Michael). They married on 2 June, 1886 in Kapunda, South Australia. She was 25 years old.

    Here are the places where Betsy lived:

    • 1861 Hackham, Noarlunga, South Australia
    • 1886 Kapunda, South Australia
    • 1888-1904 Kelleen Station, New South Wales

    Further Information on Betsy’s family (the Wakefields) can be found in High on the Hill, (p.231) a history of Onkaparinga City in South Australia.

  • Kelleen Cullinan – Curran

    Kelleen Lillian Mary Cullinan (also known as Queen or Queenie) is my paternal Grandmother. She was born on 10 February 1899.

    Here’s some of the key places and events in her life:

    1899 Lived at Kelleen Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales, Australia

    Attended Connorgie State School (no longer exists, building moved to Pomona). Kelleen had to cross the Murray River and walk a mile to attend this school near Lethno. She went to school till the age of 12.

    Kelleen’s chores at home included bringing in the goats, having to search miles in the scrub for them. Also milking the cow.

    She learnt to row the flat bottom boat across the Murray River (to collect mail) – by herself. 

    With no elder sisters at home, Kelleen began running the home at 12 years of age. 

    Annual Events

    St Patrick’s Day Races at Wentworth

    • 2 day trip in a double seater buggy pulled by two horses. At night a communal camp bed was prepared.

    Pooncarie Boxing Day Races and Pooncarie Hall Dance

    • Kelleen met her future husband, Herbert Curran, at the dance.

    New Year’s Day Picnic – Lethero

    • Events: Athletics, Dances at night

    1919 – She married Herbert Curran at 20 years of age on 4 June 1919 at Mullingar, Pooncarie. See Herbert Curran page for photos of places below.

    Wedding Invitation
    Herb and Queenie wedding day
    Herbert Curran and Kelleen Cullinan’s Wedding Day

    1919 Lived at Curlwaa (fruit block), New South Wales

    End of 1920 – Mullingar Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales

    1921 – Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie, New South Wales

    • Kelleen and her husband were licensees of the hotel. Kelleen didn’t like the life here (and was a teetotaler her whole life) so they moved not long after. 

    1922 – Benetook Avenue (fruit block), Mildura, Victoria, Australia

    • Kelleen took on Blockie Wife duties including assisting in picking, spreading, shaking pulling out, rolling on, and pitting apricots for drying.
    • Times were tough due the depression so they sold the block in 1925.

    1925 Cowra Avenue (rented house), Mildura

    1926 – 1939 66 Eighth Street, Mildura

    1939 – 1993. Thirteenth Street (fruit block alongside the railway line), Mildura

    Kelleen was an avid Mildura football club supporter, often attending games, right up until 6 weeks before she died.

    (L-R) Doug Curran, Kelleen Curran, Kevin Curran,
    Valda Curran (Kerr), Herb Curran
    Kevin Curran and Kelleen (son and mother) at 13th Street house.

    Kelleen died in 1993. She was 94 years old.

    Collection of death notices

    Kelleen's headstone

    Information sourced from Doug Curran’s, The Family History of James Cullinan 1816-1990. 

  • Herbert Curran

    Herbert Curran is my paternal Grandfather (my dad Kevin Curran’s father). He was born on 10 July, 1896 at Netley Station, Menindee. 

    First Nations’ History of Menindee

    Menindee is part of the ancestral lands of the Barkindji people, who lived here for over 65 000 years before the arrival of Europeans. 

    ‘Menindee’ is said to derive from two Barkindji words, ‘minandichi’ (referring to the ephemeral lake in the north west of the town) and ‘milhthaka’ (yoke of an egg). The lakes in Menindee were called, ‘wontanella’ meaning ‘many waters’. Source: Wikipedia

    Menindee was originally named, Perry (in 1861), a name that was unpopular with white locals and changed to Menindee in 1863. Source: Wikipedia

    Frontier War conflicts occurred in this area – including during the expeditions of Major Thomas Mitchell in 1835. The Barkindji were also removed from their land and taken to the Menindee Aboriginal Mission. Source: James Tylor

    Menindee was a base camp for the ill-fated Burke and Wills’ cross continent expedition from October 1860 to January 1861.

    Herb’s Timeline

    Herb married Kelleen Lillian Cullinan on 4 June 1919. He was 22 years old. Herb died on 1 November, 1972.

    In the early 1920s there were only  “a dozen or so houses” in Menindee, no roads and a surface leading to the punt on the river Darling. Source: Wikipedia

    Here’s where Herbert’s dad, Patrick worked:

    Netley Homestead

    Netley Station (later named Bindara Station), Menindee, New South Wales

    1900 Victoria Hotel, Tolarno.

    • Herb’s parents were licensees of the Victoria Hotel.
    Victoria Hotel, Tolarno
    • 1904-1905 – Netley Station
      • Herbert’s father, Patrick works as a gardener at Netley Station.
    • 1910 (7 December) – Mullingar Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales
      • Herb’s father, Patrick leases the homestead. He calls it Mullingar.
      • Herb assists in building their house and works on the property with his dad.
    • 1918 – Fruit block, Curlwaa, New South Wales
      • Herb picks fruit with friends Ernie Page and Maurice Bath.
      • Herb buys a block of land, Lot 5, Sect 2 in Curlwaa, on the corner of Channel and Poplar road (see map below). He plants dried fruit and citrus.
      • Herb signs up to local footy club and attends Pooncarie races and ball where he meets his future wife.  
    • 1919 – Herb marries Kelleen Lillian Mary Cullinan in a dual wedding with his friend Ernie Page who married his sister, Annie at Mullingar homestead.
    • 1920 – Herb lives with his wife (Kelleen Cullinan) at Mullingar Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales
    • Mallara Station
      • Herb goes wool pressing, which involves pressing wool into bales using one’s legs and feet.
    • 1921 – Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie, New South Wales (on the corner of McKinley and Mallara streets, see photos below)
      • Herb becomes licensee of the hotel below, that no longer exists.
    Telegraph Hotel
    Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie
    • 1922 – Benetook Avenue, Mildura, Victoria, Australia
      • Herb, Kelleen and their family move to this fruit block.
    Benetook Property location

    Benetook Property location (2012, Greg Curran)

    • 1925 – Herb, Kelleen and their family move to Cowra Avenue, Mildura
      • Temporary accommodation for the family.
      • This was a mud brick or adobe house that collapsed in the Murray River floods in 1956.
      • Herb begins a new job carting meat from the slaughterhouse at Gol Gol to a shop in Mildura (for Jack Crozier, Butcher) and other shops in Irymple, Red Cliffs, Merbein, Coomealla and Wentworth.
    • 1926 – 66 Eighth Street, Mildura (see map below)
      • Herb buys a house and vacant block. He grows Gladioli and silver skin onions that he sells to the Chinese greengrocers.
    • 1939 – 1972 Thirteenth Street, Mildura
      • Herb buys the property, the grape vines and the citrus plants. 
      • He eventually sells his carting contract and works on the block for the rest of his life.Eighth Street House

    Working On the Land

    All information sourced from Doug Curran’s (1997) The Family History of Michael Curran 1836-1997.