Curran Wright History

Category: Australia

  • Josephenna Theresa Wright – Castlemaine

    1945 – Josephenna Theresa Wright (nee Cramer) is living in Castlemaine.

    • Josephenna is living in the Castlemaine Benevolent Asylum. She is diabetic and has gone blind.
    • Castlemaine Benevolent Asylum initially provided refuge to poor and homeless people. Then from 1900, aged and frail people, and people with disabilities.

    1958 – Josephenna Theresa Wright dies. She is 85 years old.

    Further information on Castlemaine Benevolent Asylum

  • 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.

  • Victoria Hotel, Tolarno

    Patrick and Isabella Curran moved to the Victoria Hotel, Tolarno in 1901 as licensees. In 1902, there was a theft from the hotel (see article below). 

    Theft at Victoria Hotel-102-rusheenweb
    1902 Theft at Victoria Hotel. Source: rusheensweb.com – Pooncaira

  • Isabella Herbert

    Isabella (also known as Bella) Herbert is my paternal great grandmother, mother of my grandfather, Herbert Curran. She was born on 17 November, 1866 to Margaret James and John Herbert in Wallaroo, South Australia.

    She met Patrick Curran, her husband in Menindee, New South Wales. They married on 5th April, 1896. She was 30 years old. For further information on their life together, see Patrick and Isabella’s page.

    Isabella died on 1 August, 1937 and is buried in Pooncarie cemetery in the Anglican section, row A, plot number 23.

    Patrick_Isabella_Curran1896
    Patrick_IsabellaCurran2
    Isabella, labelled as ‘Granny Curran’, Kelleen Curran (my paternal grandmother), Gordon Curran (baby of Kelleen). Around 1920.
    Isabella Herbert’s birth certificate
    Isabella Herbert’s death certificate
    Isabella’s grave in Pooncarie Cemetery. Photo: Greg Curran, 2009.
    Original photo of Isabella Herbert grave.

  • Netley Station

    Netley Station, 1894. J.H. Goyder on verandah.

    Netley Station is 70 km south of Broken Hill, NSW, Australia. Originally it ran from west from the Darling River near Menindee to almost the South Australian border. It was about 150 000 hectares then. Today it is 73 299 hectares.

    Netley Station was “settled” and “named” by the Rankin Family in 1849 but they left it in 1852. In 1871 Joseph Dunne developed the station (for cattle, sheep and horses. He also grew citrus and grapes and vegetables) and buildings, and extended the station’s boundaries from 1870 onward. The station, at its height, included a store, pub, school and smithy and had a port for paddle steamers. Source: Bindara Station

    Patrick Curran (my paternal great grandfather) worked here as a gardener in the period of the 1880s-1890s.

    In later years the station was divided into smaller runs. In 1936 the Packer family bought the river frontage and renamed it, Bindara. Source: Bindara Station