Johanna Feighery (1814 – 1917) married James Cullinan on 19 August, 1852 in Ruan, County Clare, Ireland.
They lived at Killeen Farmhouse in Corofin for all their married life and had eight children. Their first child Michael Cullinan is my great grandfather (father to Kelleen Cullinan, my grandmother on paternal side)
Johanna died in 1917 and is buried with James (and family) at the Old Dysart Church (Dysert O’Dea) near Corofin.
Mullingar Station is situated 15 minutes from the town of Pooncarie in NSW, Australia. The Darling River runs through the station.
Patrick Curran (my paternal great grandfather) was granted the lease of the land that he called Mullingar on 7 December, 1910. He paid a deposit of four pounds, ten schillings. His assets at that time were 670 pounds, 5 horses, and 2 cows.
Patrick and his wife, Isabella Herbert, their family and belongings were moved here by paddle steamer. They camped in a clump of trees by the river till they could build a house there.
Their house was constructed from timber and corrugated iron. It consisted of a living room and bedrooms, a kitchen and dining room.
Source: Gordon Curran, in The Family History of Michael Curran 1836-1997.
The Killeen Farmhouse, in Ruan (near Corofin), County Clare, Ireland was the home of James Cullinan and Johanna Feighery (my paternal great, great grandparents).
The photograph below is the restored B&B version of Killeen (as taken by Michelle Dennis).
The remains of the Killeen Farmhouse around 1990-1991, as photographed by Greg Curran.
Pooncarie, or Pooncaira as it was originally gazetted, (meaning large sandhill in the Barkindji language) is a very small town in south west, New South Wales, Australia.
The Barkindji people lived in the area for around 40 000 years, prior to the arrival of white people.
Established in 1840 through illegal grazing runs, Pooncarie gained prominence as a paddle steamer port to take workers and provisions to sheep stations, and wool bales to markets in the south It came to be known as ‘The Port’ by locals.
Explorers Burke and Wills passed through the area in 1860 in their south to north expedition across Australia.
There are a number of sheep properties in the Pooncarie region.
Sources:
Dunn, J. https://www.outbackmag.com.au/pooncarie-nsw-2648/.
visitnsw.com/destinations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pooncarie
https://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/pooncarie-nsw
Two stations in Pooncarie are linked to the Curran and Cullinan families: Mullingar (Curran Family) and Kelleen (Cullinan Family).
Mullingar was established in 1910 by Patrick Curran.
Kelleen was established in February 1888 by Michael Cullinan.
See the Michael Cullinan and Patrick Curran posts for further details of their lives in Pooncarie.
1915: Michael Cullinan is fined and given good behaviour bond for 6 months for using “threatening language in a public place” at a landsale at Endfield near Pooncarie. His appeal on the basis that it wasn’t a public place was dismissed with costs of 10 pounds, 10 schillings costs.
My paternal grandparents, Herbert Curran and Kelleen (also known as Queenie) Cullinan met in 1918 at the Pooncarie Ball (in New South Wales, Australia).
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:
1925 Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie (Photo by Greg Curran 2009)
See Herbert Curran page for additional photos.