INTRODUCTION

MURNANE FAMILY GROUPS IN AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

There are many Murnane family groupings in Australia and New Zealand that for the most part seem to be unrelated to each other, at least through published genealogical records. This section of the Murnane Website lists a steadily expanding number of them, summarising what information is known and indicating where further information may be available. We have taken some liberties in giving each group an Australian or New Zealand place name as an easy way of identifying and referring to them – if you have a more accurate suggestion , as well as any additional information you would like to include on the site, please email Paul A. Murnane or Libby Tobin (see previous section for email addresses).

Birth, marriage and death registration numbers, if indicated in the family trees,  refer to the numbers in the relevant state registries, as recorded in the various registers publicly available on CD Rom or microfiche. Most family tree information is retained on Family Tree Maker software.

We have used the internationally accepted "+" abbreviation to indicate international country telephone codes eg +61 indicates the Australian international country code; +44 is the United Kingdom code.

A. Murnanes of Caherally, Ballybricken and Carhirconlish, County Limerick and Warrnambool (Victoria)

One of the largest groups of Murnanes in Australia today trace their origins to William Murnane, a farm labourer born around 1768, and Ellen Keogh, both County Limerick natives who married about 1790.

Three of their sons, John, Michael and Thomas, all born in Limerick and uneducated, unskilled farm labourers, were convicted in 1836 of assaulting a landlord in Solohead, near Tipperary and sentenced to life imprisonment, commuted to life transportation to New South Wales. Another three brothers, Cornelius, Patrick and Jeremiah, and various other family members, including children of the convict brothers, emigrated as free settlers and farmers in subsequent years.

As far as can be ascertained, these Murnanes originated from around Caherelly and Ballybricken, a townland just outside the village of Cahirconlish, in County Limerick.

Five of the six brothers' eventually settled as pioneering farmers around Warrnambool, in western Victoria. Their descendants in turn were pioneers in Tasmania, northern New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia and some may have moved to New Zealand (part of New South Wales until 1841).

Today their descendants, numbering in the thousands, are spread around Australia and overseas. They have distinguished themselves in diverse activities including science, business, agriculture, banking, academia and military service. The Queen of England even gave an award to a Murnane nun for her missionary services to Australian aborigines.

The 150th anniversary of these Murnanes' arrival in Australia, in 1986, triggered much genealogical research. A family tree database of identified descendants (so far numbering over 8000 names) was established, photographs and paintings collected and recorded, visits to Ireland made, war records, family papers and diaries tracked down and copied, individual oral histories recorded and a family history, tentatively titled "Fruitful Exile" and still a work in progress, begun.

The family tree database is linked below. The first three draft chapters of "Fruitful Exile", a family history in preparation and containing a description of the three original brothers background, trial, transportation and early lives as convicts in Australia, are set out in the Murnane Research Library section of this website.

Much work remains to be done. No direct links have been made to any Murnanes living today in Ireland or elsewhere but we feel with more research, that we are close to achieving this.

If you would like to learn if you are connected to these Murnanes, contact Paul A. Murnane in Sydney, Australia. Other family historians that may be contacted are Mrs Joan Finlayson and Libby Tobin (see previous sections for contact details).

The Timms family married into this Murnane group on several occasions and Libby Tobin’s Timms family history and family trees are included on this website by following the link below.

Index and Family Tree of Murnanes of Caherally, Ballybricken and Carhirconlish, County Limerick and Warrnambool (Victoria)

B. Murnanes of Cahir, County Tipperary and Creswick/Bungaree (Victoria)

Matthew Murnane, born about 1832 in Cahir, in County Tipperary, Ireland and the son of Cornelius Murnane and Margaret Boyle, migrated to Australia and married Bennetta (or Bonita) Sonsi (also spelt "Sonsie" and pronounced "Sonsee"), a servant and midwife, on September 2, 1874 at St. Augustine's Church, Creswick, Victoria (registration No 9428). Her parents were Dominico Sonsi and Catherine English and she died at Creswick, Victoria in 1934, nine years after Matthew.

Matthew was a farmer and vintner in the Bungaree and Creswick districts of Victoria, Australia. He and Bennetta had eleven children - Margaret, Catherine, Cornelius, Benetta, John Dominico, Mary Joyce, Esther Ann, Elizabeth, Annetta Bridget Catherine, Lucia Francis and Myrtle Vera (the last registered at birth in this name but baptised as Teresa Florence).

His obituary in the Creswick Advertiser of 20 July 1926 reveals an extraordinary accident prone life:

    "He was extremely unfortunate as regards accidents. When in Liverpool he commenced by breaking a leg. On the ship "Great Australia" he fell down the hatchway and broke both legs. On arrival in Melbourne he was staying at a friend’s hotel, and falling down the stair re-broke his leg. In later years he broke an ankle, and several times his ribs, then his thigh and a leg, and following lost an eye in an accident. Only three months after that he had the great misfortune to have both arms cut off in a chaff cutter."

A preliminary family tree can be found through the link below.

Lyn Tyler (Murnane), a direct descendant of Matthew Murnane, may also have more family information and welcomes direct contact and inquiries.  She lives in Western Australia and can be reached at tylerbal@comswest.net.au

Index and Family Tree of Murnanes of Cahir, County Tipperary and Creswick/Bungaree (Victoria)

D. Marnans (Murnanes) of Kilmore, County Tipperary and Queensland

John Marnane married Mary Hourigan sometime in the early 1800s and they had at least three children, Michael (born October 22, 1808 in Tipperary Town), Thomas (born April2, 1811) and John Marnane ( born April 18, 1813). Michael Marnane married Winifred Ryan on March 2, 1835 at Lisloran and they had a son William, born in 1835 at Knockavilla Parish, County Tipperary. ( Four other children are known – Jeremiah who married Catherine Walsh on November 28 1857 at Clonaspoe, John born April 19, 1838 at Kilshernane and who married Ellen O’Dwyer on January 10, 1863 at Clonaspoe, Michael born August 19, 1841 at Lislorn and who married Margaret Gooley at Knockavilla on October 7, 1864, and James Marnane).

William married Mary Ellen Breen of County Tipperary on February 20, 1867 at Knockavilla Parish.. They had twelve children - Michael, Amy, James, Ellen (Ellie), William, John, Thomas, Mary, Patrick, Catherine, Matthew and Bridget ("Delia."). All were born at Kilmore except the last two who were born at Clonmel, County Tipperary.

The family migrated to Australia on the ship "Dacca" and arrived at Brisbane, Queensland on either January 5 or 6, 1890 (records conflict). William died on April 10, 1925 (the family lived at 69 Cricket St, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane) and was buried at Toowong Cemetery the following day.

It appears that William and Mary did not tell their children of their birth dates other than the year they were born; some of the children picked a month and day. The birth certificate of daughter Catherine indicates she was born at Kilmore, County Tipperary on July 5, 1834. Son Matthew enlisted in the Australian Infantry Force (49th Battalion) in the 1914-18 War.

Further information may be available from Robert (Bob) Marnan, Lot 3, Parsons Knob, M/S 2078, Woombyne. Queensland. Australia 4559. Alternatively email Paul A. Murnane – see previous contact details.

Family Tree of Marnans (Murnanes) of Kilmore, County Tipperary and Queensland

John Nugent, son of Michael Nugent and Mary Bourke , born in County Tipperary, married Mary Murnane, daughter of Will Murnane and Bridget Corcoran , born at Bansha, County Tipperary, and migrated to Victoria, Australia on the ship "Australia " in 1852 with their children Mary (born 1843), Bridget, Margaret, Honorah and Alice. A son Michael had died in Ireland .The couple settled in Ballarat, then a goldmining town in central Victoria, and John was a goldminer until his death. Four more children were born in Ballarat: William, John, Ellen and Edmund.

John also had a brother James Nugent who married a Honora Murnane (Mary’s sister) and they had nine children: Michael, William, Mary, Richard, Bridget, John, Laurence, James Alex and Honora. Very little more is known of this couple.

There was another sister of these Murnane girls, Joanna, living in Ballarat but little is known of her at this stage. Many of the baptismal and marriage records of the family were recorded at St Alepius Church, Ballarat and can be accessed at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Ballarat (Victoria).

Of John and Mary’s children we know:

Mary married David Hickey at St Aloysius Church, Ballarat in Victoria on March 7, 1859. David Hickey, born about 1834, was a gold prospector and miner and he and Mary had fourteen children; Mary, Alice, Mary Ellen, John, Michael, David, Anne, Henry, Patrick, David Daniel, Matthew, James Mary and David. Matthew may have changed his name to Abraham Matthew Hicken.

Bridget married John Angus and had one child, Agnes. Margaret died aged 5. Honorah married Michael McNamara and had 6 children. Alice married James Leonard. Ellen Selina married John McNamara, believed to be the brother of Michael who married Honorah and who worked as a warder at the Yarra Bend Lunatic Assylum in Melbourne. They had 9 children. Edmund died aged 4.

The family tree as presently known is set out in the links below. There is the possibilty that the Bansha connection could link this group to that of Ed Murnane in Chicago.

Further information may be available from Anne Sherrard sherrard@melbpc.org.au, Libby Tobin or Joan Finlayson (previously mentioned).

Index and Family Tree of Murnanes of Bansha (Tipperary) and Ballarat (Victoria)

Owen Murnane, born in Tipperary in 1822, and married to an Ellen Ryan, was a farmer and grazier at Bathurst, an agricultural city in the central west of New South Wales. Nothing is known of his early life in Ireland. He apparently migrated to Australia as a free settler and according to family folklore, must have been reasonably wealthy - there is a story of him shipping a piano all the way from Ireland and transporting it over the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney, in an ox cart.

Owen built the still existing homestead "Kincora" at Bathurst and had seven children - William John, Owen, Michael, Bernard, Elanor, another William and an unknown daughter. The original Owen Murnane died on April 29, 1861.

William John Murnane, born at Kincora in 1842, married Mary Bridget Alice Fitzpatrick on January 1, 1866 and prospered as a "squatter" or grazier. They had 13 children; details are only known of one, Augustus Wencelaus Murnane, born at Kincora in 1877. He married Catherine Piper (born in Bathurst in 1880) and died in Bathurst on May 31, 1940. Details of two of his children exist - Mary Miller Murnane, born in Bathurst in 1921, married to Keith West Roberts (their children are Michael William Roberts and Frances Catherine Elizabeth Roberts) and living in Sydney, and Catherine Alice Murnane, born in Bathurst in 1922 and married to John Joseph Lewis ( their two children are Leon John Lewis and Alan Joseph Lewis).

Descendants of the first Owen Murnane still live in Kincora today, probably making it one of the oldest buildings in Australia to be continuously occupied by the one family since the establishment of the colony in 1788.

A preliminary family tree is in preparation.

Further information may be available from Mrs M Roberts, 13 Taree Ave, North Balgowlah, N.S.W. Australia 2093 and Anastasia Symonds, care of P.O. Box 19, Barcaldine. Queensland. Australia 4725.

Michael Murnane, the son of John Murnane and Mary Hogan, both Tipperary natives, was born in Tipperary in 1808 and after marrying Honoroh Shelley in Tipperary in about 1838, emigrated to Australia with their son John, arriving in Sydney in 1840.

After about three years in Sydney, during which their daughter Mary was born, they moved to Bathurst, west of Sydney across the Blue Mountains. (There are no known connections to the Murnanes of Bathurst previously mentioned). Three more children, Bridget, Thomas, and Michael were born in Bathurst between 1844-1848 before the family moved south to Geelong, then still part of the colony of New South Wales but in the Port Phillip district. Another son, Edward, was born in Geelong in 1850, followed by Thomas Patrick in 1853, Honorah in 1855 and Catherine in 1857.

By 1856 Michael was the owner of the Breakwater Hotel and he steadily acquired farming land and another hotel in the Barwon district. When he died in 1878, four of his nine children had predeceased him. Honorah died in 1884. Descendants still live in the district today.

(For more information and detailed family tree data, refer to the family history "The Murnanes (A Pioneer family of Breakwater, Geelong, Victoria 1840-1986) " by Nancy Mawson, published by Family History Services, 1986. A copy of this publication is retained by Paul A. Murnane – see contact details in previous sections.)

Index and Family Tree  of Murnanes of Tipperary and Breakwater, Geelong (Victoria)

Not much is known of the early history of this group of Murnanes, whose preliminary family tree, tracing its origins to James Murnane and his wife, Mary Anglie, are shown below.

If you have any further information on this group please contact Paul A. Murnane pmurnane@bigpond.com or Libby Tobin latem@bigpond.com.

Index and Family Tree of Murnanes of County Clare and Orange (New South Wales)

Patrick Murnane, the son of Michael Murnane, a farmer born about 1800 and Mary Dee, born about 1804, was born at Ballyryan West, near Oola, in the Solohead Parish of County Tipperary. They had eight children: Patrick (1833), Sarah (1835), Thomas(1836), Hannah(1837), Mary(April 6, 1839), John (July 5,1842) and twins David and William (August 19, 1844). It is not known what happened to Michael and Mary . Both the twins died in infancy and all the living children emigrated, mostly as assisted immigrants, to Australia. Thomas and Sarah arrived in Australia on 12 September 1857 on the ship " Chance", following Patrick and his wife Ann who had arrived two years earlier. John followed in 1869.

Patrick Murnane married Ann Ryan in Oola, County Tipperary in February 1, 1855; the Murnane family apparently lived at Oola, a border town in the Parish of Solohead, Ann Ryan came from Lisnacullia, a few kilometers north of Oola, in County Tipperary. The couple travelled to England before emigrating from Plymouth to Australia on June 2, 1855 on the ship "Cairngorm", a clipper ship on the China tea run. They arrived at Portland, Victoria on September 5^th 1855 after a trip of 96 days. On the journey, Ann Murnane assisted the ship’s surgeon with the delivery of four babies, so beginning her skills as a midwife.

According to the Department of Immigration of the time, half the immigrants were to be transferred to Port Fairy, in Victoria, to facilitate their distribution in the district and assist in meeting the shortage of labour in the area. Thus Patrick and Ann transhipped from Portland to Port Fairy on 15 September 1855 and settled in Tower Hill. (For some summary background to the settling of Irish migrants at Belfast/Port Fairy area of Victoria, refer to Chapter 3 of "Fruitful Exile" – see Murnane Research Library section of this Website or contact Jim Flahavin – see previous contact details). Patrick was killed in a quarry accident at Allanford on April 10,1862, leaving Ann to bring up 5 children alone – Eliza (born 1856), Clement (1857), twins James and Owen (1860) and Patrick (1862).

Sarah Murnane married Patrick Joyce in 1855 at Oola and died at Crossley on November 9,1923. They had 7 children.

Thomas married Catherine Noonan in Port fairy on July 10,1867 and died at Crossley on January 18, 1893. They had 5 children.

Hannah married Michael Walsh at Port fairy in 1865 and had 6 children. She died on May 10, 1912.

Mary Murnane was born on April 6, 1839 and married John Kelly at Port Fairy on August 27, 1859. They had 11 children and she died on May 16, 1913 at Southern Cross.

John married Mary Josephine Joyce at Stawell on December 4, 1875 and died at Ouyen on August 12, 1919. They had 14 children.

With the exception of John, all the above children of Michael and Mary Murnane who emmigrated to Australia are buried at Tower Hill Cemetary.

This family group has over 4600 identified descendants todate . The principal historian for this group is Jim Flahavin and the preliminary family tree, based on the joint research of Jim and Jan Crowe over the past 25 years, is to be found at the link below.

We welcome any information or enquiries on this Murnane family group, which should be faxed to Jim Flahavin (+ 613-9337-8797) or mailed to him at 120 The Boulevarde, Eessendon, Victoria. Australia 3040.