[Index]
Thomas CAVANAGH (1803 - 1871)
farmer
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Ann CAVANAGH (1826 - 1864)
Hannah (Honor) CAVANAGH (1828 - 1865)
Patrick CAVANAGH (1830 - 1914)
Thomas CAVANAGH (1803 - 1871)

+

Jane Susan MEADE (1809 - 1857)
James CAVANAGH











Honor (CAVANAGH)












b. abt 1803 at Co Galway, Ireland
m. 1826 Jane Susan MEADE (1809 - 1857) at Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland
d. 20 Dec 1871 at Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia aged 68
Near Relatives of Thomas CAVANAGH (1803 - 1871)
Relationship Person Born Birth Place Died Death Place Age
Father in Law John MEADE
Mother in Law Suasn (MEADE)

Father James CAVANAGH
Mother Honor (CAVANAGH)

Self Thomas CAVANAGH abt 1803 Co Galway, Ireland 20 Dec 1871 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 68

Wife Jane Susan MEADE abt 1809 Co Galway, Ireland 08 Oct 1857 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 48

Daughter Ann CAVANAGH Nov 1826 Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland May 1864 37
Daughter Hannah (Honor) CAVANAGH Mar 1828 Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland Aug 1865 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia 37
Son Patrick CAVANAGH Jan 1830 Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland 10 May 1914 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 84

Son in Law George Harris BUNN 29 Jul 1831 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 01 Aug 1860 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia 29
Son in Law Patrick Thomas FLANNAGAN abt 1834 Oct 1865 At sea 31
Daughter in Law Mary LOGUE Mar 1841 At sea 11 Sep 1921 Canberra, ACT, Australia 80

Grandson Clarence BUNN 1853 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia 1865 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia 12
Granddaughter Elizabeth BUNN 1857 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia 1857 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia 0
Granddaughter Georgiana Maria BUNN May 1861 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia Feb 1906 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia 44
Grandson Thomas CAVANAGH 1859 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1945 Morrisset, New South Wales, Australia 86
Grandson James Henry CAVANAGH 1862 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1946 Mayfield, New South Wales, Australia 84
Granddaughter Jane CAVANAGH 1864 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1946 Canberra, ACT, Australia 82
Grandson John CAVANAGH 1866 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1935 Queensland, Australia 69
Grandson Brian Bernard CAVANAGH 1869 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1913 China 44
Grandson Patrick Allen CAVANAGH abt 1872 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia abt 1965 Queensland, Australia 93
Grandson Clarence Bede CAVANAGH Feb 1874 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia Feb 1933 Canberra, ACT, Australia 59
Grandson Michael Joseph CAVANAGH 25 Sep 1875 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1937 North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 62
Grandson Owen Owen CAVANAGH 1877 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1958 Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia 81
Grandson Ernest (Aaron) William CAVANAGH 1880 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1969 Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia 89
Granddaughter Mary Margaret CAVANAGH 1881 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1907 Temora, New South Wales, Australia 26

Events in Thomas CAVANAGH (1803 - 1871)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
abt 1803 Thomas CAVANAGH was born Co Galway, Ireland 6
1826 23 Married Jane Susan MEADE (aged 17) Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland 80
Nov 1826 23 Birth of daughter Ann CAVANAGH Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland 80
Mar 1828 25 Birth of daughter Hannah (Honor) CAVANAGH Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland 80
Jan 1830 27 Birth of son Patrick CAVANAGH Tynagh, Co Galway, Ireland 6
08 Oct 1857 54 Death of wife Jane Susan MEADE (aged 48) Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 4266/1857 6
May 1864 61 Death of daughter Ann CAVANAGH (aged 37) 80
Aug 1865 62 Death of daughter Hannah (Honor) CAVANAGH (aged 37) Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia 80
20 Dec 1871 68 Thomas CAVANAGH died Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 6269/1872 6
Source References:
6. Type: Book, Abbr: Queanbeyan Register, Title: Biographical register of Canberra and Queanbeyan: from the district to the Australian Capital Territory 1820-1930, Auth: Peter Proctor, Publ: The Heraldry & Genealogical Society of Canberra, Date: 2001
- Reference = 46 (Death)
- Reference = 46 (Name, Notes)
- Reference = 46 (Birth)
80. Type: Web Page, Abbr: Hall Museum, Title: Hall School Museum and Heritage Centre, Locn: https://museum.hall.act.au/
- Reference = https://museum.hall.act.au/display/1939/person/2236/thomas-cavanagh.html (Marriage)
- Notes: Born: c. 1803; Died: 1871; Married: Jane Susan Meade

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The Cavanaghs were a famous Ginninderra family. Their name, eventually, became synonymous with the Mulligans Flat area, even though they first selected land at One Tree Hill.

The first Cavanagh to come to the district was Thomas. He was an Irish rebel known as a 'Whiteboy'. These men were patriots who used violent tactics to defend tenant farmer land rights. They were so-named because of the white farm-worker's smocks they wore. Thomas was convicted of insurrection in Galway in 1832 and transported to Australia on the "Eliza' for a life sentence.

Thomas had been born c. 1803 at Tynagh in Galway, Ireland. His parents were James Cavanagh and Honora (nee Connor). It was in Tynagh that Thomas had married Jane Susan Meade on 3 February 1826. They had three children: Ann (1826 - 1864), Hannah (1828 - 1865) and Patrick Cavanagh (1830 - 1914).

After his trial, Thomas arrived in September 1832 on the convict transport, Eliza. He was described as '5 foot 4 3/4 inches, catholic, brown/light grey hair, dark skin, much freckled'. In Ireland, Thomas had been a 'ploughman, reaper and sower' and his skills as an agricultural worker must have put him in good stead in the new country.

According to the 1837 muster, he was allocated to George Thomas Palmer (senior) and worked at his Hunter Valley holdings. At some stage Thomas came to the Canberra district, presumably to work at his master's Palmerville estate. However, he is first recorded in the district at Duntroon, before leasing land in Canberra after gaining his ticket of leave in 1842, and conditional pardon (recommended by Charles Campbell) in 1847.

Thomas leased land from the Campbell's at Duntroon on the Canberry (Molonglo) River in the late 1840s and 1850s.

Jane managed to join him in the colony with their three children in 1849 on the Panama, seventeen years after being separated from her husband. Jane was described as a 'laundress'. A granddaughter, Jane White, was born at sea with the father listed as Charles White, deceased. Thomas' family was lucky to have survived in these circumstances.

The wife and two children of another 'white boy' transported to Australia with a connection to Ginninderra, John Casey, all died while their rebel father was trying to win his freedom in New South Wales.

Nevertheless, the lives of his wife and daughters in Australia were to be all too short. The two daughters , Ann (White then Langan) (1826-1864) and Hannah (Bunn then Flanagan) (1828-1865) married and moved away, but both died in their thirties. Jane Cavanagh (1809-157) drowned in 1857 under tragic circumstances.

Their son Patrick married Mary Logue in 1857 and remained and farmed in the district.

After the land reforms of 1861, Thomas Cavanagh selected a small farm west of One Tree Hill (on Spring Range Road) and slowly built up the holding with a house and stables. The farm was named Fairview and was sold to Samuel Southwell after Thomas's death in 1871. There is a suggestion that the house was then moved to 'Wattle Park'.

Thomas and son Patrick also bought land on the east side of One Tree Hill, which Patrick and Mary farmed into the late 1890's.

Thomas Cavanagh died in 1871, aged 68, and is buried with Jane and other family members in the Queanbeyan Riverside Cemetery.

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