But wait, there's more!

Now that we’ve seen Annie happily married to Fred, you might think I’ve run out of Irish ancestors to tell you about. Well, not quite.

 If you’ve been paying attention so far, you may have noticed that most of my stories are about the women in my family. That’s no accident. All too often, it seems to me, family historians follow the male line, and the wives and daughters get barely a mention. But their stories are just as important.

Life was hard for all of our pioneer forbears, both men and women, but I think the toll was greater on the women. Living in a time when lawmakers, doctors, and clergy were exclusively male, women were essentially powerless. For most, marriage was the only career available. To them fell the burden of bearing and rearing children, making a home wherever they found themselves – sometimes far, far away from their homeland.

And yet, when you think about it, women made the greatest contribution of all in a new country. They were responsible for raising the next generation, keeping them safe and well fed and healthy, sending them to school whenever they could, and generally preparing them to make their way in the world. No strangers to worry, hard work, and sadness, I hope they also knew love, and saw at least some of their dreams come true.

Now I’m going to tell you what I know of my great-great grandmother, Anne Hassett (nee Kennedy), and her daughter, Annie Hassett.

In 1991, I travelled to Ireland as part of a European holiday.
I wanted to find out more about Anne Hassett, among others.
The only information I had came from her death certificate. Anne Kennedy was born in Co Clare, Ireland in 1797. At the age of 25, she married Patrick Hassett, farmer, and they had six children – Andrew, Mary, John, Honora (Norah) Martin and Annie. 

 I arrived in Ennis, and hired a car (no public transport beyond Ennis). My first port of call was the Clare Heritage Centre at Corofin, where I discovered that there are no surviving records of births, deaths and marriages for Crusheen. But the Griffith Land Valuation of 1855 showed that Anne Hassett rented a cottage and land near the village of Crusheen, about 10 km north of Ennis.

I drove there, and took lots of photos, wanting to remember the place she had left behind, and the familiar sights she had known.


The country around Crusheen was lush and green, with little stone bridges and beautiful lakes.I didn’t find Anne’s cottage, but it probably looked something like this one.

 In 1864, Anne, now a widow, left her homeland to emigrate to Australia. She was 66 years old. She had probably never travelled beyond her village before, but now she packed up her bags and embarked on a journey across the world. She wasn’t alone – her youngest daughter, Annie, accompanied her. Anne had a powerful reason to emigrate; her older children were already in Australia, and had sent money home so their mother could join them in the new land.

No shipping records have been found so far, but family tradition tells that the older children went first, probably as assisted immigrants, and when they were established, they sent for their mother. It seems likely that John, Norah, and Martin travelled to Australia together, and settled around Port Fairy. Family tradition tells of Norah, who worked for a Dr. Scott at Hamilton, and for 2 years never collected any pay, but got her employers to save it so she could send it back home to bring her mother out. 

(No record has been found for the oldest daughter, Mary, but she was still alive when her mother died, so she probably married and was thus recorded under a different name. Oldest son, Andrew is shown as deceased on Annie's death certificate - he presumably died in Ireland, perhaps as a child.)

Before long, Norah and Annie were married, and lived in the Ararat district. Norah married James Kelly, and Annie married Micheal Maher. Martin and John Hassett had also found wives, and before long Annie Hassett had grandchildren to cuddle.

In 1872, the Government opened up land for settlement in the Wimmera, and the Hassett brothers and the Kellys moved to the Minip district in 1873. Annie and Michael Maher followed in 1874. Annie Hassett went with them – in fact, a 640 acre block of land was registered in her name.
What a change of scenery it must have been for her! From the evergreen hills of Ireland to the flat plains of the Wimmera, where the only relief from fierce summer heat is the sparse shade of a sheoak tree, and the ground cracks open in the summer. It was good wheat-growing country, though, and I expect Annie found some consolation in seeing her family well on their way to success in their new country.

She died at Minyip in 1877, aged 80, and is buried at Rupanyup cemetery. Recently the cemetery trustees decided to mark some of the older graves, and there is now a permanent memorial in her name.

(My thanks to Pam Murphy for the photo).