This is an excerpt from A History of Abergowrie by Brother Vincent Malachy Doran, the highly regarded founding Christian Brother of Abergowrie College. Many people have probably seen the grave of Cornelius and Mary Kelleher on the Point at the College and wondered at their story and why they are buried there. Here is what Brother Doran writes.
The
Point is
the high promontory at the back of the school overlooking the river flats. Many
students over the years have found it to be a quiet and secluded area where
they could forget the stresses of school life. Many people are curious about
the two graves on the Point.
Cornelius Kelleher
migrated to Australia from Ireland. He did well and acquired substantial
property in western Queensland. His sister Mary went to America and worked as a
domestic servant in Boston. One day however, Mary received news that her
brother had been swindled by a lawyer and was left a broken man.
Mary left America, found
her brother and established a home for them near Townsville. She engaged in
poultry farming in a modest way and happily prospered. When Bishop McGuire
established Abergowrie in 1934, Mary’s venturesome spirit stirred. Con had by
now deteriorated physically and was bedridden. Mary suggested to the Bishop
that she would like to offer him her life’s savings, some 3,000 pounds, for the
building of a chapel at his new college, on condition that he would allow her
and Con to live out their days in peaceful retirement at Abergowrie. The bishop
was happy with the proposition and promptly had a cottage erected on the point
area of the college property in preparation for Mary and Con’s arrival.
At the inauguration of
the college, a room in the original building, upstairs between the boys’
dormitory and the Brothers’ rooms, had been used as a chapel. With Mary’s
contribution, a separate and more appropriate building was erected. This
structure was later extended, and is still being used by the college community
and the parishioners of Abergowrie.
Moving Con and Mary and
her goods and chattels from Townsville to Abergowrie was something of a
military manoeuvre. Household items, poultry, “Talkie” the dog, a sulky drawn
by “Bridie”, an undersized brown mare, and the bed-ridden Con, posed a
formidable exercise in transportation. At the time a bush track served as a
road from Townsville to Ingham, and the route from Ingham to Abergowrie has
been described elsewhere in this history.
It was decided to bring
Con and Mary by train to Ingham. To the surprise of many, Con survived the
journey to Ingham. He was a man of stamina, and no doubt his experiences in
western Queensland stood him in good stead. Nevertheless, on arrival at
Abergowrie, slumped in the back seat of a car, Con’s pronouncement to the world
at large was, “Hit me on the head ........ I’m finished!” He was carried to his
new bunk in Mary’s humble cottage, where she would devote her time to looking
after him with sisterly care.
In due course, the truck
with Mary’s belongings, the poultry and the sulky drawn by the gallant but
footsore Bridie arrived after the journey from Townsville, and so Mary and Con
Kelleher became permanent citizens of Abergowrie. Con was confined to his bed
until his death in 1935.
Mary fraternised little
with the college staff, which was a blessing in so far that she was not easy to
get on with, and when stirred could hold an army at bay. She was possessed of
great physical and moral courage, and her faith in God and her religious
beliefs knew no bounds. On one Good Friday she shocked everyone by travelling
from her cottage to the chapel on her knees.
One evening, after
having put the boarders to bed, the Brothers were aroused by a commotion. Mary
had been out gathering some wood for the stove when she encountered a six foot
snake. Seizing a hurricane lamp in one hand and a piece of wood in the other,
she proceeded to challenge Joe Blake’s right
of entry. “Talkie” the dog not very helpfully joined in the fray. By the time
the Brothers arrived on the scene Mary had the reptile reduced to a pulp.
Seeing the approach of reinforcements she dropped her weapon and declared
“There's no power in me arm,” and with that, she flopped exhausted into the
arms of a young Brother.
One early morning in
1935, Con died in his sleep. He was buried with ceremony on the point. With
increasing age, Mary’s health deteriorated and periods of hospitalisation in
Ingham and Townsville became necessary. In due course, in 1942, she died and
was buried on the point beside Con. May the sandy soil on the point rest
lightly on their remains, and may the breezes through the Messmate and the
Moreton Bays sing a paean in their honour.
Source: A History of Abergowrie by Brother Vincent Malachy Doran provided by Christopher and Vivienne Parry.
