The Parents of Elizabeth Spence née Mahony




Elizabeth Mahony married William Andrew Spence 3 Aug 1872 in Port Macquarie NSW, after previously being married, or probably not, to a Mr Barry. William's Spence ancestry is the subject of another webpage. Concerning him, local historian Ian Symonds wrote the following...

W.A. Spence was born in Short St. Pt M on 10 Feb 1852 and attended the national School on Gaol Hill at the eastern end of Clarence St. An aptitude for figures, coupled with expert penmanship and a penchant for accuracy and neatness, determined his calling as a book-keeper, accountant and auctioneer, but his last 40 years of business life in town was spent as a shipping agent for Nicholas Cain Steamship Navigation Company. A notable athlete in his early years, he was associated with foot running, football, tennis and golf, while he was still an active team member of the local cricket team in his late 50s. He was also an expert at pole vaulting, while his hobbies included fishing, and horse tracing, being the Secretary of the Hastings District Jockey Club for 30 years. On 3 Aug 1872 at St. Thomas Church, he married widow, Mrs Elizabeth Barry (nee Mahoney), whose son, William, was to join his step-father's love of horses and was to become a noted trainer in Sydney. The children of this marriage were Emily 1873, Lilian Emily 1874, Hugh T. 1875, Kate Mabel 1877, Norman 1878, Michael Mervyn Macquarie 1878 and William Stanley 1883. A prominent citizen of the town for many years, "Bill" Spence was elected the the first Municipal Council in 1887, but had to resign the following year due to sequestration of his estate. After his discharge from bankruptcy, he was re-elected to Council on 17 Feb 1894, became mayor, but once again was forced to resign in 1899, following a court case in which he was charged by the Nuisance Inspector for allowing his stock to wander on the common (Hay St.) at night. Although the case was dismissed on a technicality, the presiding magistrate denigrated his inept handling of his mayoral duties and he felt obliged to resign his position. Despite the obvious embarrassment, he stood for re-election only a few months later, was returned and became Mayor on 15 Feb 1902. During his life, Bill Spence held office on almost every organisation in town - he was the last surviving foundation member of the Masonic Lodge of 1878, the last original alderman of 1887, President of the School of Arts, Pony Club, Agricultural Association, Regatta Club, Football and Cricket Clubs, a long-standing Secretary of the cottage hospital, Jockey Club and the Pt M Band. On Saturday morning, 11 Feb 1937 Pt M lost one of its most distinguished citizens - a public spirited man who had devoted his life-time to improving the well being of his fellow man.


The children of Elizabeth and William were as follows. All three daughters pre-deceased their mother...


Lillian Emily SPENCE. The family bible seems to record the date as 23 February 1872. Birth registration seems to have been 12976/1874 in the Macleay district. Died 16 Aug 1904 (9688/1904) in Kempsey.

Lilian Emily Spence, was my great grandmother. Lily died soon after giving birth to her first and only child, my grandfather, whose family is discussed on another webpage. 


Emily May SPENCE Born 1873 (17290/1877) in Port Macquarie. Does not appear in family bible, not the reminiscenses of her brother William Stanley Spence.

Hugh George Frederick SPENCE Born August 8 1875 (family bible). 18281/1875 in Port Macquarie.

Hugh jumped into the water to rescue the cook of the SS "Rosedale" , who had afallen overboard and disappeared, while shortly afterwards, he dashed out in the path of a runaway horse which had bolted with its sulky in Market St, snatching a young girl from certain death. It was not until he had recovered that he realised how close he himself had come to being killed - a shaft of the sulkymn had pierced his macintosh and made a small cut in his side.
He was a Lance Corporal in Flanders at the time of his mother's death in 1917.

Kate Mabel SPENCE Born 1877 (19243/1877) in Port Macquarie. Died July 26 1912 according to her mother's obituary.


Norman Hastings SPENCE Born 1878 (20704/1878) in Port Macquarie.

Clerk of Course, Hastings River Jockey Club. 28 Nov 1903
Stole 8 bottles of wine the property of Wm. Halpin, of Port Macquarie. 3 March 1907.
Returns from Sydney - will work for his father in N. Cain Agency.15 Feb 1913.
He was a private, posted in England at the time of his mother's death and funeral in 1917.


Michael "Mick" Mervyn Macquarie SPENCE Born 14th November 1880 (22842/1880), and said to be the sixth child. Died unmarried in Newcastle, 1942.

The following is based upon a message about the Spences which came to me from Ian Symonds:
"Attended the local school up on Gaol Hill and first worked for Mr Cooke, the road superintendent for this district.
When that gentleman died at Cobar, Mick returned  to Port Macquarie and worked on the weighbridge during the construction of the southern breakwall. Seemingly born with an inordinate supply of courage, as a young man , he displayed not only outstanding bravery, but exhibited great athletic prowess when he climbed hand over hand up a single wire to the balcony of Condon's Commercial Hotel ( later Innes Tavern) when it was ablaze, extinguishing a fire with buckets of water.
He was awarded the Royal Humane Society's highest award- the Gold Medal- for taking a fishing boat out in heavy surf on the Bellinger River, to rescue the crew of a schooner which had been wrecked on the bar.
After being rejected for military service, possibly because he was under age, he worked his way to South Africa with a shipment of horses for the troops and immediately joined Kitchener's Horse. His first letter was published in the "News" of 12th May, 1901.

I have arrived at Cape Town at last after eight weeks at sea. We all went through our tests today and will have our uniforms tomorrow, when I intend having my photograph taken. While at camp I met Dudley O'Donnell (Mrs Butler's brother) , who is a scout in our Regiment-we knew each other at first glance.
If all is well, we leave for the front next Friday. We have very little time except from 6-10pm  when we are off duty. Out of our fighting 20, I passed one of the highest for riding. I had a bit of a rough horse,
but he left off bucking just in time.; I was pretty near done!. I also passed the Dr. Dud O'Donnell is a fine stamp of a man- a great big fellow about six feet high.
The embarkation officer said when we offloaded the horses, that he never knew men equal to us with horses and sent us straight to camp with his regiment, Roberts Light Horse.
We had a very smooth trip, but we had very bad tucker and a seven knot boat. We are all stopping at a boarding house at 6/-a day and it is kept by an Australian.  I have been down to the prison camp to see the Boer prisoners and Cronje's captured guns. The men are a mixed lot, some old and some very young. The same may be said of the cannon, some of which are like the ones in Sydney gardens, while the rest are of the latest pattern and it puzzles the English  how they got them.
Cape Town is full of people. I reckon that what I have seen (what with Cronje's guns) since landing, I would not miss a chance of seeing them a dozen times, neither would a lot of people. Some of the guns are riddled with shot from the English, while the others are not touched. The people here seem to think the war will last till next Christmas. I will write from the first place at the front where we are stationed.

His next letter was written soon after he had been in action for the first time, while he had come under fire from the enemy:-

This is my first chance of writing since Rosebank, which I left on the 13th May. We travelled to Bloemfontein ,arriving there on the 10th May.  We entrained there on the 20th May for Kroonstadt, but we had to leave the train at Smalldean on account of the rails and bridges being blown up. We then rode to Kroonstadt, and there we exchanged a few shots with a small Boer commando, one of the men being slightly wounded  in the arm and one horse killed.
When the Boers left, we had taken ten prisoners, four of whom were wounded. We had a days spell at Kroonstadt and then left and joined Roberts at Vaal river. I was in my first general engagement on the 28th May at Doorn Kop. The fighting was terrible on both days. It was here the Boers intended to check Roberts and to do so they took the big guns from the forts at Johannesburg , but they left it too late and could not get them back in time, so had to desert Johannesburg and take the guns with them on the march.

 I had my horse shot stone dead under me at the very last of the engagement and had to hump my saddle two miles , besides my blanket and coat. We had no more fighting until Pretoria-on the 8th June. There the rifle firing was heavier still. I fired 173 rounds myself. About 4 o'clock we made a bayonet charge  on a pom pom gun and captured it, the 2nd NSW contingent assisting us. We marched into Pretoria the next day and rested until 1pm when we had a grand procession through town until 8pm in which all the troops took part.
Kruger's house took me by surprise. Nr Slade's house is worth two of it. We are now 28 miles from Pretoria and expect to work back.. I suppose there will be no more fighting for us, as the Boers are coming in to surrender every day. Roberts has given them three days in which to surrender and if they fail to do so, they will  be treated as rebels and we are waiting. French, Roberts and Hamilton (who is in charge of us)  have 2000 hemmed in. Tomorrow is the last day. We (Kitcheners Horse). expect to be disbanded in a few days or weeks.
The country as far as roadmaking is concerned is useless, as,  like they are at Cobar, the roads are natural. It is very different though, in the Free State-which is nothing but mountains.
I had two days in hospital after the engagement in Pretoria owing to my eyes. The chap next to me let his gun get a bit too hot and the magazine exploded, throwing the dust into my eyes. They are still weak but are nearly alright. We have just been having church parade. The chaplain is a young man but he is a very good speaker.
We have  both the 1st and 2nd Australian contingents in camp with us-they gave a concert last night which was very good. The weather is very much the same as it is at Port, although it gets very cold at night. We have no shelter-just our saddles for pillows and one blanket(sometimes two if the wagons catch us). But I have got that way now that I never notice when I have to go a day without tucker or have to camp out on a wet night."

This was followed shortly by a further letter in which he advises his parents that he had been wounded:-

After leaving Rosebank on the 13th May, I arrived at Bloemfontein on the 16th and left again on the 17th with horses and marched through to Kroonstadt; had only one and a half days rest , then marched and joined Roberts at this side of the Vaal.
We were then attached to General Hamilton's  column, 2nd Mounted Infantry Corps. This was on the 27th. We marched and I was under fire for the first time on the 28th and 29th at Doorns Kip.
On the 30th we marched into Florida and camped until the 1st June, when we entered Johannesburg and marched and took  Pretoria on the 4th. Camped outside the town and on the 5th we had a grand procession through the town.
Camped for three days outside Pretoria then marched 100 miles or so east and from there we made a semi-circle west, keeping  about 100 miles from Pretoria and camped on the 9th and 10th. We had a church parade on the 10th and it leaked out that we were to fight one of the decisive battles on the 11th. At daybreak on the 11th, we quietly left camp and and started towards Dunker Hoek, a large range of kopjes about five miles off. We had started about half an hour when the shells began to rain on us in great numbers and we got the order to gallop towards a certain hill, a mile ahead of us, for cover. It was a fine sight to see shells bursting around us.
About six men and  horses were killed or hit on the gallop for cover. Well, we gained the hill and started with our rifles and took and held the two kopjes until dark. Nothing was done on the 12th till about 2pm when we hurried off (about 500 of us) to an open plain. Here we were shelled for about three hours without being able to return a shot. We were only there to draw fire while the Australians took a principal kopje. About 40 of our lot and six horses were killed or wounded. It was marvellous how any of us got out and we would not have, only that a number of Boer shells did not burst.
A shell burst and struck my horse on the flank. We were dismounted and holding our horses. Just at dusk we heard  a cheer and knew that the Australians were successful. We then returned to camp. During the night the Boers left. They had between 1200-1400 killed and wounded, while we lost 207.
We returned to Pretoria on the 16th June and left again on the 19th for the south after De Wet. We engaged him at Heidelberg and lost 17 men- nine killed. The Boers had to leave Heidelberg and retired through Frankfort and Rektz to Bethlehem. Here we surrounded him and took the town. De Wet escaped with 7000 men and we took off after him. While we chased him, General Hunter captured Prinsloo and the 5000 men De Wet had left behind at Bethlehem. We again surrounded De Wet at Vredefort for eleven days, but we could not shift him without great loss of life, so we let him cross the Vaal into Transvaal again, after taking five of his wagons.
It was while taking these wagons that I was hit, or rather, grazed on the side of the heel with a poisoned bullet. I have been travelling with the wagons since, although I was in at the release of Colonel Hore and 300 Bushmen at Elands River. They had been surrounded for 13 days , had 34 killed and 55 wounded. My heel, although terribly swollen and sore, will be well in a few days. It was only a small scratch and I suppose you have heard of it before now. I am still with the ambulance. I would not go to hospital in case our regiment should be ordered away and I left behind. I want to see it through now. The Bushmen have not had half the fighting we have had. They were not at Pretoria or Dunker Hoek (now called Diamond Hill) or any of the big battles.
We will likely be sent to Lydenburg any day, or else to Cape Town-it is not certain yet. Out of 700 of Kitcheners Horse which left Cape Town, only 75  are in the field now. De Wet and Botha still hold strong  positions and we will have a lot of trouble getting them, but I hope to be back for Xmas."

Having completed a tour of duty with the military and seen active service in the Boer War, Mick Spence saw many of the local volunteers leaving for the front and becoming restless after six months at home, he
again volunteered and was accepted in the Third Australian Contingent. Compared to his experiences during his first tour, this second tour must have seemed like a holiday, as having sailed from Sydney on the ss "Manhattan" on the 18th April, 1902, and disembarked on the 2nd May, the Battalion  travelled by train from Durban to Newcastle and while awaiting further orders, peace was declared on the 31st May.
Michael Spence also saw service with the 1st AIF in World War 1, enlisting on the 12th June, 1916  with the 35th battalion in France, before returning to Australia on the 18th December,1918.

He was a private posted in Flanders at the time of his mother's funeral in 1917.


William Stanley SPENCE Born 1883 (20140/1883) in Port Macquarie. Buried 1963.   

Went to New Zealand.

Clarence Macleay SPENCE Born 1886. But his birth registration has not been found?

Became an accountant in the Bank of NSW in Glen Innes.


Later, William Andrew Spence married a miss Mcdonald in 1920 in Port Macquarie. Many family histories report her name to be Flora, but a summary of newspaper articles shown to me by Ian Symonds calls her Elowen Agnes McDonald. The executrix of the will of William Andrew Spence in 1937 was however noted as Florence Agnes Spence.



As can be seen above, much information has been collected over the years about the Spence family of Port Macquarie, but there was very little to work with concerning Elizabeth Mahony's origins...

This remarkable story turns out to be correct in the most surprising details (the museum, and the level of involvement in the cedar business), but slightly wrong in the more easily believable details (the places where the family lived), and it is perhaps for this reason that it took a long time to identify Elizabeth's parents and link up with Mahony genealogists. The connection eventually came through the Swansea Museum in Wales, due to the fortunate coincidence that Hugh Mahony's family is the subject of quite some study there, where a special lesson was being given to school children with an lady named Moira Bates playing the role of Hugh's wife, Elizabeth. I have a copy of their Teacher's Guide which was drafted in 1993 by Gerald Gabb, and updated in 1999. It is called "Mrs. Mahony, The Caretaker's Wife" and it opens with the sentence "Elizabeth Mahony did exist". I also have Gerald Gabb's 1993 article which appeared in Minerva (Vol. I, 1993) called "Hugh Mahony and the Gentlemen of the Royal Institution, 1836-1851". Much of the following paragraphs is paraphrased from these sources...

Hugh, Elizabeth and their young family had lived in the basement of what is now the Swansea Museum, and what had then been called the Royal Institution of South Wales. They first met in the current Museum building in November 1840, when it was new, but the group had started earlier "in 1835 as the Swansea Philosophical and Literary Society, with its headquarters above a ship in Castle Square". Hugh Mahony was said to have been with them from the opening, about 15 or 16 years, until 1851 when he was sacked. His title is given variously as keeper, caretaker or sub-curator. Gabb writes...

Hugh was appointed at the first general meeting in January 1836 "the continuance of his services to be at the discretion of the Committee ... at a salary of eight shillings and sixpence..." By a constant persuasion, he pushed this up to about £1.4.6d. before leaving the old rooms at Castle Square. (The exact amount is rather difficult to tell because small items of expenditure were lumped together with his salary for payment). In March 1841 he was appointed keep and sub-curator at the brand new building which today is Swansea Museum, "at a salary of 20/- per week with coal and candles". His pay had gone down because he was living-in - by 1851 he was reckoned to be receiving water to the value of 10/-, gas (£2) and coal (£3) as well as gratuities from the Literary and Scientific Society (2 guineas) and the book club (1 guinea) which met in the building. Together with accommodation valued at £8 a year, his "overall emoluments" were reckoned to be £68.13.0d.

According to Gabb finance "was not a strong point of the RISW in its early years" and in 1851 it appears that Hugh was given a job of collecting subscriptions, which often went unpaid. It may have been some of this money, £34.13.0d, which Hugh Mahony appropriated. At a Council meeting on 9 May 1851 he explained "the means by which he proposed to repay the Deficiency". Apparently one faction argued that there were extenuating circumstances, the pro-Mahony faction included the president of the institute and the local Catholic priest, while another faction, had been complaining about Hugh's conduct for some time. George Grant Francis (1814-1882) had called a special meeting 1842 to charge Hugh with using improper language towards him, and it seems that generally there was a long running campaign against his employment from the time that the Institute moved to its new building, which neighboured Grant Francis' own residence at Burrows Lodge.

The museum also put me in contact with Loralei Thomas née Mahony, a fellow descendant who had studied the Mahonys already. Until October 1998, the Swansea Museum only knew what happened to the family until the 1851 census, which is when Loralei found them and helped them learn more. Several of the pictures on this webpage came from her. So I can say that Hugh and Elizabeth married 18 Mar 1835 in St Mary Swansea, and their children were as follows:-

1. Honora MAHONY b. 18 Jul 1835, Glamorgan, Wales; bap. 1 Aug 1835. Was 15 in 1851 census, at Townhill Farm.

Married Alexander MILLIGAN in Sydney, New South Wales in 1857. Loralei tells me that "Honora’s occupation is recorded as Dressmaker and Alexander’s as Engineer on their Marriage Certificate."

2. Eleanor "Ellen" MAHONY b. 9 Sep 1837, Glamorgan, Wales; bap. 1 Oct 1837

Married Peter Kirk FORREST in Wiangaree in New South Wales in 1860. Loralei tells me that "Ellen’s occupation is recorded as Nurse (probably a nursemaid for the children of the Wiangaree homestead) and Peter’s as Bushman on their Marriage Certificate."

3. Elizabeth MAHONY b. 12 Nov 1839, Swansea, Wales; bap. 14 Dec 1839, Catholic Church St David Swansea Wales; census 1841, Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales; d. 21 Oct 1917; bur. 23 Oct 1917, CoE cem. Port Macquarie; religion Catholic, then CoE; b. 13 Nov 1839, Wales

4. Catherine MAHONY b. 18 Aug 1841, Glamorgan; bap. 12 Sep 1841. Loralei writes:

Catherine is remembered with particular fondness by the family, since although she never married, she cared for and raised Honora’s 7 children, after Honora and her husband died. Later, two of Honora’s sons, Hugh and Eck (James Etheld), moved to Canungra to live.

We have several letters that Catherine wrote to her father, which have given us helpful information about the family’s life in Australia. Her needlework was of a very high standard. Mary Hart has a tablecloth that was embroidered by Catherine as well as one of her embroidery books. Catherine was 34 years old when she moved into Honora and Alexander’s house at 68 Sophia Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, before Alexander died in 1875.

5. Hugh Jnr MAHONY b. 30 Apr 1843, Wales; bap. 25 May 1843

6. Thomas MAHONY b. 9 Aug 1849, Glamorgan; bap. 3 Nov 1849; Was 1 in 1851 census, at Townhill Farm.

Married Emma Lydia DANIELS (1856- ) 19 Jun 1875, South East Queensland,

7. John MAHONY b. 3 Mar 1851; bap. 7 Jul 1852. Was 8 in 1851 census, on Townhill Farm.

In 1841 and 1851 the family appear in censuses, although in 1851, several family members have not yet been traced. In 1841, where ages are always approximate, Hugh is said to be 35, and born in Ireland. Of course at this stage he is a Keeper, living in the future museum. His wife Elizabeth is given as 30, and she and all the children are said to have been born locally within the county. The children were Honora, 5, Eleanor, 4, and our Elizabeth, 2.

In the 1851, the year when the family was evicted, it seems they had taken up farming at Townhill Farm. Elizabeth is here shown as 43, and born in Mumbles, a "Farmer's wife (60 acres. 2 labourers)". Also with her are Honora, 15, John 8, and Thomas 1. All the children were born in Swansea. Also living with them were two "farm servants" from Ireland, John and Daniel Sheanen, 27 and 14 respectively. Previously the whereabouts of Hugh had been a mystery, and it was imagined that he might be already evicted and travelling to help develop the family's new future. However I have found that he was still with the rest of the family, all scholars: Ellen 13, Elizabeth 11, Catherine 9, Hugh 7. The writing is poor, and it seems most transcribers got the name wrong, however it is sufficiently clear. What is hard to understand is his occupation which looks like "Residence Carter".

How long had Hugh been thinking about Australia? Loralei told me that:

Mary Hart has been very generous in giving me a book titled “Manual of Agricultural Analysis”, published in 1845, that belonged to Hugh when he lived and worked at the Swansea Museum in 1845.

We are fortunate in that not only did he write his name on the book, but he dated it as well!

I feel that the book serves as an indication that, though perhaps not involved in farming when he first lived in Wales, Hugh had an interest in agricultural practices and maybe an agricultural background.

It is also noted by Gabb that another special project which Hugh worked on in the earlier days of the Institute involved the preservation of a collection of Australian birds.

Jeff Coleman helped me find an index of old newspaper articles from the Cambrian which was a newspaper of the time. The following appear relevant:-

The family left from Liverpool on 27 August 1852, aboard the America. Elizabeth was pregnant and went into confinement about 7 September, but neither she nor the child survived. Hugh and the family arrived in the new and remote colony of Moreton Bay on 10th January 1853. They were therefore amongst the earliest generations of free settlers in the Brisbane region of South East Queensland. The children at arrival were named as Honora, Ellen, Elizabeth, Catherine, Hugh, Thomas and John. The girls could all read and write already. Of their young brothers, only Hugh could read. Hugh senior was classed as a "labourer". Hugh had it recorded that his wife had been "badly treated" and the ship was the subject of two newspaper articles concerning numerous problems. There was a shortage of provisions, and the doctor was the subject of numerous complaints, especially concerning his abusive conduct towards people and his being drunk. The boat also had a defective mast, which however managed to hold out.

Hugh's elder children, his daughters, must have helped him for a while with the younger boys. But eventually they moved south to longer settled areas, found work, and established families of their own. Hugh eventually became one of the first European settlers in what is now called the Gold Coast Hinterland. In about 1861 it is said that Hugh and his 12 year old son Tom walked from Ispwich to the Canungra area.

At the time, a major aim of such settlement was to find cedar, and enormous efforts were made to find and move cedar back downland land through the heavy forest, using bullock trains, and then the rivers. The water in the area of Canungra does indeed flow into the Logan River, just as the Spences remembered. It must have been a tough job in many ways apart from the obvious physical ones. Cedar was worth a lot of money, and law and order was not what it should be in Australia in that period. One of the famous stories of South East Queensland involves the brutal murder of a cedar getter in Brisbane, which helped create the wealth of the Mayne family. (The murderer's family tried hard to compensate in later generations, avoiding having children themselves, and dedicating themselves to good works. They played an important role in founding the major hospitals and universities of the area.) It is said that Hugh and his sons had to find ways to hide equipment and wood so they could come back and finish their slow job.

But Hugh eventually settled in this area, one of the three first families to do so, where he had originally come only to haul cedar out. He made his selection of land in 1867. His diary of 1869 "tells of Tom and John flooring a house, making a fireplace and using sand to floor the verandah, whilst in June 1870, they were making bricks." (Loralei) He became a respected farmer, testing new crops. He became particularly well known for Tobacco, which he eventually processed himself for sale in Brisbane, although he also experimented with Sugar. He was even asked by the Director of the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane to provide produce for display at the Paris Exhibition in 1878, and the International Exhibition in London. He kept a good journal, sometimes apparently very reflective. It is interesting for a man of his time that he showed a sensitivity to the comings and going of the local Canigera Aborigines, after whom Canungra are named, including both the timing of their corroborees, and a fight with the Coomera tribe. Some of the aborigines worked for him. He also had Islanders working for him.

To quote Loralei again:

Elizabeth Mahony was 26 yrs old and living with her sister, Honora and Alexander Milligan at Albion Street, Surry Hills, Sydney when her first child, Alfred William Barry was born in 1865. Although we don’t have any information regarding Alfred’s father or his early years at present, we do know that Alfred lived in Port Macquarie with his mother for a time in young adulthood and that he became a well known and liked, Sydney based, horse trainer and owner. He is referred to as William Spence’s stepson in newspaper articles published at the time. He married Catherine Payten in Surry Hills Sydney in 1892 and died in Sydney in 1945.

Elizabeth was 32 yrs old when she married William Andrew Spence in Port Macquarie, New South Wales in 1872. William’s father, Michael Spence gave consent to the marriage since William was only 20 years old. At that time parental consent was required if the bride or groom was less than 21 years of age.

Elizabeth and William Andrew Spence, had 8 children.

Elizabeth was 77 yrs old when she died in 1917.

Her occupation is recorded as Seamstress on her Marriage Certificate. We have copies of letters that Elizabeth and W.A. Spence wrote to Elizabeth’s father, Hugh Mahony as well as one letter that W.A.Spence wrote to Elizabeth’s sister, Catherine Mahony, who lived in Sydney.

Despite the great distances involved, I know from the Loralei that the family were good writers, and much of what they wrote survives still in Queensland. One example which Loralei gave me concerns a photograph sent to Hugh of my great grandmother, his grand-daughter.

Letter from W.A Spence to his wife Elizabeth’s father - Hugh Mahony.

Port Macquarie 1st August 1876 -

“Lizzie sent you a photograph of our little girl which I hope reached you safely. I do not think it does her justice. Hugh is growing a splendid fellow. He resembles Lilly a good deal in features but he is much stouter and larger altogether. Lizzie will answer your letter this week.

Trusting to hear from you again shortly. With respects from Mother and Father, love from Lizzie to all

Believe me

Yours faithfully

W.A.Spence”

As another example of the contact which was maintained, Lilly, when she was 25, was a witness to the marriage of her cousin Catherine Milligan in Sydney.

The Mahonys of Canungra all descend from Thomas, because his brothers Hugh and John had no children. They also spent some time away during the gold rush days. Again it seems best to quote Loralei, who is indeed one of these descendants:

Hugh and John lived and worked on their father’s property for many years. Later however, they lived and worked away.

Hugh died in Nambour in 1918 aged 75 years. His occupation is listed as Prospector on his Death Certificate. His brother John is recorded as having certified the information in writing.

It is believed that John was living at Mount Ubi Homestead in the Nambour Hinterland at the time.

John Mahony died in 1933 aged 82 years. His occupation is listed as Sawyer on his Death Certificate. John returned to live with his older brother Thomas and Emma Mahony (nee Daniels) and family on their farm at Cedar Creek in his old age. Unfortunately, John suffered from senility in his old age with the result that the family had no choice but to put him into a home for his own safety.

Some of Thomas’s grandchildren living today can still remember  “The Old Uncles” with their long white beards and the expectation that they were to treat them with respect.


Thomas was 25 yrs old when he married Emma Daniels, aged 19 yrs, in 1875, in Emma’s parent’s house on their Cedar Creek property, Rodborough Farm, Queensland.

Emma Daniels, was the daughter of Jesse and Charlotte Daniels (nee Smith).

Jesse Daniels was a Sawmill Owner and Farmer who owned several properties including one, (Benobble), that adjoined Hugh Mahony’s property, Coburg, in the area now known as Wonglepong. Emma was 2 years old when she and her parents emigrated to Australia on the ship Tudor from Rodborough, England, in 1857. Emma and her family lived in Bendigo and Geelong in Victoria, before moving to Queensland in 1863.

Although Thomas’s occupation is listed as Timber Getter on his Marriage Certificate, for most of their married lives, Thomas and Emma Mahony lived on their farm at Cedar Creek, Queensland, in the area where Thomas’s father Hugh Mahony, had settled.

Thomas and Emma Mahony had 10 children.



Hugh died near Canungra on his own land, 1 August 1886, aged 90, and 7 years later his house was sold to another family. There is a long thing block of land with a small memorial which is the Hugh Mahony Reserve. Hugh always missed his wife. Loralei has informed me that in a book called "The Early Days of Canungra and Reminisciences" by Edwin Franklin, the author, who knew Hugh, recalls that "Only the more intimate of Mr. Mahony's friends knew under a placid exterior, there was hidden away a life of sorrow and grief for his lost mate." A small hand-written poem exists which says...

With all his great power and his riches

He knows he can never replace

One thing in that morning that's absent

His wife's tender smiling face

And each time he saw the picture

The same words we will always say

All my wealth I would freely forfeit

And toil for you night and day

Below, three descendants are shown with the monument, looking down to the main street from Canungra going north, which I believe is called the Mundoolan connection road. The original wooden house is long gone. Hugh called it Coburg, apparently after one of the German family names of the British Royal family. During the First World War this was changed by later owners to "Coburg".

My Cork Ancestors

So what about Hugh before Wales? From Gerald Gabb's point of view, Hugh seems to have been amongst the first of an Irish immigration which would lead to the creation of a slum in Greenhill, Swansea known as "Little Ireland". He mentions that

...seven other Irish families named Mahony lived in the town in 1851. James Mahony lived in York Place, near the museum. All the others lived in Greenhill, considered one of the "worst parts of Swansea" by George Clark in his 1849 report on the sanitary conditions of Swansea.

This James may have been a relative because in July 1841 "one James Mahony was working at levelling out the area around the building". This had apparently been the subject of debate because a month earlier the Council ordered Hugh to "dismiss immediately the man he has employed in the grounds" because "the Council expect Hugh Mahony to be working himself in the gardens from 6 to 9 in the morning". What's more the 1841 census shows a James Mahony, 25 year old labourer born in Ireland, living with Hugh's family in the Royal Institution itself. Loralei also tells me that a James Mahony was godfather to 3 of the children.

Unfortunately, though I have looked over the 1851 census for York Court and York Street and other places in the area (York Place appears to be one place upon York Street by the way), and I find no mention of James Mahony, though indeed there seem to have been very few Irish born people in that district of Swansea St Mary. If anyone knows what record Gabb found, I would appreciate hearing from you. My working assumption is that he was not looking at the 1851 census. One document it would be very interesting to check for more Mahonys would be the 1839/1840 survey of Swansea which Hugh helped make.

In 1851 I only find one person named anything like James Mahony in Glamorganshire: a James Mahoney in nearby Cardiff which might be him. His birthplace is given as Skibereen, which is in western Cork, and in an area known for having many Mahonys. It is very hard to be confident that this is the same James. His age is 5 years higher than we would expect from the James of 1841. The Sheanens, farmhands with Elizabeth in 1851, also never seem to appear in another census after 1851 and I wonder if James and they all emigrated, like Hugh and his family. There are some interesting records on the Cambrian index mentioned above which Jeff Coleman showed me, all in catalogue index H22:

Maybe James had a son named Hugh who went off in the direction of his uncle?

The Irish seem to have been drawn to the area for the mining. In 1841, 1851, and 1861 ancestry.co.uk's transcribers find 51, 81, and 126 Mahonys in Glamorgan (the county of Swansea). After this point this spelling plateau's and begins to decrease: 125, 54, 39 in 1881, 1891, and 1901. Perhaps some of them started to spell themselves as Mahoney, because this surname goes from 8, to 95, to 181, 286, 296, 308. 371.

We know from death certificates and so on that Hugh must have been born about 1805, in Cork, to parents named John and Honora. We have no reason to doubt that he was from Cork, and indeed the Mahony surname is local there. When he was in Swansea, he was himself was of those responsible for collecting a census, the survey of 1839/1840, in which his birthplace is further defined as "Maulnih Muck".

This happened in 1839 and 1840 and was run by a Mr Gutch of the RISW. Hugh's participation in this work was one more subject which apparently the subject of some debate as his absence from the RISW rooms at Castle Square "was thought to leave the specimens open to damage or theft" and so he was only to be employed on this between 9:30 and 10:30. The other interesting information from this survey is that in this survey, taken before the future Museum had been built, Hugh Mahony is recorded as living at 44 Poppit Hill.

Despite the historical and dialectical variations of Gaelic, the old language of Ireland, this name looks very real and indeed typical. It means "Hill of the Pig" and it should be mentioned that pig's are mentioned in geographical names all over the Gaelic speaking regions of Ireland and Scotland. Similar names just in Cork include Ballynamuck, Cahermuckee, Carrignamuck, Coolmucky, Glennamucklagh, Gortnamucklagh, Gortnamucky, Iskanamucky, Killamucky, Kilnamucky, Knocknamuck, Mamucky, Moneennamucky, Muckenagh, Muckridge, Muckruss, Poulnamuck, Scartnamuck. Even more places begin with "Maul-".

However, until now, this particular place has not been found. The only places with this exact combination of common components that I can find are on a Scottish Island, and in Roscommon, nowhere near Cork. However, there is a place in Cork called Muckridge, where the first element is clearly the word for pig. Could "ridge" have been fitted in place of Maul, in order to anglicize the name? Another theory is that the name somehow comes from Foilnamuck, near Skibereen, which seems odd given that Hugh spelled it himself. These types of suggestions, for now, are just clutching at straws.

Apart from trying to track down James Mahony, discussed above, we can look at the list of godparents to the children:

Honora (1835). Thomas and Mary Wildman.

Ellen (1837). D. Thomas and M. Garde.

Elizabeth (1839). James Mahony and Mary Holland

Catherine (1841). James Mahony and Anne Garde

Hugh (1843) James Mahony and Anne Garde

Thomas (1849). Patrick Mahony and Anne Keily

John (1852). David Thomas and Honora Sullivan

Hugh must have had a reasonable education, given his literacy in later life, and at some point, he moved across the Celtic Sea to South Wales. We find record of him being married to a local Welsh girl, Elizabeth Phillips, 18 Mar 1835 Saint Mary, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales. Concerning his religion, to quote Loralei, "Hugh’s religion is listed as Roman Catholic, on the survey carried out by the Statistical Society of the Royal Institute of South Wales in 1839/1840 and all the children were baptised at the Catholic Church of Saint David in Rutland Street, Swansea, Wales."

Surnames like Mahony, O'Mahony, MacMahon, Moghan etc are found in different parts of Ireland and are said to go back to names containing the Gaelic "Mathghamhna" meaning "bear". Cork and Kerry in southwestern Ireland are considered as places where the name is local, having been amongst the last bastions of power of an ancient Munster family who used this name, after an 11th century ancestor who united in his person two competing branches of an older family. The webpage of Cai Maver gives a good summary of the normal account of the name's origins there:

The Mahoney name has a long history that begins with Brian Boru, one of Irelands greatest heros. Brian Boru was the high king of Ireland in the eleventh century and it was he who united the many smaller kingdoms of Ireland against the tyranny of the saxon invaders. Brian Boru's daughter, Saidbh, married Cain mac Maol Muadh, Prince of Raithleann and had a son named Mathghamhna (pronounced Mahowna), which means bear in Irish. Mathghamhna, along with many other Irishmen including Brian Boru, fell at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 AD. Mathghamhna's descendents called themselves O'Mathghamhna in his honor. This surname became O'Mahoney and by 1890, the 'O' had been largely dropped and simply Mahoney was the most common spelling.

Going even further back into the semi-legendary genealogies of old Ireland we find the family classified as one of the chief families within the Cénel mBéicce "who gave their tribal name to the barony of Kinelmeaky". These were in turn an "important sub-sept of the Cenel nÁeda (of Ui Echach Muman)" who "gave their name to the barony of Kinalea in southern co. Cork." The Cenel nÁeda is in turn one of the two major branches of the Uí Echach Mumhan along with the Cenél Láegaire. "Uí Echach was described, in early texts, within the ancient principality of Muskerry, in mid County Cork, to the west and southwest of the town of Cork." These are in turn a part of the greater race, tribe or dynasty known as the Eóghanacht, supposedly descended originally from a man named Eoghan Mor (Eoghan the great, or Big Eoghan). The Eoganachta are said to have taken control of Munster from the Erainn and the Mairtine, possibly tribes who had been longer in Ireland, and eventually to have lost much power to the Dalcassians, or Dal gCais whose power rose in the 10th century. (My direct quotes come from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/ihm/munster.htm , but the same story is widely distributed around the internet. I have not done any research to cross check sources.)

Another online resource which gives more detailed narrative starting with the legendary times is http://tommahony.com/genealogy/mahonyhx2a.htm.

My Glamorgan Ancestors

Elizabeth Phillips died on board the boat, named America, to Australia in 1852. Hugh never re-married. We know from the 1851 census that she was a native of Mumbles near Swansea. At least taking the marriage register as a reference, it appears Elizabeth, who signed with an X, was not literate like Hugh, and her children.

Welsh surnames are often simply based upon English first names as patronymics (Davies comes from David, Jones comes from John etc), which makes them very repetitive and hard to trace genealogically, but there is not reason to think that her ancestry was not very local. Their children, the siblings of Elizabeth Phillips seem to have been the following (all with the spelling Phillip instead of Phillips)...

1. Mary PHILLIP b. 23 May 1799 (10 days old at baptism); bap. 2 Jun 1799, Oystermouth parish, Glamorgan. (With mother in Swansea in 1851 census.)

2. Eleanor PHILLIP b. 1 Apr 1802 (10 days old at baptism); bap. 11 Apr 1802

3. Thomas PHILLIP b. 17 Jan 1805 (4 days old at baptism); bap. 20 Jan 1805, Oystermouth parish, Glamorgan

4. Elizabeth Phillipa PHILLIP b. 27 Oct 1807 (11 days old at baptism), Mumbles (according to censuses); bap. 8 Nov 1807; into "confinement" where she died, 7 Sep 1852

5. David PHILLIP b. 22 Feb 1811 (1 week old at baptism); bap. 3 Mar 1811, Oystermouth parish, Glamorgan


Banns of Marriage between Thomas Phillip and Eleanor Davies both local to the parish and previously unmarried were published on three several Sundays on May 1st, 8th and 15th 1796. They married 16 May 1796 in Oystermouth parish. The only burial that seems to match Thomas is 10 June 1808. The record gives no details about age or residence or profession. For Eleanor there is perhaps one possibility which is for "Elinor Phillips", buried 1 Feb 1855 at the age of 75. She was a resident of Mumbles. This all matches reasonably well with the fact that in the 1841 census there is a 75 year old Eleanor Phillips, widow, living with the Mahonys in their cellar - given the inaccuracies of ages in that census.


Loralei informed me that there was a baptism for a Thomas Phillip 11 July 1761 in Oystermouth, which indeed looks like it might be our Thomas. I now know from the transcription of the Glamorgan FHS that the parents were Samuel and Elizabeth, and that this child was a twin. They fit in the following series, all children of Samuel and Elizabeth...

1. Samuel PHILLIP b. 20 Nov 1775 (6 days before baptism); bap. 26 Nov 1775

2. Thomas PHILLIP b. 20 Nov 1775 (6 days before baptism); bap. 26 Nov 1775

3. William PHILLIP b. 9 Mar 1779 (10 days before baptism); bap. 25 Apr 1779 (a William PHILIP son of Samuel was buried 21 Aug 1783).

4. Mary PHILLIP b. 3 weeks before baptism; bap. 26 Aug 1781


A burial record exists which would fit for the father Samuel, although the surname is spelt with one "L". It was 11 June 1790, and his profession was given as "custom officer". I can not see any for his wife, and neither can I see any marriage record for Samuel. It might be possible that Samuel was from out of town and married elsewhere.


I could not find any record for the baptism of Eleanor Davies in Mumbles either. But she may not have been from there. The 1851 census shows an 85 year old Elenor Phillips in Swansea, receiving relief, with a daughter named Mary Phillips, 52 and born Oystermouth (so matching the one in the Oystermouth register). This Eleanor, despite her daughter's birthplace, is said to have been born in Swansea.