This copy of a post card of Vincent Daly was kindly donated to us from the Traralgon and District Historical Society* We know from the verso of the card that Vincent was Killed in Action in 1916, that he was a cousin of Tom Fitzgibbon** of Tyers (near Traralgon) and that he had a connection to the Pakenham district. Naturally I wanted to know what this connection to the local area was.
I started at the National Archives of Australia to discover the official information from his service record. His Service record (service number 2848) shows that Patrick Vincent Daly enlisted on July 2, 1915 at the age of 19. He was born in Dalyston and his next of kin was his father, also Patrick Daly, of Cloverdale, Dalyston. He had to get permission from his parents to enlist and this means we discovered his mother was Mrs E.C Daly. Less than one year after he enlisted Vincent (it seems he was known to the family as Vincent rather than Patrick) was Killed in Action in France on May 15, 1916.
Vincent's obituary from The Advocate of June 10, 1916
So now we know the official information what we need to discover is what his Pakenham District connection is. I looked up the Index to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages (access this here) and found Vincent was born in 1896 to Patrick James Daly and Elizabeth Catherine Dore. Once I found this out I was pretty sure that Elizabeth must have been connected to the pioneering Dore family of Nar Nar Goon, so then I did a search in the on-line newspapers on Trove and found the article reproduced below about the Will of John Dore, which clearly links Elizabeth Daly to John Dore and thus makes young Vincent John Dore's grandson. Lucky for us that there was no privacy issues 100 years ago and newspapers regularly reported the contents of Wills! I also found the lovely obituary of Vincent in The Advocate, (reproduced above) which gives us a fuller picture of him.
Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Betty (nee O'Connor) Dore of Mt Ararat at Nar Nar Goon. In 1844, John Dore and Michael Hennessey took up the Mount Ararat Run at Nar Nar Goon of 1,900 acres. The partnership existed until 1855 when Hennessey moved to Dandenong. In the 1860s, Dore purchased the 640 acre Mt Ararat pre-emptive right. He later purchased another 387 acres and his son Thomas 300 acres so they held a total of 1,300 acres. The property was later bisected by the railway line when it was built in 1877. You can read more about the Dore family here.
When John Dore died in 1895, his son-in-law who was also Vincent's father, Patrick Daly was one of the executor's of his will. John Dore's estate was left as a life interest to his son Patrick and his wife Kate and then after their death to his four daughters including Vincent's mother, Elizabeth Daly. Elizabeth was also left a block of land (it was 26 acres) in the Parish of Wonthaggi, where Dalyston is located.
Table Talk May 24, 1895
*The post card of Vincent is part of the Eva West collection at the Traralgon & District Historical Society. Eva (1888 - 1969) became the Assistant Shire Secretary at Traralgon in 1924, and the Shire Secretary in 1935 and held this position until 1946. She was awarded an MBE in 1958. I found this snippet of information on Trove from the Traralgon Record of December 29, 1916 - At the Accountancy examinations recently at the Melbourne University, Miss Eva West, of Traralgon, succeeded in passing the last of the series of examinations necessary to qualify for admission to the Institute of Accountants, this being the first time that any lady in the State has obtained this qualification.....We heartily congratulate Miss West as right throughout the examination she maintained a position amongst the leading candidates. She was a real pioneer in her field.
**Thanks to Gippsland Historian, Linda Barraclough, for the following information - Tom Fitzgibbon of Tyers, who died in 1974 aged 90, is the son of the Ellen Fitzgibbon nee Dore, also mentioned in the will. A number of other photographs of soldiers in the collection appear to have originated from him, but seem more to be locals at Tyers, rather than family.
Very interesting my Grand father Keith Cahir was raised from the age of 10 by Patrick and Kate Dore after the death of his mother in 1899. He also served in Gallipoli where he was taken prisoner by the Turks. He died in 1960 aged 70
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