HOME PAGE

NOTES: For details of recent significant additions to the site, and assorted information appearing on other websites, go to NEWS.  Please use the Guest Book to leave your comments, information or queries for others to read.  Also, take a look at the correspondence page.  Please email us if you have any information or photographs which you think should be included on this site.  Many thanks to all who have contributed so far. 

To submit information regarding a member or members of the family a form is available for download by clicking HERE.

The Keenans of Eastern Australia

Henry and Nancy (Anne) arrived in Eastern Australia in 1864 and eventually settled in Batlow, New South Wales.

 Map of Australia   Location of Batlow

This branch of the Keenan's is sometimes referred to as the "Batlow Keenans", because Batlow in New South Wales is where Henry and Nancy (Anne) eventually settled.

"Eastern Australia" means the States of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland

•   Henry John Keenan and Nancy Jane Keenan (nee Gamble)  This is the young couple who left Glenone/Lislea, County Derry, Ireland, in December 1863 and travelled to Australia to start a new life, first in Maryborough, Queensland, then in Bombowlee/Tumut, New South Wales, and later (about 1870) in Batlow, NSW.  These pages show details of birth, marriage, children and death; and also information about the parents and siblings of Henry John and Nancy Jane. [NOTE: Nancy Jane Keenan was known in Australia as Anne (or Ann) Jane Keenan, then, after remarrying, was known as Granny Hopson.]  Henry and Nancy had 11 children between 1864 and 1885, but sadly only 6 reached adulthood (see First Generation Australians and/or the first part of their family tree). 1884 was a terrible year for them, with 3 of their children dying from typhoid fever and 1 from accidental burning. By that stage Henry was very sick.  He was admitted in a very poor condition to the Gladesville Mental Hospital in September 1885, and died there on 22 June 1889. He is buried in the grounds of the hospital, but sadly there is no record of exactly where he rests. I visited the hospital and its cemetery in mid-May 2024 and said "hello" to Henry. At that time I may have been the only one of his descendants to have visited the cemetery. A book about the "Gladesville Hospital Cemetery - The forgotten cemetery, the forgotten people" has been published by Ryde District Historical Society in July 2023; for details go to the link shown above.

•   The journey to Australia aboard "The Prince Consort"  Information about the trip to Australia in 1864 by Henry John and Nancy Jane Keenan.  Includes a sketch of the ship, a copy of the entry in the book referring to Henry John and Nancy Jane, and the address where a fascinating book about the journey may be obtained.

•   1949 Batlow Newspaper Article  Details of the arrival in Australia of Henry John and Nancy Jane Keenan, their adventures and the family as it existed in 1949. Written by George Aaron Robert Keenan of Batlow (1894 - 1981) and appearing in the Tumut and Adelong Times. This page also contains some additional notes by me.The page also contains a tale about Nancy /Ann Jane Keenan (Granny Hopson) taken from the 1975 book "Batlow: The Growing Years From Gold to Apples".

•   1884 Newspaper Articles  About the Typhoid fever which hit Batlow and the family of Henry John and Nancy Jane.  Also the burning death of a child and the poor condition of Henry John at that time.

•   About Batlow, New South Wales  After living in Bombowlee (near Tumut) for, perhaps, 3 or 4 years, Henry and Nancy settled in Batlow. They purchased a 2 acre block in Batlow on 23/11/1871, then after selling that,  acquired, on 2/2/1882, 40 acres of land adjacent to land which later became the golf course.  Many Keenan descendants still live in Batlow and the surrounding area, but there are also many in other parts of NSW (such as Bombowlee and Engadine) and in Victoria.  This page includes maps, book titles and internet links concerning Batlow, as well as many photographs.

•   The first generation Information about the first generation born in Australia (birth, marriages and deaths). See also the Batlow Pioneers.  See also the FAMILY TREE.

•   Tragedy - 5/3/1909 Batlow Newspaper Article  In 1909 two young Keenan boys (Eric and Sidney Catherall) were found shot dead in Batlow.  Here is a transcript of the first report which appeared in the local paper, the Tumut and Adelong Times.

•   Tragedy - 12/3/1909 Batlow Newspaper Article  This is a detailed report from the Tumut and Adelong Times of the Coronial Inquest into the deaths of Eric and Sidney.  It finds the death was accidental.

•   Song to the Pioneers  Words to a song about the Batlow Pioneers, including the Keenans, Mouats, Hides, Quarmbys, Barberies and others.  [This link is to a scanned copy of the song as it appeared in a book.  To get the words in text that can be copied and pasted in to a Word document, go to my page about Batlow.]

•   The second generation Information about the second generation (birth, marriages and deaths) and FAMILY TREES.  The last member of the second generation - Dorothy Mary Lovering - passed away in Sydney on 8 October 2008, aged 98 years.  The links on this page will take users to pages for descendants of the second generation (where such information has been supplied). My father - Wilfred Walter Keenan b.1910 - appears on this page.

•   Wilfred ("Wis") Keenan - Diaries, notes and letters  

•   Keenan Names    Here are some of the names of descendants of Henry John Keenan and Nancy Jane Gamble. From the first generation to the fourth.  This has not been updated for several years. The current generations are spread out over the east of Australia, but with major concentrations in Batlow and Tumut (NSW), Engadine and other parts of Sydney (NSW), Shepparton (Vic), Geelong (Vic) and Melbourne (Vic). Note: In October 2008 there were approximately 560 Keenan names on the Australian electoral role for New South Wales.  Most of these are not descendants of Henry and Nancy/Ann Keenan.  But, of course, there would be descendants or the role who don't have a Keenan surname.

•   Photographs Photos of  Keenans in Australia and (courtesy of Jack Harkins) Keenans in Northern Ireland.  Also, of the ancestral home in Northern Ireland.

•  Photo Gallery - the Brian Keenan collection  Photos of Keenans in Australia supplied in June 2008 by Brian Keenan of Queanbeyan, NSW. (Brian Keenan has also supplied a lot of the information that appears on this site concerning the descendants of George Aaron Robert Keenan and Nora Mary Keenan (nee Naughton)).

•  Mrs Anita Beryl Arnold (nee Lovering)  Mrs Anita Arnold OAM, of Engadine, Sydney, NSW - daughter of Dorothy Lovering (nee Keenan) (1910 - 2008) and grand-daughter of John Keenan (b.1873) - was the catalyst for this site. Anita was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in June 1992 for services to Intellectually Disabled Children. Anita, her cousin Robert Keenan and other Keenans in the Engadine area successfully campaigned for a park to be named in honour of their grandfather, John Keenan.  For maps showing the location of this park and the location of Engadine, go to the page of John Keenan b. 1873.

•  The Keenans of Balgownie, New South Wales  Henry John Keenan (b.1842) had a brother, James (b.1845). James stayed in Northern Ireland where he married Maria Hastings. [The descendants of James Keenan and Maria Hastings  feature very prominently on this website.] One of their children, Stewart, came to Australia, married Nellie Preston and had 8 children. Unfortunately I don't have much information about the children of Stewart and Nellie, apart from their names and a few details of the life of James Keenan (b. April 1909 - August 2006) - see Stewart's page.  (For more information about the Northern Ireland family of James, see the email from Sheila Johnston on 24/9/2008.  Sheila is a descendant of James.)

•   Documents  Various Keenan family documents old and new, plus bits of information appearing in registers.

•   Photographs, Paintings and Sketches of Australia  Scenes of Australia. Also, maps comparing the size of Australia with Britain and Ireland, and other countries.

•  Videos  These present views of places, people and events of interest in Australia and Northern Ireland. (Section commenced March 2010)

•   Barry Crocker, a legendary Australian singer, television performer and actor,  (e.g. Barry MacKenzie) appears to be the only showbiz celebrity in the Keenan family.  Barry (b.1935) is a grandson of  Mary Keenan, one of Henry and Nancy Keenan's 11 children.   Click HERE for Barry's account of how Mary Keenan came to marry John (Jock) Houston; to see  a couple of photos of Barry, to see him perform "Stairway To Heaven" on television (YouTube), and to see the official transcript of an extensive interview with him on ABC television in 2006.  October 2012: Barry's latest TV work is as co-star of "The Strange Calls" a comedy series on ABC TV.

•   Links to relevant web sites  A special page for links to websites in Australia and overseas concerning ancestry and news, including other selected Keenan family websites in Australia.  Note, however, that there are many more links on other pages of this website.

Keenan and Gamble relatives in Northern Ireland and Scotland

•   About Glenone, Inishrush and Portglenone, Northern Ireland  Henry John Keenan was born and lived until departing for Australia in Glenone. The main village nearby is Portglenone.  The township of Portglenone is beside the Bann River.  The main part of the township is in County Antrim, while the rest is on the other side of the river in County Derry (or Londonderry).  Henry lived on the Derry side, in Glenone, which is near the villages of Lislea, Tamlaght O'Crilly, Clady and Inishrush.  Glenone is understood to mean "meadow of two rivers", the rivers being River Bann and the Clady River. This page of the website contains information, maps and photographs. Henry's wife, Nancy (Anne) Keenan (nee Gamble), was born and raised in Lislea, which is near Glenone. This page also contains many LINKS to other websites containing information about the area.

•   Cousins in Northern Ireland and Scotland 

•   News from Northern Ireland and Portglenone    News stories and articles from overseas news sources. (I commenced this exercise in 2008 but have done little since.).

•  "Johnstone's Farewell"  A song written by Robert Johnstone in the 1800's on leaving Portglenone and going to Melbourne, Australia.  This song is published in a 1928 book by R. M. Sibbett titled "On the Shining Bann - Records of an Ulster Manor"  (ISBN 1-873401-04-3 & ISBN 1-873345-05-4).  As well as providing a transcript of this song, I hope to include on the same webpage extracts of several observations  made by Mr Sibbett in his wonderful book.  Mr Sibbett's book is now (August 2012) available on CD in .pdf format, from the North of Ireland Family History Society ( www.nifhs.org/publications.htm).

• Ulster Covenant  In 1912 nearly half a million Irish Protestants from Ulster signed an oath, a call to defend Ulster from Home Rule (from an Irish Parliament with responsibility for domestic affairs over all of Ireland).  In Ulster resistance to Home Rule had existed for many years, particularly since the first Home Rule bill was introduced in the British parliament in 1886.  Many Keenans and Gambles were among the Unionists who signed the 1912 Ulster Covenant. It appears that many were associated with the Orange Order (which was named after King William of Orange from the Dutch Republic) and founded  in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict, as a fraternity sworn to maintain the protestant ascendancy in Ireland.  For more information go to this page. NOTE: Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating a devolved government for the six north eastern counties, including Derry.

• The Declaration in 1688. "The declaration of His Highness William Henry, by the grace of God, Prince of Orange, etc of the reasons inducing hime, to appear in armes. (The Hague, 1688).  Click HERE for an article published in Nov 2023 by the Centre for Early Modern Studies at King’s College London (CEMS KCL). It gives the history of this document, which led to what is known as "The Glorious Revolution" - a war which restored a Protestant monarchy in Britain and at the same time limited its powers by means of the 1689 Bill of Rights.

Keenans relatives in Western Australia

Before Henry John and Nancy (Anne) Jane Keenan settled in Batlow, New South Wales, Henry's brother, Stewart Keenan and his wife, Isabella Gamble (possible a sister or cousin of Nancy Jane) migrated to Australia in 1859 and settled in the south-west of Western Australia.  The first page below includes information about the children of Stewart and Isabella.  Also on this page are a photograph of Stewart and Isabella, recent photographs and a great deal of information about "Glenbourne Homestead" - the (heritage listed) house at Margaret River built by Stewart and Isabella - and links to more information. 

See first the main page, which is The Keenans of Western Australia ,   and then the sections below. →

•   Old Keenan Letters (1873 - 1955)

The late Edward (Ray) Keenan (d.2004) of Perenjori, Western Australia, transcribed letters sent by Keenans between America, South Africa, Western Australia and Northern Ireland from 1873 to 1955 .  He published these 23 pages in 2003.  Included are letters from David Keenan of Providence, USA, Grace Catherall (nee Keenan) who lived for a while in South Africa, and James and Maria Keenan of NI, Annie Jane McKay (nee Keenan) of NI, Mary Houston (nee Keenan) and many others.   (Thanks to Anne Waghorn of  WA for supplying this material.) TASK COMPLETED 25/4/2010.

•   Book about the Keenans of WA  From 19/12/2007 I will be publishing a fascinating book written in 1994 by the late Edward (Ray) Keenan of Western Australia.  The original manuscript is 44 pages. This material contains information about all branches of the Keenan family, but mostly the WA branch.  Don't miss it! (Thanks to Anne Waghorn of  WA for supplying this material.)  MORE WAS ADDED ON 10/7/2010

•   Edward Keenan Recalls: published book by Edward Keenan [Added 21/12/2010] I have put on this site extracts (about 4,000 words) from a book by Edward Keenan, "I Shook the Family Tree: the story of an adopted boy."  Published in 2001 - and held in the National Library in Canberra - the book is essentially about Edward's life and his search for his natural mother and father (Ruby Carter and Alwyn Parker).  However, there is a considerable amount of information in the stories he tells about his adopted parents William Stewart Keenan and Eleanor Jane Keenan (nee Curtis) of WA.  [William Keenan named his farm "Glenone", the same name as the farm of his family in Northern Ireland.]

• Keenan genealogy website   Note 28 September 2024: There once was an excellent and easy-to-use website by Gil Hardwick entitled "Pioneer Families of the Lower South West of Western Australia", with lots of information which may also have been of interest to the Keenan cousins in eastern Australia (aka "the Batlow branch"). I have been in touch with Gil and he has supplied me with a copy of his files, which he has authorised me to publish on this site. I will do so ASAP.

Keenan relatives in other parts of the world

•  Kay Kuebeler (nee Keenan)  Kay Kuebeler is a distant relative who lives in Florida, USA.  Her great-grandparents were John Keenan (b.1847) and Elizabeth Gamble (b. 1849). They married in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA, in 1872. John Keenan's father was Daniel Keenan (died 1872) and his mother was Eliza Wallace (died 1877), both of Tyanee, County Derry, Northern Ireland. It appears that Kay's great-great grandfather (Daniel) and my great-great grandfather were brothers. 

•  Other American relatives with whom I occassionally communicate include Marge and Bill Golder of Port Orange, Florida and Jim J Keenan of North Canton, Ohio.

• In Canada, Marina Hehn is another active and valued member of our Keenan family genealogy group.  She has visited Keenans relatives in Australia, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Keenan Family Trees

•  Family Trees   (Latest addition or change 13 December 2018) Several Keenan family trees, in flow chart style, have been created and are linked together by hyperlinks. The earliest family tree shows what I know of the start of the Keenan branch in the Glenone/Lislea district of County Derry, Northern Ireland. Then there are (or will be) hyperlinks to other charts for descendants in Australia, and also for those in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the USA.  This is a work-in-progress.

•   Other Family Trees  In the chapter "The Keenans of Eastern Australia" there are other sections which contain additional family trees presented in a different manner: see "The first generation" and "The second generation".

Miscellaneous

•  News about this site    Look here for information about developments and changes to the website.

•   Photographs, Paintings and Sketches of Australia  Scenes of Australia. Also, maps comparing the size of Australia with Britain and Ireland, and other countries.

•   Correspondence  Some correspondence with members of the Keenan clan in Australia, Northern Ireland and other parts of the world.

•   Australian Cultural and Ethnic Groups See the classifications devised by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Note: the Northern Irish are classified as Irish.  The Scottish are classified as British.

•  Off-topic Writings and Speeches  Examples: "American Declaration of Independence"; "The Gettysburg Address"; "I Have a Dream".

•  Australian English/Slang  A bit of fun. Needs a lot more content.

•   List of Random Writings from the Past by the author of this website, P J Keenan   This is an indulgence on my part. NOTE: The views and observations expressed in these articles are those held at the time of writing. Many of my views have changed a lot in the years since.