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THE 'DONOVAN' IMMIGRANTS
James DONOVAN (1806 to 1874)
Mary WELSH (1814-1901)
Liverpool to Brisbane - Ship : MONSOON - Arrived 13 August 1854
DONOVAN FAMILY aboard the MONSOON
Donovan, James Age 48
Donovan, Mary Age 40 (nee Walsh)
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Donovan, Catherine Age 21
Donovan, Timothy Age 19
Donovan, Mary Age 19
Donovan, Honora Age 15
Donovan, Johanna Age14​
Donovan, Ellen Age 11
Donovan, William Age 8
Donovan, Matthias Age 4
William Timothy Donovan was eight years old when he stepped ashore at Morton Bay. For the young Irish lad from County Cork in Ireland, the three month sea crossing aboard the 1000 ton Monsoon must have been an adventure.
394 government assisted immigrants - including seven of his brothers and sisters, his dad, James, and his mum, Mary - boarded the ship in Liverpool, UK on 13 May 1854.
Three months later, on 13 August, 1854 they were disembarking in the brand new Brisbane River settlement which would not become the colony of Queensland until 1859, when it was officially separated from the colony of New South Wales.
Throughout the second half of the 19th century vigorous migration programs were established, designed to entice working class Irish men and women to our shores. The Donovans were brought out under the Assisted Immigrants' Act. According to the 1886 Queensland census, 31.6% of Queenslanders born in the British Isles, came from Ireland. Many of Queensland's founding pioneers (businessmen, politicians, Governors, etc) were Irish.
It is easy to understand why they were leaving Ireland. In October 1845 a serious blight began among the Irish potatoes, ruining about three-quarters of the country's crop. This was a disaster as over four million people in Ireland depended on the potato as their chief food. The blight returned in 1846 and over the next year an estimated 350,000 people died of starvation and an outbreak of typhus that ravaged a weaken population. The figures for this period show a dramatic increase in Irish people departing for USA, Canada and Australia. By the end of 1854 nearly two million people - about a quarter of the population - had emigrated in ten years.
Shamrock Hotel, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
Three short years after the colony of Queensland had been officially established, James Donovan was granted a Liquor License for his own hotel - the Shamrock Hotel in Fortitude Valley. (Donovan had previously been the publican at the Lamb Inn, also in Fortitude Valley).
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On Monday, 30 June, 1862, James took out a newspaper advertisement in the Brisbane Courier, proclaiming in capital letters that JAMES DONOVAN would open his Shamrock Hotel the next day. "The choicest wines, ales, and spirits, with some very fine Irish whisky, all of the finest brands, and very best description. Every accommodation for BOARDERS, and the greatest attention paid to man and horse. A good supply of oaten hay and corn, and excellent
PADDOCK ACCOMODATION".​
Shamrock Hotel in the 1860's
Donovan's Shamrock Hotel (as it became known) contained four sitting rooms and eight bedrooms, and was hosted by Donovan, his wife, Mary, and their nine children. Soon it became part and parcel of inner Brisbane life. Aldermen seeking re-election met the voters of Fortitude valley there. Lost jewellery could be retrieved there. Weddings and other family celebrations were familiar events. Of course, it was the venue for many an Irish wake and the venue of the occasional assault, which would end up in the courts. Even official Coroner's Inquests were held there.
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Family Life
Upon their arrival in Brisbane, the Donovan's had two more mouths to feed. A daughterJulia, and a son John; the twins having been born on board the ship. At 46 years of age, Mary would give birth one final time, in 1860, to a son named after his father, James.
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But all too soon, Mary would suffer personal loss. On the 5th October 1874, James Donovan passed away at home in his beloved Shamrock Hotel. It was a shock coming after a short illness. Aged 76 years, the death was "deeply regretted by a large circle of friends"
Mary would live to see in the new century. She died in 1901 aged 87 years but would bear witness to the deaths of eight of her eleven children. Johanna was just 14 when she died. Three of her daughters, Catherine, Ellen and Julia, would die prematurely in their 30's. Of her sons - Timothy, John, James and William would all predecease her.
Shamrock Hotel in the 1890's
Shamrock Hotel and Mary Donovan
After his sudden death, James Donovan’s widow, Mary, took-over as host of the Shamrock Hotel for a short period of time, before her daughter, Mary inherited the pub freehold and took the license during the late 1870s and 1880s. She would host the pub for well-over a decade (except for a period in the early 1880s when she leased it to Timothy O’Sullivan). Mary, who never married, had the old hotel entirely rebuilt in 1892, before retiring as host in 1894. She died in 1925 at the age of 83.
Today's Shamrock is not recognisable. In the 1950s, the building was extensively remodelled to fit the modern, streamlined style favoured for hotels in that period.
James and Mary Donovan were at the forefront of pioneer development in Fortitude Valley. Mary would go on to witness the boom period of the 1880s and see many other hotels built in Fortitude Valley during this decade including the Empire (1888), the Prince Consort (1888), the Jubilee (1887) and the Wickham (1885).
FIRST GENERATION DONOVANS
William Timothy DONOVAN (1846 - 1899)
Margaret CAVANAGH (1856 - 1908)
MARY and JAMES DONOVAN
Many Children, Few Descendants
When you are one of eleven children you grow up with many siblings. But, generally speaking, Jame's and Mary's offspring did not share their parents love of large families.
Eight of the eleven children would die without ever having married - Catherine, Mary, Johanna, Ellen, Matthias, Julia, John and James. (James being the only child to be born in Australia).
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Only Timothy, Honora and William would give Australia, the first generation of Donovan descendants.
We know William Timothy Donovan married Margaret Cavanagh in Charters Towers, Qld in 1873 when he was 27 years old. His brother Matthias (Matt) was in Charters Towers with him at the time.
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When Matt died his obituary explained his exodus from Brisbane. "The gold fever outbreak at Gympie in 1867 had its attractions for him, and not without being among the lucky ones, fortune followed him to Charters Towers, and again in New Guinea."
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William's brother Matt would never marry. He preferred a single life of adventure.
But William chose to settle down in Charter's Towers, with his dreams of hard rock gold, and with Margaret. They would raise six children together and witness momentous change and history in the making.
In 1867 James Nash discovered gold in the small agricultural town of Gympie, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Brisbane. This was the start of the Gympie gold rush. Within months of Nash’s discovery, 25,000 people came to the area to try their luck. William and his younger brother Matthias, were among the first to arrive. But they would not stay.
The rush for gold at Charters Towers
Charters Towers, was born to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. Hugh Mosman, George Clarke, John Fraser and horseboy Jupiter had been prospecting away to the south of what is now Charters Towers when their horses scattered during a fierce thunderstorm. It was while searching for the horses next morning that the first Towers gold was discovered in a stream by young Jupiter. Just before the start of 1872 the party returned to Ravenswood to register their find which they named Charters Towers.
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William Donovan must have been quick to respond to the news and move north from the Gympie gold fields, as he was married in the brand new town of "Charters Towers" just one year later. He was not alone. A rush of ‘fortune seeking men' quickly followed and a small settlement named Millchester formed on the water at Gladstone Creek. By the end of 1872 some 3000 souls inhabited the new field. The alluvial men left early on for the Palmer River discoveries but the hard rock miners remained, seeking the gold in the deep veins underground. Charters Towers rather than Millchester soon became the main settlement.
William's family grew with the town and they witnessed many changes. During the period 1872-1899 the place changed from a rough settlement with bark and calico buildings to a thriving City of some 25,000 inhabitants. Charters Towers, by that time, had properly formed streets, some wonderful houses and many grand public buildings lining the two main streets. A plentiful supply of water for domestic and other purposes was pumped to the town from a Weir in the Burdekin River about 9 miles to the north. Underground electricity was also supplied to parts of the main town area.
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Literally 100s of shafts were sunk during the lifetime of the field and the ore raised was processed through many large Treatment Batteries. It is estimated that 6,000,000 ounces of gold was won in the first 40 to 50 years of the life of the Towers. All religions were strongly represented on the field and in 1890 the miners could quench their thirst in no less than 65 hotels registered on the field.​
Warden's Court and Claim Jumping
Only a small number of the many thousands of hopeful diggers were lucky enough to find gold. As dreams of riches faded, disappointment and frustration grew. Some diggers resorted to crime. They might steal another’s belongings or his gold. "Claim Jumping" - taking someone else’s claim - was common, and disputes often turned violent. Many diggers armed themselves to protect themselves and their claims.
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In 1876, William Donovan, a shareholder in p.c. Havelock, was a defendant and witness at the Charters Towers Wardens Court over allegations of "claim jumping' on the "Henry Havelock line of reef". William and his fellow p.c Havelock shareholders held ground known as "No. 1 S.E. Havelock", which was registered on 5 May 1874. They maintained they could not sell the shares in their claim due to the disputed ground. William's company won the case when the warden stated that "the assessors were unanimous in finding a verdict for the defendants and they should be put in possession of the 400 feet of ground on the underlie".
High Times - Speculation, Wild Cats and Insolvency
In 1882. Charters Towers gold was in deep reefs and the equipment needed to extract and process it was financed by substantial southern and overseas investment. Many companies were floated in the "1882 Boom" designed to reopen mines whose surface workings had been unable to finance their development at depth. Local speculators, who made up the majority of the shareholders, soon lost patience with the "dead work" required to keep their mines and often refused to pay repeated calls for capital on their shares. The Warden's Court dealt with a constant stream of applications for exemptions from labour requirements as companies tried to postpone the inevitable forfeiture of their land.
The Northern Miner remarked that a "perfect mania has seized on the peopler forming companies on every available piece of land there is a chance of striking a reef on, and others have been taken up where there is not the slightest chance of ever getting on a reef."
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In December 1886, it was reported the Sir Henry Havelock Mine was "under offer for £14,000". This may or may not have been related to ground previously held by William Donovan, but that seems to be in the past. William is now employed as a "storekeeper", and his financial circumstances are not good. In 1886, William Timothy Donovan, "storekeeper" from Ravenswood was declared insolvent. A notice to creditors in June 1886, stated, "A First and Final Dividend, at the rate of 1s. 6d. in the pound is now payable."
Hard Times - Family strife and Drunkenness
On 22 July 1890 at the Charters Towers Police Court, before Messrss Millican, Kelly, and. Cavey - W. T. Donovan was charged with using threatening language toward his wife, Margaret Donovan, who asked that he might be bound over to keep the peace. The complainant stated that the defendant had threatened to take her life by shooting and in other ways. The prayer of the complainant was granted, defendant being bound over to keep the peace, in his own recognisance so far £20.
In December 1901, William and his brother Matt, were reunited in Brisbane for his mother's funeral.
1903 Census, Margaret and William are living in Millchester Rd, Charters Towers. Matilda, laundress is in Craven Street and there is a Timothy Donovan (teamster) In Gill Street,
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1906 Matilde, Laundress JANE ST
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1908 Census, Margaret and Michael are living in Oliver St, Charters Towers.
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1909 Census, Margaret (home duties), Michael (miner) and William (miner) OLIVER ST
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1913 Margaret (home)t, Michael miner, Micheal Jnr, miner, William (miner) OLIVER ST
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1925 Margaret (home), Michael (clerk) Thomas Gerald (miner) OLIVER ST
Charter's Towers Court House
On 6 December 1904, Margaret obtains a Prohibition Order against William for twelve months, presumably to stop the sale of liquor to her husband. Under the Qld Liquor Act: "When at any time it is made to appear to the court in open court that any person, by excessive drinking of liquor, misspends, wastes, or lessens his estate, or greatly injures his health or endangers or interrupts the peace and happiness of his family, the court shall, by order in writing (hereinafter referred to as a "prohibition order"), forbid any licensed person to sell to the said drunkard any liquor for the period of one year."
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There is some evidence that the family resided in Oliver Street, Charters Towers and that Margaret died there in 1908 aged 52 years. The only Qld record of a death of a William T Donovan in the early 1900's, appears to have been registered on 29 October 1906 by someone who barely knew the deceased. There are no names entered for the mother or father, and the surname is misspelt as "Donivan". Is it possible that at 60 years of age, William Timothy Donovan died alone or in the company of strangers?
Turn of a Century
When William and Margaret married in Charters Towers in 1873, in the heady days of newly discovered gold, life must have been full of promise.
Margaret would no doubt learn that the chores of the wife of a miner on the goldfields were endless. The most difficult was wash day. After miners spent all day digging in mud or clay, their clothes were filfthy. All clothes had to be washed by hand by soaking and scrubbing against a washboard. All bread, jams, soap, and candles had to be made by hand. If a family owned a cow, the women milked it and made butter.
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William started life as an eight year old on an adventure across the seas and grew up in one of the first hotels in the new colony of Queensland. However, his dreams of riches would fade away, as he realised he was actually one, of many thousands, who would never find gold.
Before the 1850s, Australia was a remote, little-known colony populated mainly by British convicts. But within months of the discovery of gold in 1851, Australia had an international reputation. The changes brought about by the first gold rushes transformed Australia and set its course of development for decades to come. Just 50 years after the first fateful find of Gold at Bathurst, the British colonies would unite to become the independent Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.
Margaret and William's life may have not fulfilled some of their personal dreams, but they did live to see the start of a new century and the creation of a new Commonwealth.
Federation celebrations in Charter's Towers - 1900
SECOND GENERATION DONOVANS
Michael Alexander DONOVAN (1884 - 1951)
Eliza Jane TAYLOR (1882 - 1964)
Charter Towers Grammar School Dec 1898 At the request of the Chairman Mr. T. Martin,
Principal, read the fourteen annual report
of the progress of the boys and girls placed
under his charge
prize for Dux of the school, presented
by Mr. George Dunsford was awarded to
Michael Donovan.
