The Historical Society of Mareeba publishes a quarterly newsletter on their website (at http://www.mbahistsoc.org.au/index.html) highlighting memorable events and people of the town in times past. The No. 62 May 2014 Newsletter carried the following item, reproducing a news article from the Cairns Post published on 28 August 1942. This is extracted below courtesy of the Trove website.
A Tribute
Two worthy citizens who had known Mareeba over a long period of years passed away recently within a few hours of each other. They were Mrs. Mary Egan, at Mareeba, on Saturday August 22, and Mrs. Minnie Wallace, at Coogee, Sydney, on August 23. By a coincidence the paths of each had much in common. Both were possessed of those sterling traits that are features of exemplary character. Into the life of each had long ago come a great sorrow brought about by the loss of a loved husband. Mrs. Egan’s son, Jim, soldiered through the horror of 1914-18 until peace came. Returning to Australia, he met with an accident at the Granite Sawmills, Mareeba, and from its effects he died an hour or two later. Jim Wallace, also of the First A.I.F., was killed in action at Mont St Quentin in September, 1918. His battalion was the 26th. Jim Egan and Jim Wallace had been mates in Mareeba.
Mrs. Egan was born in Ireland 84 years ago. With her husband she went across to the United States, living there for a while. But as Australia seemed to offer better opportunities the Egan family came to Queensland, where Patrick Egan took up railway work and made his home on the Barron at Mareeba.
Mrs. Wallace was bom near Glasgow 79 years back, and, in time, sailed to Queensland, residing in various centres. About 1905 the Wallace family went to live in Mareeba, which town Mr. Charlie Wallace, an inspector serving the old Chillagoe Railway Company, made his headquarters.
Mrs. Egan’s loss is mourned by three daughters, Mary, Agnes and Mrs. Molloy, and three sons, Jack, Tom and Joe. All members are well-known in the district and made frequent visits to the home in Mareeba. Their father has been dead many years.
The death of Charlie Wallace in 1916 broke up the Mareeba home of the Wallaces, as Mrs. Wallace decided to live in Sydney, taking up residence near her daughter, Mrs. M. Gaughan, at Coogee. There were six sons left, some of whom took up railway work. Bob is at present in Gladstone high up in the service. Charlie is a guard on the Cairns district railways. He is also Councillor Wallace, of the Wookathata Shire Council. Tom Wallace, in the Postal Department, lived in Sydney with his mother until his death in recent years. William is somewhere in the West, Jack is at Mackay, and Watty is an energetic personality in industrial matters in Cairns.
The writer of this has known the Egan and Wallace families for a long time and has herein endeavoured to pay a deserved tribute to the memory of two warm-hearted, loyal-natured citizens. For them the long day of toil is through. May they rest in peace. H.A.B.
Jim (James Vincent) Egan was my grand uncle, and Mrs Mary Egan, my great-grandmother. While the Egan family did live in the United States – Patrick Egan and Mary (Maria) Coyne were married in Philadelphia in 1883 – they also spent time in South America before returning to Ireland briefly and then migrating to North Queensland.
James Vincent Egan was one of the five children born in South America in the ten years between 1886 and 1896. He was born in Rojas, now a suburban area of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1892. He was one year older than my grandmother, Margaret (“Mrs Molloy”). Other children were born in the USA, Ireland and Australia, bringing the total of children born to Patrick and Mary to eight (in addition to the children of the Cavanaugh cousins, Honoria and William, who they cared for after their parents Thomas and Anna Cavanaugh died in Philadelphia).
Children of Patrick Egan & Mary Coyne (click to view in another window)
Jim or James was 7 when the family arrived in Townsville, Queensland as remittance passengers on the ship Duke of Portland, which left London on December 15th, 1899, arriving on 5th February 1900. Jim was working as a railway porter when he enlisted in the army in July 1916.
He embarked from Melbourne as part of the 10 Machine Gun Company on 25 October 1916, and after time in England was transferred to Camiers in France in April 1917. He was wounded in France in September 1917, receiving gunshot wounds to head, shoulders and arms while his then company, 4th Machine Gun Co., participated in an attack at West Lock Ridge, near Ypres. The unit war diary for the day he was wounded notes at 5.57 am: Artillery fire deafening. One continuous thunder. The day was September 26th, the first day of the battle of Polygon Wood.
James was evacuated to hospital in England, and recovered sufficiently to return to France in May 1918. After the war ended, he was shipped back to Australia and discharged in September 1919. Less than a year later he was killed in the sawmill accident in Mareeba, as detailed in the following news reports.
Cairns Post (Qld) Thursday 22 July 1920
MAREEBA FATALITY. PINNED BY A LOG. A TERRIBLE DEATH.
A sad accident, with fatal consequences, occurred at the Jamieson Estate Sawmills, (wires our Mareeba correspondent) on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in the death of James Egan, a highly respectable member of a well-known Mareeba family. At the time the accident occurred Egan was unloading a truck-load of logs at the mill siding, and by some misadventure, one of the logs on the truck suddenly rolled and pinned the unfortunate man against a log that had previously been removed. Various mill employees were present at the time, and quick action was taken to remove the unfortunate young man from his serious position. Dr. Perkins was quickly in attendance, and the injured man was conveyed to the Mareeba district hospital, where every effort was made by the doctor and the nursing staff to alleviate his sufferings, but death took place within a short time of the disaster.
Deceased was an employee of Jamieson’s mill of long standing, and during the late European war served for a considerable time with the forces. He was wounded in action, and subsequently returned to his old employment where he met his untimely death. The remains will, to-day, be accorded a military funeral by the Mareeba branch of the Returned Soldiers’ League.
The Brisbane Courier (Qld.) Friday 23 July 1920
KILLED BY A FALLING LOG. CAIRNS, July 22.
James Egan, a returned soldier, was killed whilst working at the sawmills at Mareeba owing to a log suddenly falling on him. He was well known throughout the district, and his funeral, which took place this afternoon, was one of the biggest military funerals witnessed in Mareeba.
Cairns Post (Qld.) 21 July 1924
EGAN. – ln loving memory of James Vincent, who was accidentally killed at Jamieson’s Estate Mill, Mareeba, July 21st, 1920.
I who love you sadly miss you as it dawns this fourth sad year.
In the lonely hours of thinking of you are ever near.
Never can my heart forget the sorrow and grief.
The pain must always last
(Inserted by his mother)
He is buried in the Mareeba cemetery, with a headstone commemorating his life.
As for his mate, Jim Wallace, who died in France in September 1918, he is buried in Peronne Communal Cemetery, Peronne, Picardie, France, a Commonwealth War Graves site, a long way from home.
More on Mary Coyne Egan in a later post …