Edward Harrigan 1803-1891
Edward Harrigan was born in Sydney in 1803 to Teague Harrigan and Mary Wade. He was a very early visitor to the Illawarra as a cedar cutter and a resident of Fairy Meadow from the 1820s until his death in 1891. Edward was living at Airds in 1821 when he was promised a grant of 60 acres of land by Governor Macquarie. The land he chose was at the part of Fairy Meadow now known as Tarrawanna, and alongside the land selected by his step-father Jonathon Brooker.
for a larger image and area location.
Edward was authorized to take possession of the land from the 18 May 1829 1 but he was probably in residence earlier as he, his mother and step-father and half siblings were all listed as in the Illawarra at the time of the 1828 Census. 2
Edward named his property ‘Spring Farm’ and it was situated close to the road now known as Caldwell Avenue, Tarrawanna. The images below show the home from slightly different perspectives.
Edward’s family
Edward began a family with former convict Mary Ann Webber in 1835.3 Mary had applied for permission to marry three different men between 1831 and 1834. All the applications were refused because Mary was married. There is no record of her marrying Edward Harrigan but their first child Mary Harrigan was born in 1835. Elizabeth followed in 1837 and James Edward in 1839. All three children were baptised in Wollongong and presumed to have been born at Fairy Meadow.
In early 1854 Mary was killed in an accident at Wollongong involving the cart she was travelling in. An inquest found a verdict of accidental death.4 Six months later, on 17 August 1854, Edward married Jane Wood in Wollongong.5 Jane’s sister Elizabeth had married Edward’s brother James Brooker in 1852. Jane and Elizabeth Wood had come from Cork, Ireland in 1849 with their widowed mother Eliza Wood (nee Marks). The Mrs Wood and her daughters are believed to have set up a school in Market Square, Wollongong but no actual evidence has been located. Elizabeth Wood is known to have lived in Market Square for a time in the early1850s after her marriage to James Brooker as the Brookers had a dispute with Dr Hosking regarding payment of meat and medicines which was reported in the Illawarra Mercury.6
In 1856 Sarah Jane Harrigan, the first child of Edward and Jane’s marriage, was born at Fairy Meadow. Sarah was followed by William in 1857, Louisa Emily in 1860 and Alice Clara in 1862.
Elizabeth Harrigan 1837-1915
James Edward Harrigan 1839-1929
Sarah Jane Harrigan 1856-1893
William Harrigan 1857-1948
Louisa Emily Harrigan 1860-1889
Alice Clara Harrigan 1862-1956
1. ↑ State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Archive Reel: 2710; Series: 1216; Description: Copies of Deeds of Grant to Land Alienated by Grant, Lease or Purchase 1838-1839 No. 46 Land Grants
2. ↑ State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia; 1828 Census: Alphabetical Return; Series Number: NRS 1272; Reel: 2553
3. ↑ A long descriptive account of Mary Webber’s dysentery on the Grenada is in the medical journal for the voyage The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Admiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Medical Journals; Reference Number: ADM 101/30/6
4. ↑ New South Wales Government. Registers of Coroners’ Inquests and Magisterial Inquiries, 1834–1942 (microfilm, NRS 343, rolls 2921–2925, 2225, 2763–2769). State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.
5. ↑ St Michael’s Wollongong, parish register.
6. ↑ “Local Intelligence.” Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 – 1950) 9 June 1856: 2. Web. 6 Jun 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136442178>.
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