The Harrick Family Pioneers of Keilor Victoria Australia

HARRICK'S COTTAGE is the headquarters of the Keilor Historical Society and the society would have a wealth of information about this pioneering family, but perhaps not about the manner of Peter Harrick's death in 1898. This report was found with a SPRINGFIELD, KEILOR ROAD search on trove.

THROWN FROM A HORSE.
Another accident, which occurred on the 7th inst. at Keilor, terminated fatally yesterday. Two brothers, named Peter and William Harrich, were riding towards their father's residence, when on approaching Springfield Hill Peter Harrich was thrown from his horse, his head striking the roadway heavily. He was picked up and taken to his home, where he subsequently died.
Harrich was a single man, 29 years old and was thorough acquainted with horses. An inquest will be held.
(P.6, Argus, 10-8-1898.)

I'd never heard of a Harrich family at Keilor and of course the journalist (or typesetter) had got it wrong.

EventDeath Event registration number12513 Registration year1898
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesPeter SexMale Father's nameHARRICK James Mother's nameBridget (Kernan) Place of birthKEILOR Place of deathKEILOR Age29

I tried a "PETER HARRICK" trove search in 1898 to check whether Peter's name had been spelled properly in the report of the inquest but there was not one result, the report of the accident above being the only result in a "PETER HARRICH" search. There should have been many results in the "PETER HARRICK" search because there were eight family notices (found with a "Harrick" search*) regarding the death of James and Bridget's fifth son, none of which mentioned the cause of his death.
e.g. HARRICK."”On the 8th August, at his parents' residence, Keilor, Peter, dearly beloved fifth son of James and Bridget Harrick, aged 29 years. Rest in peace.(P.55, The Ausralasian, 13-8-1898.)

• I have been advised to use inverted commas to eliminate irrelevant results but I rarely use them because relevant results can be eliminated too. To illustrate this, when I dropped the quotation marks from my "Peter Harrick" search in 1898, the family notices appeared.

James Harrick was obviously a successful farmer. From humble beginnings* he succeeded the Delaheys as owner of crown allotment 20 Doutta Galla, between Fosters Rd, now Keilor Park Drive, and the river. Also he leased and then, possibly in 1897, purchased the Kilburns' "Fairfield" the southern 400 acres of section 3 Tullamarine which the Williamsons had leased for decades and divided it into two 200 acre farms, the easternmost one fronting Broadmeadows Rd becoming George Mansfield's "Queenleigh" in 1910**, then the Bakers' "Preston Park", Tommy Loft's "Dalkeith", later owned by Leslie King Dawson and Percy Hurren with 40 acres (Eumarella and Gordon Sts)excised as Loft's Subdivision.

*HUMBLE BEGINNINGSare well illustrated by this Keilor Historical Society article about James Harrick which details his place of origin and voyage out. The land and hut he rented from Bourke and others was possibly one, or a combination, of the blocks near St Augustine's church,and between today's Fullarton Rd and the line of Spence St, purchased in 1855 by Bishop Goold,as shown on the TOWN OF KEILOR map,(PASTE digital.slv.vic.gov.au/dtl_publish/simpleimages/9/1032970.html into your search bar), with Bourke and others (such as George Dodd)being the appointed trustees. The hut leased in 1864 could not have been the one which was the basis of the Harrick Cottage because this was on section 20 Doutta Galla, owned by Alphabetical Foster (by then known as the Hon. John Foster Vesey Fitzgerald) until 1867.(P.2,The Age,14-9-1867.)

James and Bridget's son,Joseph, was living near the site of the railway bridge over the Maribyrnong by 1921, having left the Harrick Cottage, and hopefully did not suffer too much inconvenience during the bridge's construction circa 1928.

** PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT
NORTH ESSENDON Near Tullamarine Main Broadmeadows Road 404 ACRES Known as Kilburn's Estate, Opposite Junction Hotel and Nine mile Post
JOHN BUCHAN and Co (in conjunction with Henry Stevenson and Son) are instructed by the trustee of D. T. Kilburn, deceased, to SELL by PUBLIC AUCTION at their rooms 91 Queen street, or a date to be hereafter fixed, 404 ACRE FARM, Part of Crown Section 3 parish of Tullamarine.
All enclosed, and at present occupied by Mr James Harrick. It adjoins the properties of Sharp, Crotty, Nash,
and Mansfield, Esqs, and is bounded on two sides by Government roads.(P.2, Argus, 11-9-1897.)

Messrs. A. E. Gibson and Co. report having sold by private contract, on behalf of Messrs. James
Harrick and Son, 200 acres at Tullamarine, being the eastern portion of part of Crown portion 3,to Mr. George Mansfield; (P.21 Argus, 5-3-1910.)

The 404 acre property, described as "Harrick's long paddock" in an Oaklands Hunt report was so described as it had a frontage of a mile to the north side of Sharps Rd west from the Broadmeadows Rd corner. These were the two Government roads mentioned in the 1897 advertisement.James Sharp, owner of "Hillside" was retired and living in the homestead (opposite today's Eumarella St) on 8 acres with income derived from Thomas Nash's lease on the rest of his land, which adjoined the Crotty Family's "Broomfield", both being on section 21 Doutta Galla immediately south of section 3 Tullamarine. Samuel Mansfield's farm, known as Mansfield's Triangle (and in circa 1960 as the Triangular Estate) was across Broadmeadows Rd from "Fairfield" and fronted Bulla Rd. The Junction Hotel was between today's Mickleham Rd and Melrose Drive, the roads to Broadmeadows Township and Bulla until 1929 when Tommy Loft, a staunch Methodist had the hotel closed down, to become Cec and Lilly Green's store and that corner became known as Green's Corner.The 404 acres probably included the block near Cherie St donated by John Foster for the Wesleyan School which opened in 1855, but this land was never part of Fairfield" or Dalkeith. From 1868, the land was described as 400 acres and then two 200 acre farms in rate books. The plan of Loft's Subdivision had a v shaped kink in Dalkeith's northern boundary near today's Cherie St,which as titles information proved, was the Wesleyan School site.

The Butlers who established the Moonya Dairy, on the site of the Keilor Botanical Gardens if I remember correctly, were related to the Harrick family by marriage*. Florrie Butler used to contribute paper to the Tullamarine Kindergarten's paper drive in the early 1970's and circa 1989, Noel Butler contributed many anecdotes about the area's history. The Butlers did not inherit their land but bought it from Thomas Nash.

*The Harrick-Butler relationship was twofold. Catherine Harrick became Mrs E.Butler and Claude Butler,son of John and Sarah (nee Osborne)Butler married her niece, Florence Margaret Harrick.
CATHERINE'S BIRTH MARRIAGE AND DEATH RECORDS.
EventBirth Event registration number17365 Registration year1873
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesKate SexFemale Father's nameHARRICK James Mother's nameBridget (Kiernan) Place of birthKEILOR

EventMarriage Event registration number817 Registration year1900
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesCath SexUnknown Spouse's family nameBUTLER Spouse's given namesEdmd

EventDeath Event registration number1583 Registration year1941
Personal information
Family nameBUTLER Given namesCatherine SexFemale Father's nameHARRICK James Mother's nameBridget (Kiernan) Place of birthKEILOR Place of deathFITZROY Age67

BUTLER-HARRICK On the 17th March at St Monica s R C Church, Essendon by the Rev.Father O' Ryan, Claude Columbia, fourth son of Mr J and the late Mrs Butler, Essendon to Florence Margaret elder daughter of Mr and Mrs J Harrick Essendon. and niece of Mr and Mrs. E Butler.

EventMarriage Event registration number1007 Registration year1923
Personal information
Family nameBUTLER Given namesClaude SexUnknown Spouse's family nameHARRICK Spouse's given namesFlor Margt

HARRICK. "“ On June 30, at Sunshine, Joseph (late First A.I.F.), late of Keilor,loved uncle of Claude and Florrie Butler, of Tullamarine, grand-uncle of John (late R.A.A.F.), Richard (late Second A.I.F.),Margaret, Noel, and Joseph. "“R.I.P.

HARRICK. - In loving memory of my dear mother and father, Bridget Harrick, who died November 13, 1906, and James Harrick, died October 10, 1912, at Keilor. Rest in peace.(P.13, Argus, 13-11-1915.)

EventDeath Event registration number13498 Registration year1906
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesBridget SexFemale Father's nameKIERNAN Thomas Mother's nameBridget (Unknown) Place of birthIRELAND Place of deathKEILOR Age65 Spouse's family nameHARRICK Spouse's given namesJames

EventDeath Event registration number14757 Registration year1912
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesJas SexUnknown Father's nameHarrick Jas Mother's nameUnknown (Unknown) Place of birth Place of deathKeilor Age86

EventMarriage Event registration number1813 Registration year1861
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesJames SexMale Spouse's family nameKERNON Spouse's given namesBridget

HARRICK - On the 3rd December, at her parents' residence, Keilor, Mary Ann, the eldest and beloved daughter of Mr. James Harrick, aged 20 years and 4 months.(P.42, Leader, 13-12-1884.)

Mary Ann's death record does not appear on Victorian BDM. Nor can a marriage notice be found for James Harrick to establish the correct spelling of Bridget's maiden name. Thinking that Florence Margaret Butler was the daughter of James and Bridget, I decided to check the names of her parents on her death record but once I found these details, I remembered that I had previously discovered from a marriage notice that Flo could not have been a daughter of James and Bridget. James died in 1912 but Flo's father was still alive in 1923. It seems that Flo was the daughter of James and Bridget's son, John (born about 1867 but no birth record found),who was married in 1994 and died in 1944.

EventMarriage Event registration number4121 Registration year1894
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesJno SexMale Spouse's family nameDEZILLE Spouse's given namesFlor Isabel

EventDeath Event registration number10669 Registration year1944
Personal information
Family nameHARRICK Given namesJohn SexMale Father's nameHARRICK James Mother's nameBridget (Keirnan) Place of birthKEILOR Place of deathESSENDON NORTH Age77

EventDeath Event registration number16366 Registration year1987
Personal information
Family nameBUTLER Given namesFlorence Margaret SexFemale Father's nameHARRICK John Mother's nameFlorence Isobel (Degille) Place of birthKeilor Place of deathCoburg Age87

BUTLER-HARRICK On the 17th March at St Monica s R C Church, Essendon by the Rev.Father O' Ryan, Claude Columbia, fourth son of Mr J and the late Mrs Butler, Essendon to Florence Margaret elder daughter of Mr and Mrs J Harrick Essendon. and niece of Mr and Mrs. E Butler. (P.11, Argus, 5-5-1923.)

James Harrick junior died in 1894, not that this fact could be discovered from his death record.
Family nameHARRICK Given namesJames SexMale Father's nameUnknown Mother's nameUnknown (Unknown) Place of birthVICTORIA Place of deathMELBOURNE EAST Age31

HARRICK."”On the 19th inst., at the Melbourne Hospital, James Harrick, Victorian Railways, beloved second son of James and Bridget Harrick, of Keilor, aged 31 years. R.I.P. (P.1, Argus, 24-12-1894.)

HARRICK."” The Friends of Mr. JAMES HARRICK (of Keilor) are respectfully invited to follow the remains of his beloved son, James, to the place of interment, Keilor Cemetery. The funeral will leave the Melbourne Hospital, THIS DAY (Friday), 21st inst, at 1 o'clock.(P.8, The Age, 21-12-1894.)