Georgiana (Kennedy) Molloy (1805 - 1843)

Born 23 May 1805 in near Carlisle, Cumberland, England

Ancestors

Wife of John Molloy — married 1 Aug 1829 in Cardross, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 8 Apr 1843 at age 37 in Vasse River, Western Australia, Australia

Biography

Georgiana (Kennedy) Molloy is Notable.

Georgiana Molloy (1805-1843) left England for the new colony in Western Australia in 1829. She settled in Augusta, where her husband John was appointed resident magistrate. She was a keen gardener and became interested in the indigenous flowers of the area. She was invited to send seeds of WA plants to England and did so, accompanying them with written descriptions and with albums of pressed flowers. The seeds were given to various botanical gardens in England, and plants previously unknown were propagated and developed, and were scientifically classified.

WA Women's Hall of Fame Biography, 2011 ^[1]

Birth and Christening

Georgiana Kennedy was born on 23 May 1803 to David Kennedy and Elizabeth Kennedy (nee Dalton), in a large mansion owned by her grandfather in Abbey Street, Carlisle, Cumberland, England. She was one of 5 children.

Georgiana was Christened on 24 June 1805 at Carlisle-St. Mary, Cumberland, England. ^[2]

Family Home - Crosby Lodge

In about 1808, her father built Crosby Lodge, where the family lived. ^{[3][4][5] [6]}

The Kennedy Home, Crosby Lodge

Father's Death - 1819

When Georgiana's father died suddenly in 1819, she was only 14 years old. Her family needed to move out of Crosby Lodge and struggled financially for the next 10 years.

Marriage - 1829

In February 1828 she accepted an invitation to stay with Alexander Dunlop’s family at Keppoch House in Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It was while she was staying in Scotland that she received a proposal from Captain John Molloy. They were married on 1 August 1829 at the Parish Church, Station Road, on the north side of the Firth of Clyde, located on the banks of the river Clyde, about 18 miles west of Glasgow between Dumbarton and Helensburgh, in Dumbartonshire, Scotland.^[7][8].

Keppoch House

Warrior, 1830

Emigration - 1829

John and Georgiana Molloy emigrated to the new settlement of Swan River, Western Australia in October 1929 in the Warrior. The Morning Post in London, 31 October 1829 stated:

The Warrior, a fine vessel of 600 tons, bound to the new settlement on Swan River, Australia, sailed for her destination on Friday, from Portsmith. The Warrior carries out upwards of 250 passengers to the colony, several of whom are gentlemen possessing independent fortunes who have embarked considerable capital in the speculation ; and two of the principal emigrants, named Bryne and Molloy, paid £1000, for the best accommodation the vessel could afford their families and suites. ^[9][10]

Swan River Colony 1832 Census Missed. (at Vasse ?)

The Swan River Valley Settlement

6 weeks after arrival, the Molloys and their 8 servants settled 322 km southward of Perth at Augusta at the opening of the Blackwood River on Flinders Bay, where John was appointed resident magistrate. Two other families with their servants accompanied them.

The settlers found Augusta a very difficult environment and in 1836 settlers started to move away to find an easier environment in which to live.

The Molloys left Augusta in 1839 and moved to the Vasse River, sixty miles (97 km) northward, where a homestead, Fair Lawn, was built. ^[7]

Fairlawn Estate in 2018

Western Australian Women's Hall of Fame - Inductee 2011

To relieve the hardships of living in the new settlement Georgiana started to take an interest in the flora of the indigenous plants in the new settlement.

Georgiana was invited to send seeds of WA plants to England and did so, accompanying them with written descriptions and with albums of pressed flowers. The seeds were given to various botanical gardens in England, and plants previously unknown were propagated and developed, and were scientifically classified. ^[11]

She won mention in George Bentham's Flora Australiensis … (London, 1863-78) and in Britten and Boulger's A Biographical Index of Deceased British and Irish Botanists, 2nd ed (London, 1931). ^[7]

Georgiana was inducted into the Western Australian Women's Hall of Fame in 2011. ^[12]

Children

John and Georgiana Molloy had 7 children:

(1) Elizabeth Mary Molloy, b. & d. May/Jun 1830

(2) Sabina Dunlop Molloy, b. 11 Jul 1831, d. 27 Aug 1905, m. 30 Dec 1848, Matthew Blagden Hale, son of Robert Hale Blagden Hale & Theodosia Eleanor (Bourke) Hale

(3) John Molloy, b. bef. 1839, d. at age 19 mths

(4) Mary Dorothea Molloy, b. abt. 1835, d. 13 May 1881, m. 18 Jul 1855, Edmund Frederick Du Cane, ^[13] son of Richard DuCane & Eliza (Ware) Du Cane

(5) Amelia Molloy, b. 1 Jun 1838, d. 2 Sep 1910, m. 22 Jul 1857, William Richardson Bunbury, son of James Mervyn Richardson Bunbury & Margaret (Moutray) Richardson-Bunbury

(6) Flora Elizabeth Molloy, b. 8 May 1840, Vasse, Western Australia, Australia, d. 29 Dec 1868, m. 1859, William Locke Brockman, son of William Locke Brockman & Ann Frances Isabella (Hamersley) Brockman

(7) Georgiana Molloy, b. abt 1842, d. abt. Feb 1874

Death - 1843

Georgiana did not recover from the birth of her 7th child, Georgiana in 1842. After many months of illness she passed away on 8 April 1843, at Vasse River, (now Busselton), Western Australia, Australia. ^[14]

Family Notices

St Mary's Church, Cemetery, Busselton

Molloy , John. A . 8 October 1867 . Aged 87 years

Molloy , Georgiana . - 1843? . Aged 37 years

Articles about Georgiana Molloy

The Australian Women's Weekly (11 Feb 1976), "At home with Margaret Sydney" ^[15]

The Canberra Times (19 March 1994), "The flowering of a pioneer woman" ^[16]

The Canberra Times (21 February 1988), "Boronia molloyae A type of immortality"^[17]

Sources

1. ↑ WA Women's Hall of Fame Bio, 2011, retrieved online 24 December 2019 [1]
2. ↑ England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, FHL 0252807-0252810
3. ↑ Barry, B., Blog online called "GeorginaMolloy.com", retrieved online [2]
4. ↑ Historic England, "Crosby Lodge", retrieved online 26 December 2019
5. ↑ Crosby Lodge Hotel
6. ↑ [File:Crosby Lodge Hotel - geograph.org.uk - 1181507.jpg Crosby Lodge Hotel - geograph.org.uk - 1181507]
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Alexandra Hasluck, Molloy, Georgiana (1805–1843), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 27 December 2019
8. ↑ Old Parish Registers Banns and Marriages : ScotlandsPeople & The National Records of Scotland; Reference: (Marriage Year-1829); John Molloy & Georgiana Kennedy; Registration Parish: Cardross; County: Dumbartonshire; Registration Details: 494/ 30 263 (Page 263 of 409); Record Link: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
9. ↑ Morning Post Newspaper, Saturday 31 October 1829, "Swan Valley", retrieved online at British Newspaper Archive on 2 8 December 2019. [3]
10. ↑ THE PRESS AND THE BAR. (1830, March 29). Launceston Advertiser (Tas. : 1829 - 1846), p. 3. Retrieved December 28, 2019
11. ↑ WA Women's Hall of Fame Bio, 2011, retrieved online 24 December 2019 [4]
12. ↑ WA Women's Hall of Fame, Inductee Biographies 2011, retrieved online 28 December 2019 [5]
13. ↑ Sir Edmund Frederick Du Cane (23 March 1830 – 7 June 1903): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Frederick_Du_Cane
14. ↑ Western Australian Birth, Deaths, Marriages, 49/1843, Molloy Georgiana, age 37
15. ↑ At home with Margaret Sydney (1976, February 11). The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), p. 69. Retrieved December 28, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44524785
16. ↑ The flowering of a pioneer woman (1994, March 19). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 10 (Saturday MAGAZINE). Retrieved December 28, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118158988
17. ↑ Boronia molloyae A type of immortality (1988, February 21). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 6. Retrieved December 28, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101977875