Timothy Shanahan (1804 - 1888)

Born 1804 in Ireland

Descendants

Died 1888 at about age 84 in Warrenheip, Victoria, Australia

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Eureka Rebellion

Timothy Shanahan was born in Ireland.

Timothy Shanahan was involved in events associated with the Eureka Rebellion at Ballarat.

Biography

Timothy “Teddy”Shanahan was born around 1804 in Ireland.

Timothy was often referred to as Teddy Shanahan. He was often called Tagd (pronounced Taidie) which is the Gaelic equivalent of Timothy. ^{[1] [2]}

Timothy, wife Bridget, and daughter Bridget arrived in Victoria aboard the ‘James T Foord’ in 1851. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Timothy ‘Teddy’ Shanahan and his family were present during the Eureka stockade.

Shanahan was a merchant whose store on the Eureka gold reef had been engulfed by the stockade, he recalls how the rebels immediately became very short on food, drink, and accommodation, and that by 2nd December: "Lalor was in charge, but large numbers of the men were constantly going out of the Stockade, and as the majority got drunk, they never came back. The 500 or 600 from Creswick had nothing to eat, and they too, went down to the Main Road that night. Lalor seeing that none would be left if things went on, so he gave orders to shoot any man who left." ^[6]

Timothy passed away in 1888 at Warrenheip, Victoria, Australia. ^[7]

The History of Ballarat: From the First Pastoral Settlement to the Present, 1887.

Teddy Shannahan, whose story about the Eureka Stockade, gives some touches of the times when the first rushes had set the colony ablaze.

From notes furnished by gentlemen on the staff of the Ballarat Courier, after an interview with Shannahan, the author culls the following:—

My party arrived at Buninyong in 1851, just after Esmond and Dunlop, and we went on Golden Point a few days afterwards, where we got 8 oz from a bucketful of stuff. I saw one poor fellow killed by the fall of a tree which he had undermined recklessly, so anxious was he to get the gold. One day a commissioner and a trooper demanded my license, and, as I had not one, they took me, with a lot of others, to the camp, where we were guarded by eight or nine blackfellows, and they, with their polished boots, were looking as proud as possible. I got my license, after telling them my mind, and had to pay £10 in all. We went to Mount Alexander and Fryers' Creek and on to Bendigo, where we had our pick of a squatter's flock of sheep for 9s. a head. We were the first to sink in Long Gully. At Eaglehawk you could see the gold shining in the heap of dirt, and every man sat on his heap all night with pistol or some weapon in his hand; I thought they would be making picks and shovels of the gold, it was so plentiful. It was there the first nugget was found, one 9 lbs. in weight. We only got £3 an ounce for our gold. In a week or two we started for Geelong, where my family was, and "home, home," was the cry. Each of our party took about 8 lbs. weight of gold to Geelong. We spent Christmas of 1851 there, and soon after that decided to go again to Ballarat, taking our wives—Glenn and I—and families with us—seventeen in all. Three inches of snow fell in Ballarat on our arrival, and we were hardly landed on the Eureka when up came a commissioner and a trooper and demanded our grog; we had ten gallons of brandy, and had to give it up, and we had got it at the post office below, but we did not tell where we got it, though the commissioner knew, for the bullock driver, we believed, had told him. The trooper wanted a digger to assist him with the grog; "if you do," said I, "I'll smash your head", so the digger gave no assistance. Next day the commissioner came back to my mate, and got him to take the keg to the camp. We paid the post office man £1 a gallon for the grog, and he gave us back the £10. We started digging on the Eureka, near where the stockade was afterwards. One day, when the troopers were license hunting, I saw Thomas Maher get into a hollow log to escape the troopers; when he got in he found a snake there four feet long; it went to one end of the log, and Maher remained till the troopers went away. The diggers were wearied out of their lives by the troopers. They were tormented everywhere. Our party from first to last on the diggings must have paid about £500 in license fees.

Shanahan, in whose store the dream of anti-British freedom was sketched out by the red-hot insurgents of the fiery period between the burning of Bentley's hotel and the military attack of the 3rd December.

Mrs. Shanahan was much interested at this part of her husband's narrative, and took up the story herself, saying:—

I heard the firing first. My husband was not long gone to bed, and I pulled him out and told him the firing was on. He got up, and, said I to him, take out your gun. There is the little gun (pointing to an ancient fire arm against the wall). He went out, and must have hid himself in a small outhouse. There was a knock at our tent door, and a trooper and a soldier came in. "Shoot that woman", said the trooper. The foot soldier said, "Spare the woman", and the trooper said, "Well, get out of this, the place is going to be burnt down." They set fire to the place, but before it was much burnt I managed to put it out.

"The soldiers did not stay long," continued Shanahan, "and galloped away at once. I went out and had a look round. [The cautiously valiant man of big words yonder at the non-military camp in the far off Golden Point days!] There were dead bodies here and there. I would never like to see such a sight again. The poor fellows who had fought for their liberty I If all the people saw what I saw, there would soon be a grand monument up to those poor fellows. [The old man, say the interviewers, was here much moved.] We found Peter Lalor down a hole with his arm broken. We got him out, and he was taken away on Father Smyth's horse. I counted twenty-two dead. The pikemen suffered most." ^[8]

Daughter Bridgets wedding.——

In 1856, at the house of the bride's father, was married Bridget, daughter of Mr T. Shanahan, Eureka, to Mr Thomas Kirby.

All who have tho pleasure of knowing Mr Shanahan will know also that he is one of our musts respected citizens, and those who have been at his daughters wedding can well understand that the man who can do such honor to his friends must needs have a wide circle of them. Let us try if we can describe the scene.

The house of Mr Shanahan is pretty large, but we noticed that every fixture was removed so that could possibly be taken away, so as to increase the accommodation. This not being found sufficient, an auxiliary tent was placed at the rear. Two long tables wore ranged lengthwise with the side walls, and so as to leave sufficient room for those who served the parties at table to pass and re-pass. The tables were laid out with the most scrupulous care, and the good things, with the weight of which they weie actually bonding, would, have formed a charming retrospect for even the stomach of Aricius. Shall begin with the pig roasted whole, which graced the end of the ranges, and count through chickens. roast beef. roast pork, boiled beef, boiled pork, cram geese, ducks, turkeys, all lined with laughing potatoes, cabbage, peas, turnips, and the Lord knows what beside. The fact is I shall be too long getting down the other range of tables to my starting point, if i stay to enumerate one half that was there. In our view, however, the finest part of the entertainment was the pretty faces and laughing eyes that surrounded these same good things that we have failed to enumerate; for who is it that has not felt the effect of the fun and devilry that plays in the bright eye of an Irish girl. ^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ [ Timothy was often been referred to as Teddy. http://eurekapedia.org/Timothy_Shanahan ]
2. ↑ [ Timothy- Teddy-Tagd (pronounced Taidie) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadhg]
3. ↑ [PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA Search SHANAHAN, TIMOTHY Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 38; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 142 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index ]
4. ↑ [PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA Search SHANAHAN, BRIDGET Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 36; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 142 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index ]
5. ↑ [PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA Search SHANAHAN, BRIDGET Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 14; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 147 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index]
6. ↑ [ Shanahan, a merchant whose store on the Eureka https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Rebellion ]
7. ↑ [ Births Deaths & Marriages Victoria. Search VIC BDM DEATH Family name: SHANAHAN - Given name(s): Timothy - Event: deaths - Place of death: WARRENHEIP - Spouse at Death: CANNA, Bridget - Age at Death: 84 - Reg. year: 1888 - Reg. number: 16199/1888 ]
8. ↑ [ The History of Ballarat: From the First Pastoral Settlement to the Present, 1887. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1304971h.html ]
9. ↑ [ 1917 'AN OLD TIME RECORD', The Evening Echo (Ballarat, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), 11 April, p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241705381]

• Timothy Kirby (Shanahan) family history-

http://eurekapedia.org/Timothy_Shanahan

Research Notes

ARRIVAL Timothy—- SHANAHAN, TIMOTHY Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 38; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 142 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index

Wife Bridget— SHANAHAN, BRIDGET Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 36; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 142 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index

—————//

Daughter Bridget—- SHANAHAN, BRIDGET Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 14; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 147 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index

————//

Son James ——- SHANAHAN, JAMES Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 5; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 142 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index

—————//

Daughter Judith —- SHANAHAN, JUDITH Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 3; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 148 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index

—————///

Timothy‘s Brother and brothers wife?

SHANAHAN, JAMES Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 19; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 145 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index

SHANAHAN, BRIDGET Ship: JAMES T FOORD; Arrival Year: 1851; Arrival Month: MAY; Age: 22; Master: HUME JOHN; Book: 5; Page: 147 DATE: 1851 SERIES: Assisted British Immigration index