Importance of the "Uamby" cemetery

The Uamby cemetery, like many private cemeteries in rural areas, contains the remains of pioneers whose contribution to the nation will likely be forgotten as these graveyards deteriorate.

It contains several family groups. The most notable occupant of the cemetery is Michael Lahy, a pioneer of the Mudgee/Wellington region of New South Wales. His life was symbolic of many of the individuals who made a difference wherever they went, during the formative period of the fledgling colony.

He lies buried in his family graveyard on his property “Uamby” in the Goolma district, an area immortalised by Henry Lawson in many of his short stories, including “Water Them Geraniums”. Lahy’s headstone stands, clearly readable after more than 140 years, overlooking the Cudgegong River.


PICTURE: MASTER stonemason Laurie Thomson has been helping restore the headstones.

Michael Lahy as Pioneer

Lahy came to Australia as a convict. In 1815, at 24 years of age, he was a ringleader in an uprising against the British landlords in County Tipperary, Ireland. Of his 14 fellow conspirators, one was hanged and the rest transported. Lahy arrived on the Surrey 2 in December, 1816.

Michael Lahy was completely rehabilitated and earned his conditional pardon in 1821, two years ahead of the time he would normally have expected it. He had been assigned to work for Sir John Jameson, a landholder and prominent critic of Governor Macquarie.

He became a trusted foreman for William Cox, who built the road across the Blue Mountains to open up the Bathurst Plains to settlement, and for his son George Cox, who opened up the Mudgee district to settlement. George Cox and his brothers pushed into the Mudgee district in 1822, opening up the second major area of settlement beyond the mountains.

Lahy’s instinct for leadership – first seen in the uprising in Ireland that led to his conviction and transportation – made him a natural pioneer. His record marks him out as one of that type of individual whose optimistic attitude and ready adaptability made settlement possible. While the names of the major landholders appear in history books, the real work of coming to terms with the alien environment of New South Wales was done by pioneers such as Michael Lahy.

Most early colonists struggled to come to grips with Australia’s harsh and unpredictable personality. Their cultural traditions and beliefs about agriculture and land use were built on centuries of experience in a land where seasons are reliable, rainfall regular, and the soils rich. Centuries of agricultural practices had given the British countryside a stamp of permanence, stability and predictablity. British colonists were not prepared for Australia’s fickle rainfall, its extremes of heat and cold, and its alien native plants and trees. Their ancestors had never encountered bushfires, flash floods and drought.

Michael Lahy appears to have adapted rapidly to the natural rhythms of his new land. In a few short years he learned how to ‘read’ the landscape. This skill enabled him to play a significant role when the site of the township of Mudgee was chosen. The location chosen by the settlers was below the flood line, a danger even the surveyor was unable to see. Lahy convinced the authorities to move the town and Mudgee was sited on higher ground, spared the problems of flooding that afflicted many other inland communities. (Both the sites for the Uamby homestead and the Uamby cemetery itself are located just above the floodline, as close as is safe to the Cudgegong River.)

Lahy was noted for his leadership. His skills as a foreman saw him lead the team that drained the Burrundulla swamps.

His skills as a peacemaker saw him gain the confidence and trust of local tribes during the violent clashes of the 1824-1825 “Aboriginal wars”, after much slaughter on both sides. George Cox sent Lahy to Guntawang station to replace an overseer who had provoked trouble with the Indigenous inhabitants.

As soon as he became a free man in 1830, rather than return to his native Ireland, Michael Lahy decided to stay and applied for land to farm. His industrious nature was such that in the five years leading up to his freedom, while working for the Cox family, he had grown his own livestock holding s to 52 cattle, 10 pigs, and four horses. Lahy’s petition for a land grant was refused, despite the support of important people in the Colony, such as the Coxes, Sir John Jamison and Major Druitt.

It is a tribute to the contribution Lahy made to the opening up of the district that George Cox virtually gave him the property Uamby in 1839 for the sum of 10 shillings after Cox had paid £222 for it four years before. Lahy appears to have been defacto owner of the property from 1833 when he was first assigned convict workers and married his wife Mary Ann Thurston. His daughter Mary, born in 1834, was said to be the first white child born in the Mudgee district.

Michael Lahy became a successful pastoralist and landowner, gaining a reputation for great hospitality in the district. His transition from ex-convict to acceptance into polite society can be seen by his contribution of funds to the building of churches and by his inclusion among the 19 prominent citizens who founded the Mudgee Racing Club. Lahy not only bred race horses, it is said that he operated his own race track on Uamby.

But he was never officially recognised for his contribution to the Mudgee community, perhaps because of his background as a political rebel and the stain of his convict past. “In naming the streets of Mudgee, it would have been a fitting tribute to the man had one of them been named after him, but those were conservative days,” wrote G.H.F. Cox wrote, and ancestor of Michael Lahy’s grateful employer.


PICTURE: From the Holtermann Collection. This homestead near Gulgong is a good example of the kind of building pioneers such as Lahy erected for their families. Made of bark and saplings, they were economical and quick to erect. Other building styles popular with settlers were 'wattle and daub' (walls made of woven wattle braches and mud) and rammed earth walls.

What do we know about the Lahy family?

There are few records to tell us the details or even the broad scope of Michael Lahy's life and those of his family. We have only scraps of disconnected information we can seek new threads to weave a picture of a faint image of what their life was. Much of our work must be done in the imagination. Empathy. Compassion. They are needed to make history come alive. Not objectivity. That is needed to kill the historic imagination.

Michael Lahy, Criminal

Michael Lahy (pronounced "Lackey") was no London pickpocket or petty forger. He was an agriculturalist, in the long tradition of Irish freedom fighters referred to by that man of God Ian Paisley and other direct descendants of the British colonists who to this day occupy Northern Ireland, as 'terrorists'. Michael Lahy was an underground fighter resisting an occupying power. Like the French Resistance fought against the Nazis. Ireland has been fighting for its freedom from English occupation since the 1100's when it became the first colony in the British Empire, first invaded and occupied under Prince John, Richard Lionheart's brother who has entered legend as the usurper of the throne and the enemy of Robin Hood. The Irish had been under the English yoke for centuries. Northern Ireland is still considered occupied territory by many Republicans.

Lahy's crime was to destroy by fire a building that was to house a contingent of British bobbies sent to protect the tax collectors as they extracted the "tithe" or 10% of the produce of his farm which he now farmed as a tenant farmer.

Lahy travelled on foot some 20 miles in a night to reach the barracks building and destroy it, returning to his home by day break. He was with a dozen men. (This was the way local farmers could strike without being recognised. Groups of farmers, called 'white shirts', would travel to other districts to attack. All of this was taking place in what is today the Republic of Ireland.) The attack on the barracks was serious. The leader of the attack was hung and his 12 accomplices transported.

Paying tax to an occupying power? The taxes Michael Lahy was forced to pay were especially offensive because they were to support the Church of Ireland (no, this was not Lahy's Catholic Church, but the local branch of the Church of England). To force Roman Catholics to support the work of Protestants was a special kind of torture. The Catholics and the Protestants had been murdering each other since Martin Luther nailed his "Protest" to the church door.

The power of freedom to loosen a man's prejudice can be seen in the contribution Michael Lahy made (£5) to the erection of the Anglican Cathedral in Mudgee. And he is said to have had a good relationship with the Anglican Rector.

Michael Lahy, the Convict

Lahy was successful because replaced his hostile attitude to the British and became cooperative. He is a young man, yet he is made overseer for big projects by his colonial masters. He may have enjoyed the reversal of fortunes. As a skilled agriculturalist, he could read the countryside and extract a living from this hard, uncompromising land. He felt more at home here than the "bunyip aristocracy" that grew up in the colonies Lahy became trusted. He was a fixit man. When a situation needed to be mended because a former overseer had offended many, Lahy was the man for the job. While other convicts could be expected to run away or steal goods from their masters, realists like Michael and many others saw a future for themselves in the new community. Lahy got time off for good behaviour.

His ability to get on well with fellow convicts and aborigines as well as his masters tells us he was a likeable fellow, probably with the gift of the blarney. Reports that he was known for his hospitality once he became a landholder confirm that he was a people person.

Michael Lahy, the husband and father

There are incidents that reveal Lahy as a jealous, possessive man who ruled his family with a form of terror. His daughter Mary Ann eloped with an 'uncle' (a term used braodly at the time to describe any senior male relative not a brother). Lahy was enraged, probably by the defiance of his wishes, so much so he left her one shilling in his will and forbade that her name be mentioned in the family. (This behaviour is very common among Irish Catholic men of my great-grandfather's generation and back.)

His wife, Mary Alice Thurston, was to be able to live in the ancestral home at "Uamby" so long as she remained a widow. If she remarried, she was to be evicted. This jealousy was not considered unusual in these days when a man's property rights were dominant over a woman's.

When his youngest daughter Alice died from being bitten by a brown snake, Lahy buried her in the plot he was to occupy, with his wife beside him. Such intermingling of remains might be seen as a loving act if we knew it was Lahy's expressed wish. As he was conscious for the 48 hours he took to die of 'apoplexy', he could have given these instructions.

(NB. Some of the facts included need verification, ie. 48 hours, 'apoplexy'. I am writing from memory as I have my files elsewhere. But Edward Perroy wrote the definitive book on the Hundred Years' War with no access to his notes because he was on the run from the Nazis in the French Resistance.)



PICTURED: From the famous Holterman Collection, this photograph reveals the severity of life in the 19th century. Women wore layers of hot clothing, even in sweltering summers. They were also oppressed by their menfolk. This was before women were given the vote. They were discriminated against in every way, especially in their legal rights. However a glance through the newspapers of the day reveal that wives were handy with rolling pins when husbands took to drinking or other disorderly behaviour.

Project plan

PICTURE: Family and volunteers helped lift the headstones off the ground to get them away from the corrosive effects of salt.

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The current owners of the freehold title of Uamby are anxious to preserve and promote the historical nature of the property for future generations, for descendents of the occupants of the cemetery and for interested members of the community.

A small, informal working group, which includes an experienced stone mason and a museum curator, has developed a vision for an ideal outcome for the project.

1. The site is to be cleared of its infestation of trees.

2. The headstones are to be secured, cleaned and reset on their original places as far as accuracy is possible.

3. A list of all buried within and the inscriptions on all headstones will appear on a large piece of granite or marble with a polished surface, standing in the vicinity.

4. If possible, a display of artefacts and visual material depicting the history and culture of the original inhabitants, Michael Lahy’s career, and the property’s development will be available to visitors in a room in the cottage which stands on the site of Lahy’s original homestead.

5. A small booklet about the occupants of the cemetery could be published for descendants and interested members of the public. A website could also make this information available.

6. A special event will be staged to mark the restoration of the cemetery and to celebrate the life of Michael Lahy and his fellow pioneers. This event could include a thoroughbred horse race (reflecting his passion for racing and the fact he had a private track on Uamby) and a celebration of Irish culture.

Headstone restoration plan

The project presents several challenges:

1. Determining how many occupants there are.
2. Identifying the occupants.
3. Locating the occupants for correct placement of the headstones.
4. Restoring the headstones.


IMAGE: The then Mudgee Shire Council mapped the location of the cemetery and the position of the headstones in 2002, so we have an accurate picture of where each goes when they are returned from restoration. Thanks to Mayor James Thompson for this support.

Number of occupants

The cemetery at Uamby has 52 known occupants, 19 of whom have headstones.

Some are unknown. The first recorded burial was that of Lahy’s daughter Alice in 1851. But Maurice Hennessey’s memoirs mention the graveyard, saying that in 1854 Michael Lahy pointed out a grave in the cemetery which contained Hennessey’s older brother. “My brother was one of the first to be buried in that small and secluded resting place. That would be in the late ‘30s or ‘40’s,” he wrote.

Therefore the exact number of occupants is not yet known. A public appeal for information as well as a search of official records is being conducted to gain as much information as possible within the time frame allowed.

Identifying the occupants: headstones

PICTURED: Mary Bird

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Former owner of “Uamby” Mary Bird transcribed the headstones. Her list of occupants contains 17 names, according to a document prepared by Ruth Davis, local historian, Gulgong:

Brophy, Michael 17/11872 49y
Driscoll, Amelia Anne 27/6/1915 61y5m
Driscoll, Denis 20/7/1883 5y
Driscoll, William 10/7/1912 30y
Finnamore, David 3/1/1880 15y
Grady, Mary A. 331/9/1880 26y
Hunt, Bridget 2/10/1877 19.5y (1871 BH)
Lahy, Alice 4/10/1851 12y
Lahy, Catherine 22/6/1877 7y4m
Lahy, John 27/2/1879 6y10m
Lahy, John 23/11/1899 58 brother
Lahy, Michael Sr 1/6/1859 66
Lahy, Michael Jr 25/4/1906 no age
Lahy, Mary Anne 20/6/1880 66
Lahy, Matthew 7/7/1914 68 son
Lahy, William 11/7/1911 68
Turvey, Frederick 21/7/1873 58

Additional to these, headstones have been found for the following:

Fitzsimmons, Catherine b. 1836, m. Michael Brophy, m. John Fitzsimmons
Prendegast, John b. 1821
Prendegast, Eliza

The headstones are currently clustered in the following groups:

Group 1: In a line facing the Cudgegong River

• Michael Lahy Sr. and daughter Alice
• Mary Anne Lahy (wife)
• John Lahy (Michael Lahy’s son)
• Michael Lahy (Michael Lahy’s son)
• Catherine Fitzsimmons (Michael Lahy’s daughter), Michael Brophy (husband), Mary A Grady (Catherine and Michael’s daughter)
• William Lahy (Michael Lahy ‘s son)
• Catherine Lahy (William’s daughter, Michael Lahy’s grand-daughter)
• John Lahy (William’s son, Michael Lahy’s grand-son)

Group 2: In a line immediately behind the main Lahy family, facing the Cudgegong River

• Amelia Anne Driscoll (Michael Lahy’s daughter)
• William Driscoll (Amelia Anne’s son, Michael Lahy’s grand-son)
• Dennis Driscoll (Amelia Anne’s son, Michael Lahy’s grand-son)

Group 3: Behind the Driscoll family and to the left

• David Finnamore

Group 4: Enclosed by an iron fence at a distance of 12 metres from the
Lahy family cluster

• Frederick Turvey
• Bridget Hunt

Group 5: Found facing Michael Lahy’s headstone in a position that indicates it is out of location (on an angle, too close to Michael Lahy’s plot for convention – confirmed by a photograph from 1950)

• Prendegast, John
• Prendegast, Eliza (wife)

Links between occupants

PICTURED: Several miners are buried in the Lahy family cemetery. The goldfields were adjacent to the graveyard and the remnants of the mullock heaps and ramparts can still be seen today. (From the Holterman Collection.)

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21 of the 52 known occupants are either directly related to Michael Lahy or related by marriage on in some way connected by family ties.

• Michael Brophy: Married Michael Lahy’s daughter Catherine.

• Dennis Driscoll: Michael Lahy’s grandson, his mother being Amelia Lahy.

• Mary C. Finucane: Michael Lahy’s granddaughter, her mother being Jane Lahy.

• Catherine Fitzsimmons: Michael Lahy’s daughter

• Mary Anne Grady: Michael Lahy’s granddaughter, her mother being Catherine Fitzsimmons (nee Lahy).

• Ellen Maude Veronica Hughes and Mary Anne Usula Hughes: Michael Lahy’s son William marries Mary Hughes in Wellington in 1865. Mary may have been related to Ellen’s father Thomas Hughes.

• John and Eliza Prendergast: John’s mother is a Mary Lahy who never came to Australia from Ireland. However John Prendergast and his son were both closely involved with the Lahy family, suggesting Michael and Mary Lahy were related, perhaps brother and sister.

• Mary Ellen Redmond: Her mother was Ann Driscoll. Michael Lahy’s daughter Amelia married George Driscoll in 1872 and his daughter Jane married Dennis Driscoll in 1868. Mary Ellen died in 1871 at Gulgong.

• Frederick Turvey: There is considerable intermarriage with the Turvey family after Michael Lahy’s death, but not before.

• Catherine Whale, David Whale and George Henry Whale: Their mother was Anastasia Hughes. Michael Lahy’s son William married Mary Hughes in Wellington in 1865. Mary was Anastasia’s older sister.

The connection with the remaining 31 known occupants will need to be discovered. It could be that the family graveyard became a public cemetery, a necessity for quick disposal of bodies in a time when morgue facilities were not available in farming districts such as Goolma.

The location of the cemetery – which stands now at an isolated spot on the property but when established was beside the main thoroughfare leading to the easiest river crossing in the area – indicates it may have been seen by local residents as the public cemetery for the district.

An analysis of the occupants by order of interment reveals that Michael Lahy and his daughter Alice were the first occupants. In the 5 years after these were interred Henry Thomas who died aged 40 at nearby property Wyaldra, and John Winters who died aged 61 at Uamby. No parents were available for these men. They may have been workers, perhaps former assigned convicts which sources say Lahy received after he took up Uamby.

An analysis of the places of death will reveal the distance bodies were transported for burial at Uamby, which in itself might indicate some relationship with the family or the district.

Desk research in local and state archives and media records is being conducted to identify links between these people and add to our knowledge of the occupants.

Locating the occupants

A physical search of the surface of the soil for evidence of other headstones is proposed. (Such an initial search has revealed at least two headstones in the early stages of the project.)

A means of scanning the subsoil of the site to locate actual burial sites by sonar or deep x-ray technology is being investigated.

Restoring the headstones

Consultant stonemason Laurie Thomson has recommended the following restoration regime:

• Michael Lahy Sr. and daughter Alice – washing, touch clean; no adjustment for slight lean.

• Mary Anne Lahy – wash clean, reset plinth, reposition

• John Lahy and Michael Lahy – general clean, reset plinth, reset headstone back on plinth

• Catherine Fitzsimmons, Michael Brophy, Mary A Grady – reset base oplinth and second level plinth, reset obelisk, reattach capstone.

• William Lahy – general clean, reset plinth, reassemble pieces

• Catherine Lahy – reset plinth, reset headstone back on plinth

• John Lahy – reset plinth, reset headstone back on plinth

• Amelia Anne Driscoll – remove and reassemble headstone and pin pieces together, remove upper part of base and repin sliver of base, reattach.

• William Driscoll – clean, insert pins in tongue and groove, reset on plinth

• Dennis Driscoll – clean, reset plinth, reset headstone back on plinth

• David Finnamore – clean, re-attach moulding fragments, reattach capstone, reset plinth, reset headstone.

• Frederick Turvey – secure cracking by splints, clean

• Bridget Hunt – reassemble pieces and pin, reset plinth, reset headstone.

• Prendegast, John, and Prendegast, Eliza – clean, leave until correct location decided