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KEENAN FAMILY in Australia |
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BATLOW, New South Wales, Australia Last updated 28/7/2010 |
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Batlow is a small town in the highlands of New South Wales. It began as a gold mining town, called Reedy Flat. These days Batlow is most famous for growing apples, but.also produces pears, cherries and other stone fruit as well as berry crops. A strong timber industry and the harvesting, packing and processing of the districts fruit crops are the town’s main employers.
Batlow, which was named after the surveyor who laid out the place, is 443 km south west of Sydney via the Hume and Snowy Highways. The nearest major centre is Tumut. |
Keenan settlement in Batlow
Henry John Keenan and Nancy Jane (Ann) Keenan (nee Gamble) from Glenone, County Derry, Northern Ireland, settled in Reedy Flat (Batlow) in about 1870. "The site of their early Batlow home was where the orchard of Bowman & Sons now stands, and here eight more children were born, making the total family five daughters and six sons." - see 1949 article by grandson, George Keenan, which appeared in the Tumut and Adelong Times. (This area is at the southern end of Batlow.) For the location, see these maps:
It is in this area that a road has been named Keenans Road (see maps above), so named because of the pioneering role that Keenans played in the establishment and development of Batlow, and because the farming property at the far end of the road was owned by Keenans.
Apparently this property is still owned by Keenans. According to the 2008 White Pages directory, D E Keenan is at 173 Keenans Road, Batlow, and K Keenan is at 180 Keenans Road, Batlow.
According to the 2008 electoral roll, Kenneth Neville Keenan resides at a property known as "Hillview", which is at 180 Keenans Road, Batlow. Internet searches of Real Estate firms indicate that this property is up for sale, although they state that it is a 0 Keenans Road, Batlow (October 2008). Advertisements describe the property as follows:
"HILLVIEW": Magnificent lifestyle block with mature orchard. The orchard consists of over 3250 mixed variety apple trees, the majority of which have hail netting. The land ranges from gently undulating open cleared grazing country through to semi-cleared regrowth grazing running to steeper timbered ridges. Water is a feature with about 1.2km of frontage to the Gilmore Creek with one of the best fishing & swimming holes in the district & a 6 hectare irrigation license. Power is on site & there are several superb home sites on the property making this the perfect getaway.
[ http://www.homehound.com.au/0+keenans+road+batlow+nsw+2730/ ]
Photographs of "Hillview", Keenans Road, Batlow, October 2008, accompanying the abovementioned advertisement give the following views:
Sometime after the death of Henry John Keenan in 1889 , Nancy Jane (Ann) Keenan [who married again and became Ann Hobson] acquired a small property in another part of Batlow, near the golf course and below farming property named "Adamilla". She shared this property with her oldest son, James, and his wife Florence:
Recent Keenan Residents in Batlow
As at 15 October 2008 the White Pages residential telephone directory lists 14 Keenan households in the Batlow postcode area (2730), one in Bombowlee (2720) and two in Tumut (2720).
An Addresses Register produced by the NSW Electoral Commission in January 2008 shows:
That the names of properties in Keenans Road included "Avondale", "Kevala", "Clearstream", "Snubba", "Hillview" and "Elmsleigh".
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Song to the Pioneers of Batlow |
SONG TO THE PIONEERS
Tune: “Botany Bay”
Now come all you people of Batlow and listen and heed what I say,
About all the well known identities who are gathered here today.
There are Mouats and Hides and Quarnbys,
There are Keenans and Barbaries and more.
They are pioneers of Batlow, who did all the hard work before.
They started this town from nothing, with bullock teams, axes and saws,
The sweat and the curses and swearing, helped many a man through his chores.
The early settlers came flocking for the gold in the cold mountain streams,
And suffered torment and hardship in search of a golden pipe dream.
The gold rush soon it was ended, many settlers departed this land.
The few that were left with their visions started a pioneer band.
They saw in this beautiful valley a future in apples and pears,
And made from the virgin rain forest, a land that would always be theirs.
For many long years they laboured, their names increased by the score,
And many the deeds they accomplished with axes and cross cut saws.
So today all you people of Batlow who live in the ease of the time,
Take pause in your daily devotions and remember your pioneer line.
[Note: I do not know who wrote these words. It appears that they were written several decades ago, when admiration for the pioneers was at its peak. Peter Keenan.]
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Batlow - Photographs and General Information
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This photograph was published in 1925, but appears to have been taken several years before. (PJK) |
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