Thomas Joseph McGahan

Early life and Education

Thomas Joseph McGahan was born in Ballynakilly, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in 1845. His parents were James McGahan and Mary McGahan (nee. Tally), and he had at least one known brother, Patrick McGahan. They were a Catholic farming family, and Thomas grew up accustomed to life on the land. He was educated at the Galbally National School, and Dungannon College.

Immigration

In 1863, at the age of 26, Thomas immigrated to Queensland, Australia on board the Golden Dream. Why he left Northern Ireland is uncertain. Though the Catholic Relief Act had been passed decades previously, and Protestant Ascendancy had been heavily diminished, there was continual sectarian conflict, especially in Northern Ireland. The 1860s saw the height of Irish immigration to Australia.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3163593 (article recording details of the passage of the Golden Dream)

Upon arrival, Thomas settled in rural Darling Downs, Queensland. He took up a job as a station hand at Rosenthal, where he was employed for a number of years. In 1868 he took up land of his own, a sixty acre selection which he expanded to Swan Creek in 1873.

Political Career

Whether Thomas began his political career in Ireland is unknown, but certainly he came to be very involved in Queensland politics.

In Australia, his career began at the level of local government. The Divisional Boards Act of 1879 divided the areas of Queensland without a local government into 74 divisions, each with an elected division board. One of these was the Shire of Glengallan, in Warwick, and Thomas was elected to the Glengallan Divisional Board in 1882. In 1894 he sat as chairman.

In 1896 Thomas entered the State Parliament, winning a seat in the Legislative Assembly representing the Cunningham electorate (Darling Downs) as an independent. According to extracts from the Warwick Examiner and Times, 1896, Thomas announced himself as a “farmers’ representative”, identified with the Farmer’s Representative Union and took a “marked interest in all things pertaining to agriculture”. He held the seat for one term, losing in 1899, and was thus in State Parliament during the leadup to Federation, when all states but Western Australia achieved a majority of ‘yes’ votes in the second round of referendums.

By 1903, he was also chairman of the Warwick Farmer’s Milling Company.

We now have little record of Thomas’s political career, but his great-grandson Warwick Parer had access to old documentation during his time in Federal Parliament. Warwick’s impression of Thomas was that of an exceedingly well-educated man. According to letters, Thomas was fighting for the continued state separation of New South Wales and Queensland, concerned that New South Wales would take all of Queensland’s water. He was advocating for the state to build a dam.

Marriage to Johanna

Thomas married Johanna Maria “Hannah” Murphy, on 22 January 1869, six years after his move to Australia. Hannah was from Cork, Ireland, though the couple did not meet until after their separate immigrations. Settling down on the Warwick property, they had five children together: Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie”, James Walter, Patrick John “Pat”, Jeremiah John “Jerry”  and Thomas Joseph McGahan.

When Hannah died in 1900, Thomas sold the farm to one of his sons, James Walter McGahan.

Marriage to Annie

A few years after the death of his first wife, Thomas went back to County Tyrone, Ireland. He returned from his homeland with a sweetheart from his youth, Annie McGladrigan, and in 1908 they were married. According to rumour, Annie was also his cousin. His children rejected the marriage, and did not recognise her as a member of the family. Thomas and Annie settled in Brisbane, where they spent their remaining decades.

Death and Legacy

Thomas died in 1932, in Wynnum. The funeral took place in Warwick, and his body was transported by Brisbane mail train, to be buried in Warwick Cemetery. In the Brisbane suburb of Carina Heights a number of streets are named after former members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, McGahan St among them.