Licensee
1863-1866 – Patrick Egan [Eagen]
Location
Majors Creek in 1860, then moving to Newtown, Araluen.
Historical Maps1NSW Land Registry Service, Parish and Historical Maps. Historical Land Records Viewer https://www.nswlrs.com.au/Parish-and-Historical-Maps Accessed 18 February 2023. indicate the land purchased by Patrick Egan in Newtown, near Dirty Butter Creek, was as set out in the table below.
| Purchased | Por | Plan | Loc | Vol | Fol | Purchased by | |
| Patrick Egan | 1865 | 12 | 389 | NE | 20 | 177 | Edward Sole 1866 |
| Patrick Egan | 1865 | 13 | 389 | NE | 20 | 178 | Edward Sole 1866 |
| Patrick Egan | 1865 | 14 | 389 | NE | 20 | 175 | Edward Sole 1866 |
| Patrick Egan | 1865 | 15 | 389 | NE | 20 | 176 | Edward Sole 1866 |
In the News
The Braidwood Observer Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW : 1859 – 1862), Wednesday 18 April 1860, page 2 in April 1860 reporting on the Annual meeting regarding of Publican’s Licenses held at the Court-house, Braidwood, listed “Patrick Eagan [Egan], Poor Man’s Inn, Majors Creek.”
In March 1861, the Freeman’s Journal reported ‘Mrs. Swedenburg, of Major’s Creek, who has a little boy six or seven years of age, suffering under an ailment which confined him to his bed, heard him calling out to her to come to him and to remove a cat off his neck which he said was strangling him. Being engaged at the time, she took no notice until his cries were repeated, when upon going to the bed she found an enormous black snake coiled in three or four folds round his neck. Mrs Swedenburg attempted to destroy it, but it escaped with a slight cut on the tail. A few days subsequently, a snake nine feet eight inches in length was killed near Mr. Patrick Egan’s, the Poor Man’s Inn [Major’s Creek].’2Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Saturday 30 March 1861, p 2.
The Araluen Spring Race meeting was scheduled to be held 6, 7 and 8 October 1863, and advertised in the Araluen Star,3Araluen Star and Miners Right (1863-1964), Supplement, Saturday 26 September 1863, p 2. which detailed the ‘The Stewards for the race – Messrs John Hogan [Free Selection Inn], James Armstrong [Peace and Plenty], Frederick Scantlebury [Rose and Crown], Henry Cummins, Dennis Kennedy [Sapling Point], Alexander Waddell, Patrick Egan [Poor Man’s Inn], Mr [James] Munro [Emu Inn] and James Singer [Criterion].’ Bells Life newspaper added when reporting on the subsequent Court case in November of that year ‘The whole of the stewards, with two exceptions, are innkeepers at Araluen. Seven out of nine are innkeepers.’4Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle (NSW : 1860-1870), Saturday 28 November 1863, p 4.
In what became known as the Araluen Race Case in 1863, the Echuca and Moama Chronicle5Pastoral Times and Echuca and Moama Chronicle (Deniliquin, NSW : 1863-1866), Saturday 28 November 1863, p 3. summarised that ‘An action was brought last week by Miss Dickson nominally against John Hogan and others, as stewards of the Araluen races, to recover the sum of £30, the amount of the Consolation Stakes, won by her horse Kildare, on the third day of the meeting, but Mr. F. A. Cooper, lately Gold Commissioner at Araluen, and Dr. Wilson’s opponent at the last election, was regarded as virtually the defendant.’ Bells Life added ‘Mr. F. A. Cooper under cross examination stated “I saw Miss Dickson in Patrick Egan’s public house before the settling and after the races, and told her she had no right to the stakes”.’6Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle (NSW : 1860-1870), Saturday 28 November 1863, p 4. ‘The jury had retired for a very short time when they came in with a verdict for the plaintiff for the amount, claimed.’ detailed the Empire, adding7Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1875), Tuesday 24 November 1863, p 3. upon the verdict being announced, the crowded court ‘required all the exertion’s of the police and the remonstrance’s of his Honor to keep down the manifestations of satisfaction therewith’.
An advertisement for the Araluen Annual Races, at the Araluen racecourse to be held in November 1865, in the Goulburn Herald detailed the Stewards as8Goulburn Herald and Chronicle (NSW : 1864-1881), Wednesday 15 November 1865, p 4. ‘Henry Braden [Emu Inn], Thomas McMahon, [Harp of Erin], Patrick Hogan, Henry Monzett [Clare Castle], Patrick Eagan [Poor Mans Inn] and Dennis Kennedy [Australian Arms].’
The Goulburn Herald described ‘As an introduction to the amusements of the week, a billiard match 500 up, was played on Monday at Mr. Eagen’s rooms between Messrs. Mc Grath and Stewart, the former giving his opponent 100.‘9Goulburn Herald and Chronicle (NSW : 1864-1881), Wednesday 22 November 1865, p 3.
The Insolvent Estate of Patrick Eagen, of Araluen, innkeeper and dealer, was detailed in the NSW Government Gazette in March 1866.10New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 20 March 1866 (No.57), p 748.
In 1866, the land was sold to Edward Sole. The Richmond River Herald, in 1939, announced the death ‘from Eidsvold (Q) of Amy Elizabeth Pickering, aged 68, wife of Mr John Charles Pickering. She was born at Araluen (NSW) and in 1888 went to Eidsvold overland from Chinchilla with her mother, the late Mrs Edward Sole, and three sisters. Her father, the late Mr Edward Sole, who followed mining and was a billiard table proprietor in the early days of the Eidsvold goldfield, arrived in Eidsvold with his four sons in 1871. Mrs Pickering was the aunt of the late William Sole, the original proprietor of Sole Bros’ Circus’.11Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser (NSW : 1886-1942), Friday 1 September 1939, p 4.
