Licensees
1868-1874 – Ann Gilligan1New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 31 December 1872 (No.328), p 3349.
1872 – Thomas Maher2New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 26 March 1872 (No.91), p 828.
Location
Bells Creek
Kennedy stated3Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1954), Friday 23 January 1942, p 2. ‘Bell’s Creek was drawing the attention of the diggers, and here some very rich claims were opened up ... Mr. David Richardson, of Irish Corner, opened a hotel [Diggers Arms] and did a good business on this field. Later on Mr. Stephen Poppenhager opened a hotel [Half-way House] business about where Mr. John Hickey’s slaughter-yard now stands, and still later on Mr. Charles Heeger [Mountain Inn] opened a hotel on top of the mountain, better known now as McCann’s old place, and shortly after Tom Maher started another hotel just opposite to where John Hickey now lives. There were some extraordinarily rich finds here, and to Bell’s Creek is credited the richest dish of wash that has, I believe, ever been taken out of one dish of picked wash‘.
In the News
From 1859 until 1865 John Gilligan, and then following John’s death in 1863, Ann Gilligan, were the licence holders for the Erin-go-bragh in Araluen. In 1867 Ann Gilligan is recorded as the licensee for the Sportsman’s Arms in Bells Creek, Araluen, and then in 1868, Ann Gilligan is the licensee for the Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle at Araluen Road, Bells Creek.
John Gilligan (1814-1863)4https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/X13350/John-Gilligan. Accessed 20 October 2023. 5FindaGrave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175539534/john-gilligan. Accessed 20 October 2023. married Ann Barrett (1823-1908) 6FindaGrave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175539529/ann-gilligan] in Braidwood in 1843, NSW BDM 6144. and they had twelve children. Mary [Stack] (1844-1907), Bridget [Maher] (1845-1913), Annie [Feeney] (1847-1923), Margaret [Meade] (1849–1920), Catherine [Smith] (1851-1931), John (1853-1945), Ellen (1854-1856), Lucy (1856-1856), Lucy (1857-1862), Ellen (1859-1861), Thomas (1861-1927) and Patrick (1862-1862).
Ann’s brother, Dennis Barrett, the licensee of the Favorite Inn, at Favourite Flat Araluen (1858-1860) married Mary Maher7NSW Birth Death Marriages, 6/1853 V18536 99 familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au. Accessed 20 October 2023. in Braidwood in 1853, while their daughter Bridget Gilligan married Thomas Maher8NSW Birth Death Marriages, 1865/1788 familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au. Accessed 4 September 2023. (licensee of the Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle in 1872) in 1865 in Braidwood.
Thomas Maher – Innkeeper is noted in the 1875–76 Greville’s Official Post Office Directory9Greville’s Official Post Office Directory for 1875–1876 https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/html/greville75.html. Accessed 18 February 2023. (p49) in Bells Creek.
Ann Gilligan’s (nee Barrett) obituary was published in the Braidwood Dispatch10Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1954), Wednesday 7 October 1908, p 2. in 1908, advising that ‘Mrs. Gilligan and her deceased husband, Mr. John Gilligan, were amongst the earliest residents of Araluen. Mr. Gilligan was one of the most enterprising miners, who over 50 years since developed the golden resources of the Valley in such an enterprising manner. He had shares in some of the best claims at and previous to that time and in addition to his fortunate mining ventures did a good business as a hotel keeper, his house [Erin-go-bragh] being situated at Crown Flat, where the town was centred. He afterwards purchased the Hawker Estate in Reidsdale, where his widow resided up to a short time before her death.’