I have been wondering for several years about two references to Peter Sheridan's birthplace as being Moolort rather than Carisbrook- once in his attestation papers for WW1, and the other in a hospital admission record for Maryborough hospital:
" Peter Sheridan, 5th Battalion; Joined 15 September, 1914. Born in the parish of Moolort, near Carisbrook, Victoria. Occupation: sawyer. Aged 36 years."- Attestation papers.
"Sheridan, Peter. Date of admission: January 25, 1886. 8 years old, Maryborough. Roman Catholic. Accident. Native of Moolort."-Hospital records, Maryborough Hospital.
Apart from eldest child Barney Sheridan, who was born at Walhalla, as far as we knew the other nine Sheridan siblings had all been born in Carisbrook, so I never got around to officially checking Peter's place of birth.
I remedied that situation last night when I downloaded his birth certificate from the wonderful Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages site, and my two morsels of information were proved correct...Peter Sheridan was indeed born in the little settlement opf Moolort, located some 13 km by road from Carisbrook. It lies about half way between Ballarat and Bendigo, and was once a large gold mining area
Peter Sheridan was born at Moolort on December 2, 1877. His father, Nicholas Sheridan, was noted as being a 36 year old "platelayer'. Investigation revealed that a platelayer was employed by the railways to be responsible for all aspects of track maintenance, such as replacing worn-out rails or rotten sleepers. They usually worked in gangs with a given area, or 'length', of track to look after.
The Moolort Railway Station was opened on July 7, 1874. In May of 1874, Nicholas Sheridan was still a miner living in Carisbrook (information given on the birth certificate of his daughter Mary). By the time his next child, son James, arrived in January 1876, however, Nicholas had joined the Railways and the family had moved to Moolort.
Thomas Francis Sheridan, child number eight, arrived in May of 1880, and his birth certificate reveals that he was born in Annesley Street, Carisbrook, the same address as his sister Mary in 1874. This tells us that the Sheridan family left Carisbrook in c. late 1874-75, and returned by 1880. Nicholas's obituary is more precise: "Giving up mining in 1874, he entered the government service as a permanent officer of the Railway department."
Nicholas continued to work for the railway for over twenty years. Again, to quote from his obituary:
" Having proved himself to be thoroughly reliable, and a man who could be depended upon, he was sent to this town (Yarrawonga) a little more than twenty years ago. Mr Sheridan shortly afterwards brought his family here, and made Yarrawonga his home ever since. About six years ago he was removed by his department to Arcadia, but as he did not relish leaving Yarrawonga, where he owned a good deal of real estate, and where his family were comfortably settled, he resigned his appointment after two months further service and retired on a pension." -Yarrawonga Mercury and Southern Riverina Advertiser, March 3, 1904.
The railway from Melbourne reached Yarrawonga in 1886, which coincides with Nicholas Sheridan's appointment in the town.
The Victoria Government Gazette from July 1887 published a List of Railway Employees, which included both Nicholas Sheridan and his wife Bridget:
"Sheridan, Bridget. Gatewoman
Sheridan, Nicholas. Ganger."
No location was stated, but the Sheridans were living in Yarrawonga by this stage, so the appointments must have applied to Yarrawonga. A gateswoman was responsible for closing the gates across a railway crossing when a train was due to pass, to prevent anyone from being injured or killed in a collision. This would have required the Sheridan family to live very close to the crossing, which was located in Telford Street, Yarrawonga.
My Uncle, Jack Sheridan, informed me that Bridget also acted as gateswoman at Carisbrook, and that the family lived close to the railway crossing.
A similar list of Employees published in the Government Gazette in March 1890 still had Nicholas Sheridan as a ganger with the Engineer's branch, but there was no sign of Bridget as a gatewoman or gatekeeper.
Nicholas was still residing in Telford Street when he died in 1904, but it not known if it was the same home as where the family initially settled.
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