Dominic Patrick Moran (1905-1975)
Lila Claire Madden (1905-1995)
Dominic Patrick Moran was the sixth of fifteen children of Lawrence Moran & Janet Margaret Ada Kenney. He was born on 16 Mar 1905 in the West Maitland district; Lawrence was a coal miner and Lawrence and Janet lived in Abermain, between Cessnock and Kurri Kurri.
This page has been assembled with the help of Donna Wieland; Janet’s parents were James Kenney and Mary Walker, and Donna is their great-great-grandchild.
Throughout his life Dominic appears to have had something of a troubled life. As a 15 year old he was up in court for malicious damage; from the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate edition on Thu 24 Feb 1921:
Mr. G. Atkin, P.M., occupied the Bench at the Kurrl Kurri Police Court yesterday.
Dominic Moran, a youth, was fined 2s 6d, with £2 10s costs, for having damaged a ticket, valued at one penny, the property of the Abermain Coal Company. Mr. Enrlght, for the company, explained that the interference with tickets on trucks caused much inconvenience and loss. The case was brought as a warning.
Then as a 17 year old this report appeared on Wed 9 Aug 1922:
Dominic Moran was charged with having, at Abermain on August 1, stolen a purse and £1 6s in money, the property of Kezia Elizabeth Watson. Mr. W. J. Enright appeared for defendant. Constable Booth gave evidence as to having questioned defendant, and to having subsequently charged him. Further evidence was given by complainant, Miss Bragg, and Arthur Watson, that the purse was taken out of the steam laundry lorry while it was standing in front of the Abermain Hotel, Abermain. Defendant was seen near the rear of the lorry. Defendant gave evidence of denial. Arthur Jenkins was also called, and stated that he did not know whether defendant went to the back of the lorry or not. Defendant, who elected to be dealt with summarily, was fined £3, with 12s costs, in default 21 days’ imprisonment.
Dominic married Lila Clare Madden in 1931. Lila was born in Narrabri in 1905 to John J Madden and Helena E Crutcher. Lila had married a John B Sweeney in Kurri Kurri in 1923, but he passed away in 1927.
Dominic’s run-in with the law continued after his marriage. Four papers reported him charged with trespass; from The Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder, Fri 07 Jun 1935:
DOMINIC NOT WANTED
KURRI SCHOOL OF ARTS TRESPASSING.
Dominic Moran was charged at Kurri Police Court this week with entering the School of Arts premises on May 29th. Mr. R. J. Pilger, secretary of Kurri School of Arts, said defendant was not a member and would not leave when requested. He had been warned five or six times in the last 12 months, and refused to leave when requested.
On one occasion he had rung up the police, and when the police arrived Moran had left. Moran said he went at the invitation of three members to play bridge.
On defendant giving an undertaking to keep away from the premises no fine was imposed, but defendant was ordered to pay 8/- costs.
In a bankruptcy case involving Dominic reported in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate on Thu 21 Apr 1938 he was described as a wheeler, a term used for the men in coal mines who looked after the horses pulling skips full of coal to the main haul road.
An examination was held into the bankruptcy of Dominic Patrick Moran, a wheeler, living in Alexandria-street, Kurri Kurri. The bankrupt attributed his position to illness and unemployment. His liabilities totalled £135 and assets nil.
From The Newcastle Sun, Thu 9 Mar 1950
OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOR
Dominic Patrick Moran (45), of Lang-st., Kurri, and Neville Raymond Smith (25), of Kurri Hotel pleaded guilty to charges of offensive behavior in Lang-st., Kurri, on Feb. 24. Each were fined £2. Constable Dimmock said the men had been drinking and were engaged in a fight.
In 1954 Dominic was injured in a bus accident, as described in The Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder on Tue 25 Sep 1954:
BUS OVER EMBANKMENT AT EAST GRETA
27 in Hospital After Smash.
When a double-decker bus which left Maitland at midday yesterday for Cessnock crashed over a steep embankment at East Greta, 27 people were admitted to hospital, and two men were seriously injured, but nobody was killed.
One of the men was pinned beneath the bus until it was raised, and the other was pinned in wreckage inside it.
There were 60 passengers in the bus, and many had remarkable escapes from serious injury.
Maitland, Cessnock and Kurri ambulances were requisitioned to handle the large number of casualties who were taken to Maitland, Kurri and Cessnock hospitals.
Despite the large proportion of passengers injured, a remarkable feature of the accident was the almost complete absence of injuries caused by broken glass. Shattered glass was showed in and around the bus as it slid down the embankment on its side. One reason given for the escape of many of the 60 passengers from more serious in jury was that the top of the bus was smashed, and this provided a release from the crowded top deck.
The bus was driven by Edgar Slade, of Aberdare Road, Cessnock, with Sam Simpson, of Mathieson Street, Bellbird, as conductor.
Slade said that as the bus came to the foot of a steep hill preparatory to taking the rise to East Greta township, the near-side front tyre blew out, and the bus lurched through the safety fence, landing on its side down a steep incline.
The driver added: “I tried to keep the bus on the road, and it did so for a few yards, but after that I could not keep it straight and it ran through the fence.”
The driver had a miraculous escape. He received only a few slight scratches.
With the ordinary exits unusable because the bus was lying on its side, the passengers were mainly extricated by tearing away half the broken roof of the bus.
Ambulance bearers spoke highly of the assistance given by nearby residents, and some passengers in the bus who escaped with a severe shaking.
Residents from the nearby village of East Greta were soon providing tea for those who were suffering from the shaking and buffeting.
Special mention was made of the work of Station Officer Frank Smith, of Armidale ambulance, a passenger in the bus with his wife and two children. Smith, who was on holidays, was severely shaken, and suffered abrasions and contusions, and members of his family were injured. He attended the injured until the first ambulance car arrived.
The ambulance wagons were followed by two doctors from Maitland.
It was decided that to avoid congestion, and because of the many injured from the coalfields area, that a considerable proportion of the hospital cases be sent to the coalfields hospitals.
Maitland Hospital was informed immediately the two cars left West Maitland for the accident, and rapid preparations were made there for the admission of an unknown number of cases. A further call for a car at Maitland was unsuccessful. The Superintendent (Mr. J. R. Fairhall) had left shortly before to attend a child who had been scalded, but he was diverted to the accident from the hospital.
With a steep climb from the bus to the road, it was necessary to treble the number of bearers on each stretcher. Local residents provided the extra bearers.
Twelve people were admitted to Kurri Kurri Hospital, four to Cessnock, and 11, including the more seriously hurt, to Maitland Hospital. Passengers said that the temporary holding of the vehicle on the road prevented a more serious smash because the bus was carried past the culvert before it overturned.
Mr. George Atmore, of Lang Street, Kurri Kurri, who escaped with a shaking, said that until the bus could be raised with the aid of jacks, some loaned by passing motorists, it was impossible to release the men under the bus, and women were screaming and children crying.
Station Officer Len Rees, of Maitland Ambulance, referring to the five year old son of Frank Smith, commented: “Ambulance work must be in his blood.” The boy, bleeding profusely from the face, met the first ambulance men on the scene with the cry: “Over this way, Mister; there is a woman over here sick and two over there sick.”
No complete check was possible of those injured. Apart from the 27 people taken to hospital, some people were given attention on the spot, at least two for fractured wrists, and were sent by bus or private cars for further attention.
An urgent call for lifting gear was made to release the man beneath the bus. Maitland Council was informed and its winch-equipped truck was in the Paterson area. The truck was recalled to the scene of the accident, but the man had been released when it arrived. To make certain that no other person had been pinned beneath the bus, the winch lorry, backing against trees to enable it to take the heavy strain, righted the overturned vehicle.
The injured are: –
IN MAITLAND HOSPITAL.
… Dominic Moran, 40, of Lang Street, Kurri Kurri, injury to left shoulder and arm, and shock.
Dominic was reported being admitted to Kurri Kurri hospital on Tuesday 23 September 1952 and again on Tuesday 14 October 1952. He passed away on 23 Aug 1975.
We believe Dominic and Lila had two children:
01. Terrence William (b. c.1932, d. 21 Mar 1982)
02. Cynthia Narell (b. ?, d. 1938 in Kurri Kurri)
ONeillfamily 