Frank Herbert Moses (1890-1968)
Ita Florence O’Neill (1891-1975)

Jump down to the list of their children

Ita Florence O’Neill was the second oldest of Patrick Joseph O’Neill & Anne Mary Hough‘s fourteen children, born in the Port Macquarie region of NSW in 1891 (record 29447). She was known as Florence from an early age.

Florence married Frank Herbert Moses (b. 1890, d. 15 Jan 1968) at Kempsey on 29 Sep 1920 (The Sydney Morning Herald, Wed 20 Oct 1920). Ita Florence was known as Florence; from the Sat 01 Dece 1906 edition of the The Port Macquarie News and Hastings River Advocate:

Thanks.

MR. & MRS. P. J. O’NEILL wish to thank Dr. Doudney and the Hospital Staff for their kind and skilful treatment to their daughter, Florence, while in the Hospital.

After their wedding the couple lived in Greenhill, NSW. Frank had been described in the 1913 electoral rolls as a shop assistant, and was still described that way in 1930. However his business, a butcher’s shop, must have failed, because a court ruling had his equipment and truck sold by public auction on 20 Jun 1928.

Frank next appears in the 1936 electoral rolls as the hotel keeper of the Hotel Kempsey; from the Macleay Argus on Fri 17 Apr 1936:

LICENSING COURT.

Before the Licensing Court Mary Ann Adkins was granted permission to transfer the license of the West Kempsey Hotel to Dominic Joseph O’Neill, while Ernest Patrick McMahon was granted permission to transfer the license of the Hotel Kempsey to Frank Herbert Moses.

During that time he was charged over a septic tank spoil, as reported by the Macleay Argus reported on Fri 09 Dec 1938:

EFFLUENT FROM SEPTIC TANK.

John George Kaylock proceeded against Frank Herbert Moses for allowing offensive matter to issue from his premises into a laneway.

Defendant, through Mr. Phil Sheridan, pleaded guilty.

Plaintiff stated that as a result of a complaint he visited defendant’s premises on 20th November and found the effluent from a septic tank running into the gutter and creating an offensive odour. Woods, an employee, said the licensee was absent and that he had started work at 6 a.m., so that the trouble bad been in evidence for three or four hours.

Mr. Sheridan, for defendant, said that there were two wells and one was being pumped into the other. Central Kempsey was a had part of the town for drainage, and a leak had occurred which had not been noticed and so it had found the gutter.

Prior to and since the date in question effluent had been carted away from the premises. Within a few months it was hoped that the sewerage would be put through Kempsey and this trouble would disappear.

The Magistrate said he hoped defendant would take this penalty as a warning. He would impose a heavy penalty next time. Defendant was fined £32, with 8/ costs of court, in default five days’ imprisonment.

In 1938 Frank was appointed a trustee of the Warwick Race course, Kempsey (The Macleay Chronicle, Wed 03 Aug 1938).

By 1943 Frank and Florence had moved back to Sydney, living in Benbrook Hall, Eurobin Ave, Manly, at which time he is listed as a warehouse employee. The 1949 rolls have the family working in the O’Neill-owned Long Flat Hotel outside Wauchope. From before 1954 to at least 1963 they were back in Sydney, this time at 10 Basil Rd, Bexley, again Frank working as a warehouse employee.

Frank passed away on 15 Jan 1968 and is buried in the Woronora Cemetery at Sutherland; Florence died 7 years later at Walgett, NSW, on 30 Jun 1975. and is also buried at Woronora.

Frank & Florence’s family:

01. Neill Frank (b. 07 Oct 1921, d. 29 May 1980)

02. Keith James (b. 10 May 1924, d. 12 Jun 1944)

03. Elizabeth Mary (b. 19 Aug 1927)

04. Bruce Francis (b. 05 12 1930, d. 25 Mar 1989)

Generation 2

01. Neill Frank Moses enlisted as a Flying Officer with the RAAF during WWII; his service record (411251) is not yet available for reading on line. However, a letter that Neill wrote while in the Middle East is mentioned in The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer (quoting an article from the Macleay Argus) on Tue 8 Dec 1942:

Sergeant Air Gunner Neill Moses, son of Mr. and Mrs. F. Moses, of Manly, and formerly of the Hotel Kempsey, writing to the Secretary of Kempsey – Crescent Head Surf Club, states that he is now in the Middle East, after completing his training in Canada and England. During his stay in England he met his cousin, the celebrated singer Miss Myra O’Neill, who showed him over the countryside. Neill spent part of his time in Scotland and Wales, and speaks highly of the hospitality extended him by those people. He remarks on the spirit of the people of England, and of their determination to see the war through, to the end, despite the terrific hammering they have taken from the bombing.

Neill married Thelma Kathleen Tillott on 01 May 1947; their wedding was announced in the Macleay Argus on Tue 15 Apr 1947:

The marriage of Miss Thelma Kathleen Tillott and Mr. Neill Frank Moses is to be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, West Tamworth, on Thursday, May 1.

In the electoral rolls of 1943 Thelma is listed as a shop assistant in Tamworth West. Following their wedding the couple lived at Long Flat where Neill’s parents ran the O’Neill-owned Long Flat Hotel. Neill’s grandfather P.J. passed away in July of 1947, and Neill was appointed one of the executors to his will. In the rolls 1949 Neill is described as a butcher at Long Flat. However by 1954 the couple were hotel keepers of the Post Office Hotel at Frederickton, just outside of Kempsey. In the rolls between 1958 and 1968 they are shown as having taken over the Hotel Kempsey, formerly run by P.J., and later by Neill’s father Frank. The couple had retired to Lake Cathie in the 70s.

Thelma passed away on 11 Jul 1986.

02. Keith James Moses also enlisted as a Flying Officer with the RAAF during WWII; his service record (432231) can be viewed on-line (or downloaded as a pdf) here. Sadly he was killed in action, as reported by the Catholic Weekly on Thu 05 Apr 1945:

Flying-Officer Keith James Moses (20), who lost his life in air operations over Germany on June 12, 1944. He was educated at St. Joseph’s College, Hunter’s Hill. His brother, Flying-Officer Neill Moses, D.F.M., who has been instructing In England for the past 12 months, is now on his way home.

03. Elizabeth Mary Moses, known as Beth, attended West Kempsey Convent and later St. Mary’s College, Grafton. She was an excellent student, gaining in the high 90s for many exams. She studied music and piano, gaining credits and honours. Her name appeared in scores of articles in the local Kempsey newspapers whilst at school, eg this, from the Macleay Argus on Fri 24 Nov 1944:

Miss Beth Moses, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Moses, of Long Flat, has completed a commercial course, in Sydney, and is home for a rest, bringing with her a cousin, Miss Mary Hayes, of Rural Bank staff, Sydney. Her brother, Bruce Moses, pupil of the Christian Brothers’, Waverley, School has been picked to represent the school in inter-schools swimming in January.

Beth trained as a nurse at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. Again from the Macleay Argus, Tue 19 Dec 1950:

MISS BETH MOSES, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Moses, of Long Flat, and formerly of the Hotel Kempsey, arrived home recently on holiday, after completing a course of obstetrics at a Sydney hospital. Prior to that, Beth trained for four years at St. Vincent’s Hospital. She is now enjoying a taste of leisure for a time before taking up nursing. At present, she is staying at Port Macquarie with Mrs. Neil Moses and the two children, Helen and Keith; Mr. and Mrs. Moses have engaged a cottage there for five weeks, but Neil is busy at Long Flat during the week with his butchering business, and trips across to “Port” at weekends, taking a few extra days if time permits.

She seemed to enjoy travelling. Firstly, the Macleay Argus reported a trip to New Zealand on Wed 01 Aug 1951:

Sister Beth Moses, daughter of Mr and Mrs. Frank Moses left on the s.s. Wanganella, Thursday afternoon for New Zealand where she will combine a holiday with her profession. Mrs.  Moses was at the wharf to say au revoir.

Beth travelled to England on the Stratheden, arriving in London on 03 Jan 1956 and intending to stay for at least 12 months. We are unsure when she returned to Sydney, or when she married William Lockyer O’Keefe. William, known as Lock, is listed as a grazier near Walgett, NSW: 1943 to 1949 at the property Tootha, in the 1963 at Ellimata,  electoral rolls. Beth’s name first appears with William at Ellimata in the 1977 electoral rolls. By 1980 they had moved to 126 Perry Dr, Chapman, Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

William Lockyer O’Keefe died on 17 Jul 2007 and is buried in Woden Cemetery, ACT. The couple’s three children and two grandchildren are listed on his headstone.