Patrick Joseph Doyle was born on September 21, 1835, in Roscommon, Ireland. He married Maria Bridget (also known as Bridget Mary) Hand in November 1855 when she was 18 years old. They were my great great grandparents.

On 13 Nov 1864 - with five children and a baby only 15 days old they sailed in the Hannah More for Australia. The family were among the 21,000 odd immigrants brought to Queensland in 1865 and 1866 by the Black Ball Line. They arrived in early March 1865, but were not released from quarantine until the end of the month due to cases of smallpox on board. 

The first of the four children that Maria gave birth to in Australia was Patrick (Jnr), in February 1867. My great-grandmother, Margaret Jane Doyle, was born the following year in Walloon, near Ipswich. Maria gave birth to two more sons (John James and Bernard Joseph) before she died in 1874 at age 37.

On April 9, 1880 Patrick Joseph married again to Mary Elizabeth Mulligan. They had eight more children together. Patrick (Snr) died on October 22, 1899, in Walloon at the age of 64. 

Patrick Joseph Doyle was a ganger on the railway. The Doyle’s farm was fronting the railway line between Walloon and Thagoona. It was a mile and a half (abt. 2.4km) from Walloon Station and adjoined the Caledonian Colliery. [i.e. The land on the Thagoona side of the present day Evans Rd Reserve]

Great grandmother Margaret Jane Doyle (Pictured) worked for T.W. Brady & Sons Ipswich for some years prior to her marriage. (These premises were opposite St Pauls Church of England). Margaret Jane Doyle married Thomas Henry Grant on April 25, 1897.

Thomas and Margaret’s seven children were born between 1898 and 1908. They were:

Bernadine Monica Grant b. 1898

Florence Gorman Grant b. 1900

Thomas Douglas  Grant b. 1902

Margaret Constance Grant  b. 1903

Edna Augustine Grant  b. 1904

Mary Doreen Grant  b. 1907

Reine Ronda Grant  b. 1908

Margaret Jane and Thomas Henry Grant lived in Cunnamulla and Wyandra until a couple of years prior to their deaths in 1934 and 1936 respectively. Their last years were spent at 170 Boundary St West End Brisbane. (The house used to be a couple of doors to the city-side of the Kurilpa Library). They are both buried in Toowong cemetery.