The following story has been very kindly shared with us by Philip Moran, Grandson of Frank Moran, and with permission from the Moran family:
Francis Patrick Joseph Moran
a Life in Summary
Francis ‘Frank’ Patrick Joseph MORAN was born on 18 December 1879. He was the son of Francis and Bridget Moran (Marron). He married Clarice Annie Smith, 27 April 1907 and died on 30th October 1931 (51 yrs).
Francis (Frank) was the fourth of the eight children of Francis and Bridget Moran. It is assumed that, in keeping with Irish naming patterns, he was named after his father. Frank was born in 1879 in Ross, a thriving gold mining town on the mid-west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. At the time his father was 50 years old and his mother 30. Along with his seven siblings he would have been educated at St Patrick’s Primary School in Ross – just behind St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. His secondary education would have been undertaken in Coolgardie or Kalgoorlie.
St Patrick’s Primary School in Ross – just behind St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church.
Frank migrated to Sydney, Australia with his parents and siblings in early 1891, when he was 11 years old. His name is shown on the passenger list for the steamship Bullarra with his family on their voyage from Melbourne to Fremantle in June 1891. His family moved from Perth to the goldrush frontier town Coolgardie in 1892. Unlike his three brothers, Frank did not get involved in the liquor industry. His father, Francis, and his three brothers, Peter, Patrick and James (Jim) were involved in the running of hotels in Kanowna, Carbine, Londonderry, Gnowangerup, Wagin, Beverley, Fremantle and Perth over a long time span.
There are too many hotels that the Moran family have been involved in over three decades to list, but here are a few:
Morans Family Hotel – Kanowna – Peter Moran -1900
Ivanhoe Hotel, Boulder Block – Thomas and William – 1900
Kurrawang Hotel – Thomas – 1933
Moran’s Ivanhoe Hotel marked with Red Arrow – Thomas & William Moran – Boulder Block – SLWA
As a youth, Frank joined the Water Supply Department – possibly because of his father’s friendship with C Y O’Connor. He later transferred as a 21-year-old to the Public Works Department. In the WA Government Gazette, 1 June 1906, Frank was listed in Class E of the Clerical Division.
Public Works Dept Goldfields Water Scheme Staff 1898 – Frank Moran 19yrs old in lying front-
No. 392 Moran, Francis Patrick, Works Department, Kalgoorlie. Clerk assisting generally in District Supervisor’s Office. Present Salary 180 pounds. District Allowance 30 pounds. The 1907 Electoral Roll for the Legislative Assembly showed: “No.1931 MORAN Francis Patrick J, Forest Street, Kalgoorlie. Clerk.”
St Mary’s Church, Coolgardie
On the 27th of April1907, at 27 years of age, he married a young lady from Tenterfield, NSW, Clarice Annie Smith (also 27), in St Mary’s Church, Coolgardie. The couple had six children – three girls and three boys.
Mary Clare 11 February 1908 in Perth WA
Patrick Andrew 28 November 1910 in Kalgoorlie
Francis Owen 30 September 1912 in Kalgoorlie
Carmel Therese 10 June 1923 born in Perth WA
Bryan John 17 April 1925 born Coolgardie
Frances Joan 22 February1927 born Coolgardie
Eleven years after Owen was born their second daughter, Carmel, was born in Nurse Kirk’s Private Hospital, Guilford Rd, Victoria Park. on 10 June 1923. Then followed Bryan on 17 April 1925 in Perth and daughter Frances on 22 February 1927 in East Coolgardie. (Clarice was 47 when Frances was born)
Frank Moran, 1909, at 29 years of age.
For several years Frank was the clerk to the Inspector in Kalgoorlie before being sent to Perth, where he filled various clerical roles with the Public Works Department. When the WA Government opened their Meat Works in 1919 in the town of Wyndham (2 210km northeast of Perth), Frank was appointed as the Costings Clerk.
Frank carrying son Francis Owen circa 1913
Later he was re-transferred to Kalgoorlie for inspectorial duties which covered the area from Lawlers in the north to Esperance in the south and Southern Cross in the west – a vast territory.
1964 aerial photo of Wyndham Meat Works
An obituary in the West Australian on 7 November 1931 states that Frank was: ”an able and conscientious officer and was held in high esteem by a large number of friends and acquaintances over a wide area”. It went on to report: “There was a large congregation at St Mary’s Kalgoorlie, at 9 o’clock on Saturday morning, October 31, when a Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose of his soul. The celebrant was Rev. Dr. Kennedy. At the conclusion, he made feeling reference to the stirring qualities of the deceased and extended sympathies of the priests and parishioners to the bereaved relatives.
The funeral, which took place during the afternoon, was largely attended. The pallbearers were: – Mr. J E Geary (Resident Magistrate), Mr. E Flannagan (Clerk of Courts), Mr. W Phoenix (Chief Mines Inspector), Mr. Hutchinson (Water Supply Department), Mr. Perkins (Inspector of Posts and Telegraphs), and Mr. J Crawford. The prayers at the graveside were read by Dr. Kennedy and the responses were made by Rev. Father Ryan. The funeral arrangements were in the hands of Mr. W Strother.” The occupations of the pallbearers are testament to the standing that Frank must have enjoyed within the communities of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie.
Sunday Times Perth 8 November 1931, page 7
Frank died on 30 October 1931 at the St John of God Hospital in Kalgoorlie, several days after admission for bronchial pneumonia. He was 51 years of age. He was buried at the Kalgoorlie Cemetery on the afternoon of Saturday 31 October 1931. His wife Clarice survived him until 1944 when she died in Perth WA and is buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Karrakatta Cemetery.
Francis ‘Frank’ Patrick Joseph MORAN – Kalgoorlie Cemetery – Photo Philip Moran
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