Joseph Kearney – pioneer profile

Sudden Death of Mr Joseph Vincent Kearney.

Southern Cross was thrown into a state of gloom when it became known that Mr J. V. Kearney had died suddenly at midnight on Monday night. The deceased was one of the best-known men in Western Australian mining circles. He held the distinction of having paid a higher price for a lease than any other individual in the State, and of having obtained more gold from a lease than any other private individual in the West, yet he had the misfortune to amass very little wealth.

His heart was always too big for his pocket, and he leaves behind him an army of friends and warm admirers. Joe was every inch a white man and a typical jolly Irishman. For a month before death claimed him he was confined to his bed with chest trouble, and his death was caused by the breaking of a large blood vessel near the heart. On Tuesday his body was conveyed to Perth and was buried at Karrakatta on Wednesday. The deceased leaves a widow but no family. His remains were followed to the local railway station by about everyone in Southern Cross, but, few of his friends could reach the graveside, as the funeral went direct from the station to the cemetery and did not afford them an opportunity to attend. Mrs F. Walsh and other friends went to Perth with Mrs Kearney, who expected to return early next week.

THE LATE JOE KEARNEY.

The Black Range Courier in Sandstone, in noting the death of the late Mr Kearney, says — The death occurred at Southern Cross recently of Mr Joseph Vincent Kearney, one of Western Australia’s best-known men. The deceased gentleman came to the Murchison first about 1895, when he settled for a time in Cue. Some years later he became interested in the Wheel of Fortune mine, at Lennonville, where he also built and owned a couple of hotels. At Day Dawn his good luck stood to him when he purchased the freehold of the Day Dawn Hotel for a few hundred pounds and re-sold it when the outbreak of the Dawn brightened, shortly after, for a big figure. With the proceeds of the sale he bought a further interest in the Wheel of Fortune Mine, the returns from which were said to have raised his bank balance to £50,000. At Sandstone he built a brewery and the Australia Hotel.

J Kearney’s Australia Hotel, Sandstone – Photo SLWA

Joseph’s Brewery in Sandstone was constructed in 1907 to provide for the demands of the many miners then working in the area. It was built on top of a breakaway, close to where the cliff drops some 30-40 feet. From the top-most storey, where water was pumped from a well, the product of the establishment found its way by gravitation to the coolers (which were provided with fans in the hot weather) and thence to two large vats on the main floor.

From there it went to the cellar, which was an immense tunnel driven into the face of the breakaway and pipes conveyed the beer to the receptacles provided. The cellar was originally cut out with dynamite and the material out of it was made into a loading ramp so that the wagons could drive up to the door to load the beer.

The cellar could be kept remarkably cool in the hottest weather by means of a connecting rise or winze which is a hole bored through the ceiling of the cellar up to the top of the breakaway. The liquor from the Sandstone Brewery was sold to the surrounding hotels. However, with the opening of the railway line, regular supplies of beer from breweries elsewhere became available and the Sandstone Brewery closed for business.

The Brewery at the Breakaway – Joe Kearneys Venture at Sandstone

The following are some more recent photographs taken by John Pritchard and who forwarded me the above articles.

Photos by John Pritchard

Family History – Joseph was the son of Patrick Kearney and Pauline nee Cummins and was born on the 23 Oct 1873 in Ballymoon, Dunleckney, County Carlow, Ireland. He married Margaret Blanchfield Keogh at St Josephs’s Church, Tinryland, Co Carlow Ireland on the 13th Sep 1904. Patrick was in Western Australia in 1903 and returned to Ireland to marry Margaret. She returned to Australia with him and on his death she returned to Ireland where she died in 1935. They had no children.