Nurse S Callaghan

Researcher: Mixo – Volunteer researcher

Until recently, there has been an air of mystery surrounding a local Fitzroy identity, who was initially known and noted only as “Nurse Callaghan”, in a range of her numerous regular newspaper advertisements promoting her Private Hospitals from around 1914 to 1922. According to her adverts within this time frame, our Nurse Callaghan appeared to have had a wide range of medical, organizational, and marketing skills, and offered a variety of nursing services in at least 3 known registered private hospitals, including emergency treatment, surgery, midwifery, certification, doctors lectures, nurse training to name but a few.

Shortly after World War 1 ended, she moved on to establish Carowindra Private Hospital at 449 Rae St around Oct 1919. Newspaper cuttings show it appears Nurse Callaghan managed this registered hospital as Matron at least until Aug 1922, when records and advertisements for this hospital ceased. The following add for Carowindra Hospital provided a vital research clue, as it at least confirmed her first name began with the letter “S”.

Review of the 1924 Census record shown below here, confirms her full married name was Sarah Jane Callaghan, and was residing on her Carowindra Private Hospital premises at 449 Rae St Fitzroy North, with her husband John Joseph Callaghan at this point in time.

After some additional research it was discovered Nurse Callaghan’s maiden name was Sarah Jane Peacock, she was born in Wagga Wagga in New South Wales in 1878, married twice, had one son and 5 daughters, plus 4 known grandsons and 6 known granddaughters.

Her earliest known Peacock ancestors were living Cambridgeshire in the U.K. from around 1625 as outlined here.

Ancestors of Nurse Callaghan

Sarah Jane Peacock’s family from Cambridgeshire

Regarding Sarah’s ancestral Peacock family from the U.K., the earliest located record to date is that of the baptism of Robert Henry Peacokc(e) on 4 Jun 1652, son of Robert and Joane Peacock(e) at Chesterton, located 5 klms north of the city of Cambridge, and about 95 klms north of London.

Records show Robert Peacocke was actually born near Chesterton at Longstanton in 1652, and he was given a middle name Henry. In 1700, Robert Henry Peacock ( with no “E” registered on the surname ) married Mary Ann Wicks from Seaford in Sussex, and they had 10 children all born in Longstanton between 1679 and 1700. Their youngest child, a son who was also named Robert ( Nurse Callaghan’s direct ascendant ) who was born in 1691,  married a local lass named Katherine Wilkins, and they moved to Waterbeach and began a family there.

The Waterbeach district near Cambridge is steeped in history, and according to britainexpress.com there is evidence of Roman farming dating back to the 2^nd and 4^th centuries. Benedictine monks took over the nearby Denny Abbey around 1159, followed shortly by another takeover by the Knights Templar in 1170, and is currently Abbey building is shared by a public Farming Museum.

Four succeeding generations of Peacock families lived and worked labouring on farms in the Waterbeach district,  namely Robert Peacock born 1714, John Peacock born 1746, Edward Peacock born 1791, and Mathew Edward Peacock ( Nurse Callaghan’s grandfather ) in 1825. Marriage records from Chesterton, confirm Mathew Edward Peacock married Sarah Ann Norton on 27 Oct 1844 ( Vol 14 Page 110 ), and the 1851 U.K. Census notes Mathew was working as a railway labourer, and their first born Edward (Nurse Callaghan’s father ) was 2 years old.

Peacock Migration to Australia

Mathew Edward Peacock was born to Edward Peacock and Frances Wilkin at Waterbeach in 1825. In Oct 1844 Mathew married Sarah Ann Norton, and had 2 children Edward and Phoebe, before the family emigrated to Australia in 1855 on board the SS Adriatic. We can assume he and his family came to Australia to continue Mathews families farming background, as no records have been found of him being involved in the Gold Rush as a miner or shareholder.

It is worth noting that Mathew Edward and his wife Sarah Ann Peacock  displayed on the emigration record below here, were in reality Nurse Sarah Callaghans’ grandparents. Edward Mathew also listed here at aged 6, was actually Nurse Sarah Callaghan’s future father to be, and Phoebe noted aged 3 was one of her 6 surviving aunts.

The SS Adriatic was a wooden hulled steam ship, originally built and contracted as a mail delivering vessel, exchanging mail and parcels for the United States Post Office, between New York and Liverpool U.K.

Peacock Family Settles in NSW

The first located references of Mathew Edward Peacock and his wife Sarah Ann Peacock nee Norton being in Australia, are that of  the births of their next two children, being Emma in 1856 and Mary Ann in 1858, who were both born in Camden, about 60 klms south west of Sydney. We can confirm their relocation to Wagga Wagga was around 1860 when their next daughter Elizabeth was born there. Sadly Elizabeth and her next 3 siblings all passed away during their infancy. It appears the family moved from town to town quite regularly after 1862, as their last five children were born in Camden, Picton, Goulburn, and Wagga Wagga, prior to 1872.

It appears fair enough to surmise that by around the early 1870s, the Peacock family liked the Wagga Wagga district, and decided  to settle down there. It may also be of noteworthy interest, the Yass Courier newspaper confirmed Sarah’s grandfather Michael Edward Peacock, successfully applied for a free conditional land selection of 40 acres in Parish Tooyal in Jan of 1876.

Eldest son Edward Mathew Peacock born in 1848 in Waterbeach UK, married Sarah Jane Turner from Queanbeyan at Wagga Wagga in 1874, and had 3 children at their home at Malebo near Wagga Wagga, being Edward Mathew Peacock born 1876, Sarah Jane Peacock (Nurse Callaghan) in 1878, and George Robert in 1880.

Some basic background info regarding Nurse Callaghan’s two brothers follows below.

Sarah Jane Peacock’s older brother – Edward Mathew born 1875.

Sarah Jane was actually the second child of Edward and Sarah Peacock. It is likely her eldest sibling Edward Mathew was most likely born at their then family home at Malebo ( now Junee Shire ) in 1875. Edward Mathew married Grace Mary Jordain on 6 Mar 1903 at Wagga Wagga, and ended up having 3 sons and 7 daughters in nearby locations in regional NSW.

Review of Census records note Edward was a initially farmer who turned to droving in his later years. He passed away in 1956 at Condobolin NSW, and Grace passed away there too in the following year, and they are buried at Condobolin Cemetery.

Sarah Jane Peacock’s younger brother – George Robert born 1880.

Sarah Jane’s second sibling was George Robert Peacock, who was born on 25^th Oct 1880 also at the family home at Malebo. On the 4^th of Aug in 1903 at Wagga Wagga, George married a young Welsh lady from Chiltern in Victoria named Margaret Dorothy Ann Rowland, and together they had 4 sons and 4 daughters between 1904 and 1920.

According to ehive.com well before he married Margaret, George began shearing aged 13 and later turned to working cattle, regularly traveling between Victoria, NSW, and parts of Queensland. Apparently he was also well known for training horses and become renowned for training dogs for friends and family. At the age of 64 he had a stroke, and was advised to give up droving, however he kept working until he was 84. George Robert Peacock is recognized in the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

The Life of Sarah Jane Peacock

Sarah Jane Peacock ( Nurse Callaghan ) was born in 1878 at Wagga Wagga in new South Wales, to Edward Mathew Peacock and Sarah Ann Turner. Wagga Wagga in those horse and buggy days was sparsely populated, partially as it is relatively geographically isolated, being about 460 klms from Sydney, and 390 klms inland from the coast at Nowra. According to waggawaggaaustralia.com.au Wagga Wagga boasted a population of 1,000 in 1870, was connected by rail in 1879 and the Wark Bros Gasworks came to town, and had an electricity grid set up in 1828.

Times in remote regions of Australia were often like a battle of survival with minimal basic amenities, service and employment opportunities, and it appears Sarah Jane had a tough upbringing in her younger days. For example, when she was 11 years old, her father Edward Mathew was charged for the second time with desertion of her mother Sarah Jane Peacock nee Keating nee Constable nee Turner.

Family of Sarah Jane Peacock

In addition to the above info regarding her two brothers, Sarah Jane Peacock is known to have had the following grand parents, parents, partners, and children, as illustrated in the following Ancestry immediate family tree chart.

Birth of son Earnest John George Dennis on 6 Apr 1895 at Wagga Wagga NSW.

Going by the following report in the NSW Police Gazette, Sarah Peacock had a child out of wedlock at Wagga Wagga, with a local man named Samuel Dennis, some time around her mid teens.

Little info regarding Ernest’s young days in Wagga Wagga has been discovered, however it is believed he moved to Melbourne with his mother in his early teens, and later married Florrie Goodwin in 1918, who was also 23 years of age at that time.

Ancestry records indicate the above marriage produced no children, and Ernest passed away on 26 Oct in 1978, nearly 2 years after Florence ( known as Florrie ) died on 18^th Aug 1976, also in Victoria.

Sarah Jane Peacock’s First Marriage

Also it is unclear whether James Brooker formally adopted young Ernest John George Dennis, as implied above.

On New Years Eve in Dec of 1896, our Sarah Jane Peacock married James Brooker, a local house painter, and had 4 daughters all of whom were born in Wagga Wagga NSW. Namely they were Ethel Elizabeth( Stella ) born in 1898, Elizabeth Brooker born in 1899, Phyllis Myna Victoria Brooker born in 1902, and Ruby Florence Brooker arrived in 1905.

According to https://www.bellsite.id.au/ James Brooker passed away aged only 46 on 23 Mar 1911.

Birth of Ethel E. ( Stella ) Brooker in 1899 in Wagga Wagga NSW.

It is believed Miss Stella Brooker mentioned above as attending her step brother Ernest’s wedding, was actually Nurse Callaghan’s eldest daughter, who was christened as Ethel E. Brooker in 1898 at Wagga Wagga NSW. It appears she went by the name Ethel Stella Brooker on Census records, when she lived with her mother and step father John Joseph Callaghan at Carowindra Hospital at 449 Rae St Fitzroy North in 1919.

According to Census records above, Stella continued living there until at least 1921, and later in 1923 she married Frederick George Harris in Victoria, as shown here.

It is most unusual to report that after lengthy and diligent research, no records of birth of any children of Stella and Fred Harris have been found, nor any Census records of them ever living together, after their marriage of 1923 as shown above.

It is logical to presume that Frederick George Harris either separated with Ethel Stella Brooker shortly after their marriage in 1923, or perhaps he may have passed away around that time frame. Unfortunately, as there are no records of his birth details of his parents’ names, and being a relatively common name, we cannot confirm his date of death either.

Review of Ethel Stella Census records, indicate she resided by herself from 1931 in Wales St in Brunswick West until 1980 inclusive.

Birth of Elizabeth Brooker in 1899 at Wagga Wagga NSW.

Elizabeth Brooker was born to James and Sarah Jane Brooker in 1899. No records have been found of Elizabeth moving to Victoria with her mother, so it is likely she lived with her father James or other family members in Wagga Wagga. Elizabeth was about 19 years old when married Francis Leslie Russell in 1918 at Newtown, a suburb of Sydney. Together at Newtown they had one son, Francis Charles Russell in 1922, who passed away there in 2006.

Birth of Phyllis Myna Victoria Brooker in 1902 at Wagga Wagga NSW

Phyllis Myna Victoria Brooker was born and raised in Wagga Wagga, and obviously moved with her mother to the inner suburbs of Melbourne, after her father James died in 1911. She also attended the wedding of her younger step brother Ernest in 1918, and some 3 years later she married Laurence Charles Douglas Regerster in Victoria.

Together, according to Ancestry.com Phyllis and Laurence had a daughter Beryl Lorraine Regester in Victoria in Aug of 1921. It would appear Phyllis and her family also followed the movements of her sister Elizabeth to Newtown in NSW, as they had their second child William James Regester there in Oct of 1924. Ancestry members have recorded that Beryl is known to have issued Nurse Callaghan with 3 grandsons and 1 granddaughter with the surname of Worland, and William served in World War 2 ( Service Number – NX170694 ) however William did not marry.

Birth of Ruby Florence Brooker in 1905 at Wagga Wagga NSW.

Ruby was the fourth daughter born to James and Sarah Jane Brooker.

Sarah Jane Peacock Moves to Victoria

We can assume that it was some time after the birth of Ruby Florence in 1905, that the marriage of James and Sarah Brooker began to fail. It is likely that Sarah took her children Ernest, Stella, and Phyllis to Melbourne for its many work, educational and social opportunities. Coming from the background of being a young dressmaker in Wagga Wagga, it is obvious Sarah was strongly attracted to the nursing profession, and was driven and determined to be successful by registering her three Private Hospitals in the Fitzroy area in particular.

According to https://researchdata.edu.au/midwives-board/490188 “The Midwives Board was established on 1st December 1915 with the proclamation of the Midwives Act 1915 (No 2773). The Board was established as a policy-making body, responsible for the regulation of Midwifery. It was responsible for the establishment of standards, the co-ordination of education and registration of Midwives. Prior to the establishment of the Board, Victorian midwives were not subject to registration.

To be eligible for registration, women (men were explicitly prohibited) were required to complete training courses managed by the Board and to pass the prescribed examinations. With the advent of registration only Registered Midwives were allowed to deliver babies for profit (medical practitioners were excluded from this Act).

With the proclamation of the Midwives Act 1928 (No 3587) on 1 March 1929 responsibility for the registration of midwives was transferred to the Nurses Board (VA 3144).

No records of this agency have been transferred to Public Record Office Victoria.”

Sarah Jane Peacock’s Second Marriage

Sarah Jane Brooker nee Peacock’s second marriage was to John Joseph Callaghan (known as Jack) in 1912 in Vic.

Only a small amount of info regarding John Callaghan’s Irish ancestors has been located to date, most of which is thanks to a detailed marriage record of his parents, as noted at St Mary’s church in 1868 at Geelong Vic, as below.

The above marriage record of Hugh Callaghan and Catherine Kennedy at Geelong Vic of Feb 1868, has been confirmed by Ancestry.com members, that John Joseph Callaghan’s grandparents were Edward O’Callaghan and Catherine Doherty from Country Donegal, and his maternal grandparents were John Kennedy and Catherine Dooley from Kings County, also in Ireland.  John’s father Hugh Callaghan, suffered a tragic fatal accident whilst working as a bullock driver between Horsham and Stawell in 1878.

Nurse Callaghan’s Medical Career

According to Trove Newspapers, it appears our Nurse Callaghan first advertised her medical services from her building known as Kiandra registered Private Hospital, at 56 Church St. in North Fitzroy, Victoria, in Jun and July of 1913 per a sample here.    

Her given address of 56 Church St above was known as “Kiandra”, which is believed to be Nurse Callaghan’s first Private Hospital she managed. Kiandra was once a thriving gold rush township on the Snowy River in NSW, and is now a mere ghost town.

In May 1914, her hospital received a patient Mrs Sarah Young. Sarah and her husband William Thomas Johnson Young who resided at 70 Greeves Street, Fitzroy. On a Wednesday afternoon at 3.20pm, Ernest Arthur Richardson, a carpenter, advised he smelt smoke and and when he rushed into the house, he found Sarah alongside a one-fire stove, burning from the breast downwards. The story is a bit mixed, one account says he threw a dish of water over her extinguishing the flames and another in the same article says he carried her to a tap and managed to extinguish the flames. They took her to Nurse Callaghan’s private hospital, in Church Street where she was attended to by Dr. P. A. Parer, where she later died, likely of burns and shock. Major E.T. Apps, J P, held an inquiry at the Fitzroy Courthouse on 16 May into the death, but found that it was caused by the burns and accidentally received.

By 10 June 1914, Nurse Callaghan had established and moved on to being the matron at her Belmore Private Hospital, at 43 Alfred Crescent, Fitzroy North. She advertised that she had superior accommodation for ladies with emergency cases admitted. She also “offers woman indisposed a good home in return for services.

In January 1915 she applied for the re-registration of her private hospital at 43 Alfred Crescent, which was assessed by Dr Morton, Health Officer and found that it was in very good order and recommended that the Council grant each application, which was then referred to the Health and Public Works Committee. ( Fitzroy City Press, 30 Jan 1915 ).

She worked there training other nurses. In April 1915 at the completion of the Nurses, including Granger, Perrin and Duddy, she was presented with a piece of silver as an appreciation of her interest in the period of training by Mr Granger (father to one of the nurses) (The Herald, 27 April 1915).

Birth of Patricia Constance Callaghan 1918 at Fitzroy North.

It appears Patricia lived with her mother in Scotchmer St. in Fitzroy North up until 1942, well after her father John Joseph Callaghan passed away in 1928. 131 Scotchmer Street is interesting as it is the Parkview Hotel, so suggests temporary accommodation.

It is unknown how and when and where Patricia met her future husband George Alphonsus Horne, as he was from Ardlethan in NSW, which is just over 500 klms West of Sydney. George and Patricia were married there in 1945, had one daughter Georgina Horne at Temora in 1950, who married a Barry Duncan from West Wyalong.

There appears to be noticeable lack of any adverts by Nurse Callaghan between 1922 and her apparent Private Hospital at 22 Spring St Preston in May of 1936 as outlined here.

Sarah Jane and husband John Joseph Callaghan are both buried at Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery in Victoria.