Every year, a mighty clan gather – a Geraldton institution. Anthony Barich was there to witness things first hand.
By Anthony Barich
On June 6 next year, over 500 descendants of Irish migrants Michael and Hanora O’Brien will gather in Geraldton for a historic family reunion. But to many of them, it won’t be as important as a much smaller annual gathering in a tiny chapel in the middle of nowhere, 30km east of the regional centre.
On August 30, The Record was invited to a comparatively smaller but intimate and emotionally-charged gathering at St James Chapel, Kojarena, nestled at the base of a hill on the property of James O’Brien, one of Michael and Hanora’s sons. The gathering was to celebrate the restoration of St James’ Chapel which over 200 descendants of James and wife Maggie’s 11 children restored and saved from disrepair in 2007 by raising $10,000.
Maggie fundraised by holding euchre (card) parties and raffles among the local community to help build the ‘chapel of ease’ that legendary priest-architect Monsignor John Hawes designed in 1933 and built two years later with locally quarried stones carted to the site by locals. By 1982 it stopped being used for weekly Mass due to priest shortages and, by 2007, termites had made inroads and birds had taken up residence inside.
Pat Mills, one of James and Maggie’s granddaughters, and her siblings marshalled their relatives and the chapel was restored. In 2007 and 2008, over 200 attended the Mass celebrated by Mullewa’s Fr Michael Morrissey. They came from all over WA; many also came from the Eastern States.
This year half that number attended due to age and infirmity but the younger generation are showing a renewed interest in celebrating their family’s heritage, deeply steeped in a Catholic culture. This year they came from Busselton, Bunbury, Bruce Rock, Mandurah, Perth, Walkaway, Mullewa, Northampton, Mingenew, Morawa, Kojarena, Geraldton and Darwin.
And that was just a fraction of the descendants of Michael and Hanora O’Brien who migrated to Geraldton 150 years ago. The June 6 reunion will likely include many Geraldton families, as, of their six children, the four daughters married into the Driscoll, McGuinness, Stokes and Heelan families. Some of the descendants are legendary in the Pilbara, including Bernie Clune, a former Greenough Shire president before it was recently merged with the Shire of Geraldton. There’s a road named after Bernie – relative of Perth Archbishop Patrick Clune – down the road from St James’ Chapel.
It’s something you could write a book about and one has been written. The 400 pager will be launched in November. Fr Michael Morrissey, who has known the family for years, is in a privileged position.
Geraldton priests are lining up for the honour of celebrating the annual Mass at St James’ Chapel. This year, as Fr Morrissey had a baptism to perform, Bluff Point parish priest Fr Brenton Taylor got a guernsey.
He was honoured and joked that he may have shocked the crowd as he actually wasn’t related. He said the Israelites fleeing captivity in the Mass reading are about as numerous as the O’Brien clan. “There’s a saying up here that if you offend an O’Brien, or a Criddle or a related family, you offend half of Geraldton,” he told The Record.
The Mass was a special opportunity to not only reminisce but to pray for their descendants, “on whose shoulders we stand. This part of the world would not have progressed if not for you and your descendants,” he told the congregation.
Since Pat Mills organised the event, the phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from cousins she had rarely spoken to since her childhood but all of whom used to love their trips to grandma’s house, down the hill from St James Chapel that was made from the same stone.
Every Christmas they’d come together as kids and find somewhere in the house to sleep – a tough job considering how many of them there were.
For a 90 year old granddaughter of James and Maggie who was attending, and for many others, it was very emotional. Some hadn’t been there for over 50 years.
The Record left mid-afternoon after sharing in the 11.30am Mass and subsequent picnic but about 20 cousins stayed on, telling tales around the campfire until 8pm.
They loved watching their kids climb up the adjacent hillside just as they had all done as kids.
“I told one older cousin who couldn’t make it this year, “you’ll have to be there for the June 6 reunion”; but he said the reunion doesn’t mean as much as Kojarena’. The James O’Brien family was so close,” said Pat, 74, one of about 58 grandchildren of James and Maggie.
The event was a success, in more ways than one. After the chapel had fallen into disrepair prior to 2007, one couple at the August 30 picnic booked the church for their wedding; another for the baptism of their child.
“Too often these old churches fall into disrepair, but it’s an important part of our heritage,” Fr Taylor said.
“But it’s ideal for a baptism or a small, intimate wedding.”
To book the church, contact the Geraldton Cathedral office on 08 9921 3221.