The MacEgan, Egan, Eagan, Eagen and Keegan Families
Australia is a very young country, we celebrated our 200th Anniversary in 1988.
The population until the mid 1850s was very small and only began to grow significantly
under government sponsored immigration schemes in the early to mid 1800's. It
was during this period that Irish settlers started to flow to Australia in significant
numbers. This turned to a flood upon the discovery of gold in 1850. The bold
brush strokes of our family that occurred in other countries are perhaps not
as evident. The imprint of our family is however visible through the large number
of place names carrying the Egan name in the goldmining areas through which
we will travel. They were not all goldminers although many turned to goldmining
to fund more secure futures in farming, hotels, manufacturing and the professions.
The discovery of gold in California and Alaska saw a large amount of travel
across the Pacific linking families in the USA and Australia. The genealogical
implications of gold-driven migratory travel in this region, as it affects our
family, could perhaps be better documented. We hope that the Rally allowed us
to discover a number of new links and branches of our families previously undiscovered.
The 2002 Rally was
based in Melbourne Victoria
with tours through the Victorian Goldfields seeing older townships, gold diggings
and the historic city of Bendigo. We also visited the picturesque wine growing
areas of the Dandenong mountain range and Yarra Valley. The aim was to provide
overseas family members in particular with the opportunity to see more of our
countryside, much of the character of which is still as it was in the 1850s.
Thursday July 4th
In the morning we left Melbourne by coach for the central Victorian township
of Maldon.
In the afternoon we travelled to Porcupine
Village where
a guided tour of this historical gold mining village was provided. Late afternoon
we travelled through to Bendigo
where we stayed at The Shamrock Hotel.
In the evening we had dinner in Central Bendigo with a large number of new family
members who travelled from all corners of Victoria to meet the main rally group.
Friday July 5th
Commencing in the morning, and breaking up into smaller groups, we enjoyed the
following historic attractions:
Lunch was in Central
Bendigo before travelling out to the Bendigo
Pottery complex,
returning to Melbourne late in the afternoon.
Friday was a free evening.
On Saturday we travelled
by coach to visit the Dandenong Ranges to the East of Melbourne, a glorious
retreat from the city’s bustle. We boarded the quaint little steam train,
Puffing
Billy from
Belgrave to Emerald Lake, taking in the rolling hills, fern gullies and lush
vegetation.
We continued by coach through the ranges to the beautiful Yarra Valley. and
enjoyed lunch at the Healesville
Sanctuary,
one of our great attractions with more than 200 species of native birds, mammals
and reptiles on display in a natural bush setting.
The day concluded with a wine tasting at a Yarra
Valley winery.
We arrived back in Melbourne late in th afternoon for the Rally Banquet at the
Victorian
Club Rialto
Building.
