Two new Kean(e)s: Thomas John and John Joseph…

66 thoughts on “Two new Kean(e)s: Thomas John and John Joseph…”

1. MC on February 13, 2019 at 8:57 am said:

   ” Thomas John Kean was a clerk from Forestville (a suburb of northern Sydney, most famously since then the long-time home of Tony Abbott” Are you sure that is was the Forestville in Sydney, not the suburb of Adelaide?
2. nickpelling on February 13, 2019 at 9:29 am said:

   MC: interesting! You’re absolutely right, I didn’t know about an Adelaide Forestville. I’ll correct the page accordingly, thanks very much for catching that. 🙂
3. milongal on February 13, 2019 at 7:56 pm said:

   Both Forrestville and Dulwich are (these days) reasonaby affluent suburbs of Adelaide. But sufficiently far apart that you wouldn’t mix one with the other – of course, home vs family home might account for different addresses.

   Forrestville is sort of just behind where Le Cornu used to be (not the old Le Cornu site in North Adelaide, the less old one on Anzac Highway). First Avenue is just up Leader St from Anzac Highway – the nearest bus route. Remembering we don’t know exactly where SM got on the St LEonards bus (pedantically, we don’t know exactly where SOMEONE got on the bus – insert normal rants), surely it would not be beyond the realms of possibility that Keane’s in-laws still owned the house on West Tce, and Keane was going from his in-laws to his out-laws (oops, I mean his family) in Forrestville.
   None of that necessarily makes Keane SM, but it ties to the clothes on that day and therefore certainly would put him somewhere in the picture….

   NB: I notice Broken Hill seems to want to tie itself in again too….
4. milongal on February 13, 2019 at 8:51 pm said:

   41 First Avenue has a T.J. Kean in the late 40s.
   Kean(e)s with J or T (ignoring things like ‘A’ might be Anthony ~= Tony, and just focussing on T’s and J’s)
   Kean J. 29 Franklin St, Flinders Park
   Kean T., J.P., lbr, 9 Winwood St Southwark
   Kean T. imprtr, 34 Brigalow av, Kensington Grdns
   Kean, T.C 175 Coglin St, Btompton
   **Kean T.J 41 First Ave, Forrestville
   Keane A.T 49 Dunrobin Rd, Brighton
   Keane, E.J 14 Bindarra Rd, Brighton
   Keane, E.J White Avenue, Lockelys
   Keane, E.J 40 Cuming St, Mile End
   Keane, H.J 11 Richards St, Hindmarsh
   Keane J.P 112-114 Currie St, Adelaide
   Keane J.J 9 Mansfield St, North Adelaide
   Keane J.J Shierlaw St, Richmond
   Keane J.K 15 Percival St Glenelg
   Jeane J.L. 58 Finiss St, North Adelaide
   Keane K.J 27 William St, Nowrwood
   Keane K.J. 70 Sturt Avenue, Colonel Light Gardens
   Keane M.J. 41 Hampton St, Goodwoood Park
   Keane T. 8 Price Weir Ave, Allenby Gardens
   Keane T. 134 William St, Norwood
   Keane T. 40 Dudley St, Semaphore
   Keane T.M. 3 MArgaet St, Brighton
   Keane V.J 43 Davenport Tce, Wayville
   Keane W.J 55 Ballantyne St, West Thebarton
   Keane WT 132 Bower Rd, Glanville
   Keanes T 268 Waymouth St, Adelaide

   NOTE: There are a few Keanes with other letters aroung the Glenelg area

   Both TJ Kean and JJ Keane frm the list above are in the S&M into the 1950s – I lose TJ in 1954, when 41 First Avenue is listed as Tempby, G.F. Clerk (there’s another TJ Kean that appears in North Adelaide from about 1951 and continues after the Forrestville one disppears – but I think that might be the Oil guy).

   Actually, that’s a half truth…..TJ Kean appears in the index of names, but F.F Temby (originally listed Timby) is in the street listing from 1948, Kean is there in ’47

   Incidentally, there was a Keanes ‘High Class Grocer’ in Jetty Rd Glenelg in 1954 X2320 (almost certainly unrelated, but an ad in the S&M caught my eye).
5. milongal on February 14, 2019 at 3:57 am said:

   Quick pole around genealogoySA….
   No Thomas John Kean(e) born in Adelaide around the turn of the century (but nothing to say he wasn’t from elsewhere). There was a John Thomas Kean in an older generationm who had a son Thomas Benard in 1899 (Mother Annorah O’NEILL), but that’s in Nairne (which back then would have been billygoat country)
   They also had a son Joseph Kevin in 1902.
   The two of them later had 2 more children in Talunga (even further billy goat country).

   There’s also a Thomas Charles KEAN born 1900 to Thomas KEAN and Alice BROOK of Hindmarsh – but none of them appear too much interest….

   Can’t find any May KEAN either – but again, if the family came from interstate (or even overseas) that’s easily enough explained….

   There’s a John Joseph KEAN died 1902 (which is obviously too ealry)
   and a John Joseph KEANE born 1896, parents John Jospeh KEANE and Nora MCKAGUE (District is listed as Adelaide – I assume that means at the (old) (R)AH – the Queen Victoria Hospital in Rose Park didn’t open until 1902)

   Couldn’t find Thomas John or May in NSW either (pretty quick search). Victoria is out of action for now (until next week). Might check other states when I get a chance….
6. milongal on February 14, 2019 at 4:10 am said:

   Last one…..JJ Keane 16 Union St, Dulwich in 1938.
   15 Union St was a Billiard Hall with a gambling license (proprietor JJ Collins, I think)
7. milongal on February 14, 2019 at 9:12 pm said:

   acknowledging that S&M has quirks that suggest inadequate record keeping…
   there seems to be multiple JJ Keanes (note: S&M repeats data – sorted by name, and sorted by location, and they’re not necessarily the same, e.g. TJ Kean remains in the alphabetical as being at 41 First Ave even when the street listing shows someone else living there).
   From at least 1937 until at least 1950 there’s a JJ at 9 Mansfield St, North Adelaide, listed as a boiler maker
   from at least 1937 to 1940 there’s the clerk in Union St.
   from 1942-1947 there’s one in Shierlaw St Richmond (I’m guessing he could be the one from Union St)
8. nickpelling on February 15, 2019 at 12:41 am said:

   milongal: thanks very much for all that, much appreciated! 🙂 Cross-referencing your various pieces…

   1. John Joseph Kean(e) of Dulwich

   The 1939 newspapers list JJK as “John Joseph Kean, bookmaker’s clerk, of Union street, Dulwich”, though the police gazette lists him as “John Joseph Keane (40)”. On balance, this would therefore seem highly likely to be your “JJ Keane 16 Union St, Dulwich in 1938”, which you also note as “from at least 1937 to 1940 […] the clerk in Union St”.

   Note that Trove has someone else living (or, rather, dying) in 16 Union Street Dulwich in 1947, which would match up quite well with what you found:

   14 Jan 1947
   https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/30506965
   PHILCOX.—On January 11, at a private hospital, Adelaide Susan, dearly beloved wife of William Philcox, of 16 Union street, Dulwich, and loving mother of Doris, Claude and Vera. Aged 82 years.

   From 1947, there are also some small ads for the City Case Co. at that same address, e.g. looking for a “LAD, 16 to 18, able to drive. City Case Co, 16 Union st., Adelaide”: so perhaps the plot was redeveloped just after the war.

   May I ask: of the two other J. J. Keanes you found (at 9 Mansfield St, North Adelaide, and at Shierlaw St, Richmond), are there any time overlaps or professions listed that might rule either of them out from being the same as the clerk JJK in Union Street Dulwich, i.e. were either of them in their address before 1938 or long after 1940 etc?

   2. Thomas John Kean(e) of Forestville

   Your “Kean T.J. 41 First Ave, Forrestville” would seem to be at exactly the same address as the young girl “May Kean” who sent the joke in to the Adelaide Mail in 1936. It would therefore seem a pretty good bet that TJK was her father: which, of course, might be the first step towards someone working out a fragment of the Kean family tree, however small.

   An unexpected source is the notes on the Catholic Women’s League, Cabra Branch from 08 Apr 1938 in the Southern Cross: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167706168 Cabra Dominican College was a Catholic school in Adelaide’s Cumberland Park. This refers to the branch’s pianiste (and President of the Amusement Committee) being Pat Kean, and with “Mary and May Kean” her “assistants”.

   Patricia Kean is also noted for her performance as the Prince (in “The Prince Who Was A Piper”) in 1937: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167700772 Marjorie and May Kean played peasant girls.

   The Adelaide Mail’s Sunshine Club lists May Kean’s birthday as 20th May: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55827778 She is also listed as being “14” in 29th August 1936’s Adelaide Mail, with her address (incorrectly) given as “1 First Avenue, Forestville” (should have been “41”). (She got a pink certificate.) So I think we can reasonably expect May Kean’s DOB to be 20th May 1922. She also got a pink certificate for her drawing of roses here (18 Sep 1937): https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55071118

   “Mary Kean (and) May Kean” are listed as singing in (the very Catholic singing production) “Credo” in Nov 1939 by the Catholic Centenary Choir – https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/172037002 – in the Melbourne Advocate. At which point May Kean disappears from Trove. 🙁

   Marjorie and Pat Kean were still at Cabra in 1941: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167768639 And Pat Kean may possibly have been the “Miss Pat Keane” at the St Leonards Tennis Club in 1947 mentioned in the Southern Cross: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167716875

   All in all, I have to say it seems fairly likely to me that Patricia Kean, Marjorie Kean and May Kean (DOB 20th May 1922) were all Thomas John Kean’s daughters: and that they all lived at 41 First Avenue, Forestville. This must surely be enough for someone to get some kind of genealogical start on this mini-family tree, right?
9. milongal on February 15, 2019 at 3:49 am said:

   had a brief read (haven’t thoroughly read your comments re Thomas yet) – I’ll try to have more of a look over the weekend.

   The Mansfield JJ overlaps with everything – he’s there from 1937 (possibly earlier, it’s how far I went back) through to 195x (as far as I went forward) and is listed as being a boiler maker.

   The Shierlaw St one does not overlap with Union St, and (from memory, have to double check) might have been listed as a clerk. I think he’s reasonably likely to be the same, with the gap between Union and Shierlaw easily explained as slow processing – but that’s assumption more than conclusion.

   There is also a Joseph Keane, labourer, in Reynella (a long way South in those days), who I didn’t think was worth looking at much.

   I’ve been looking for traces of ‘May’, but haven’t come up with much – like John, Joseph, Thomas it was a reasonably common name (moreso as a second name), and most of the ones I’ve found would be in their 30s at the time the joke was published…

   I can picture all sorts of scenarios involving the keanes, but I think it’s unlikely SM was Thomas (he seems to have too many relatives that would have recognised him). Interestingly (I’ll confirm tonight, if I can) I think they both sort of disappeared from S&M in 1947 (Thomas continues where addresses are indexed by name, but another person is listed at 41 First Avenue in the section sorted by address)…..or maybe I got confused. I’ll have a proper look when I get a chance.

   NB: There seem to have been a lot of Kean[e]s around at the time. And there’s sort of clusters that make me think you can sort of identify families (based on the assumption people don’t move far from the family home) – but it’s very speculative….
10. milongal on February 15, 2019 at 6:55 am said:

    Ok, so….
    JJ in North Adelaide was IMHO definitley not JJ in Dulwich or JJ in Richmond (but the latter 2 to me are possible (likely, even) to be the same person….

    so, as I alluded to earlier, in the “people to address” list, TJ KEAN remains well into the 1950s (I think I checked to 1954)
    However, in the actual street listings, from 1948 41 First Avenue is G.F Timpby, Fitter
    JJ @ 68 Shierlaw, Richmond doesn’t list an occupation (and he’s still there in 1950, if that means anything)

    I’m mildly familiar with Cabra – my nephews nearly went there, and I vaguely know an angry nun or two from there – not that that’s much help.
11. john sanders on February 15, 2019 at 8:49 am said:

    milongal: You‘ll find two John Joseph Keanes living in West Terrace Cemetery, probably father & son, one aged 75 on passing in ‘38, t’other 44 in ‘41….More of the same names from Victoria, including one from St. Kilda who was a qualified cook, such as had been advertised for by Strathmore Hotel just a day before the big ’48 air pageant. At forty six in 1948, above average height of 5‘ 9″, 11stone in weight he sounds just fair, but interestingly, he is recorded as having had three old style vaccination scars on his left arm (wrist?)). His other listed trade was boiler maker and I note that his reliability level was suffering somewhat by the mid thirties when easier pickings might be had as a nit keeper at the All Nighter cafe in Glenelg.
12. nickpelling on February 15, 2019 at 11:27 am said:

    john sanders: the 46 year old boiler maker from St Kilda could easily have been the JJK that Milongal found: “From at least 1937 until at least 1950 there’s a JJ at 9 Mansfield St, North Adelaide, listed as a boiler maker“. 🙂
13. nickpelling on February 15, 2019 at 11:41 am said:

    milongal: I don’t see a trace of anything Kean-related in Shierlaw Street, Richmond; so I’m wondering whether that is a separate JJK, or perhaps the same JJK but estranged from the rest of his family?
14. milongal on February 17, 2019 at 12:31 am said:

    @JS there was a father-son JJK that I briefly mentioned (Son born 1896, so died ’41 aged 44 sounds like him). I had assumed his father was a JJK who died 1902, but clearly I jumped the gun on that one….

    @NP: So if Richmond Kean is Dulwich Kean, he’s moved out of the area in going to Richmond (it’s not far distancewise, but it’s literally the opposite side of the city – Dulwich is Inner (South) East, Richmond is Inner (South) West).
    The city of Adelaide is literally a square (sort of – Eastern side is staggered as a military defence should a threat come from the hills), but it sort of results in people having fairly clear distinction between Northern, Western, Southern, Eastern suburbs, with most people considering the Eastern side to generally be more affluent, and the Northern (and to a degree Western) side generally being more blue collar (but of course that is now, not necessarily in 1940s).

    drifitng off topic….
    So the move doesn’t entirely mean estrangement necessarily – as people get older they probably spread further, but thinking of my own (largish) family, most of our first moves from home were still reasonably close, and even last time I returned to Adelaide I tended to search for houses in the area I was familiar with, but gradually drifted further away from the family home.
    Although….if there is an estrangement, it does give a potential reason why noone came forward to claim they knew him (especially if he was estranged before he moved from Dulwich – he may have been disowned for being the black sheep (or something)
15. john sanders on February 18, 2019 at 5:32 am said:

    Milongal: I shouldn’t be too concerned about those press releases that also give ages, as they can be deceptive. Some boyos born post 1900, advanced their birth year and/or forged parental consent papers to enable underage enlistment in WW1. It also worked for those puting their ages back or forward by a couple of years to gain acceptance or exemptions for WW2, depending on their whims. Our John Joseph Keane, bn. 1902, iron worker from a non existent St. Kilda address, served as a cook in the 46th Btn. and seems to have had a less than honourable discharge. He was presumably still single in the mid thirties and gave his father, John Timothy from Elwood as NOK, though what became of either is not at all clear. It might be noted that one of the other miscreants connected with organised illegal betting in Adelaide, John Hugh Quigley bn. 1896, also a badly behaved ex 50th Btn. man, was known to have hung around St. kilda and Lonsdale St. digs in the 40s. Who knows, the pair may have been in cahoots, though neither came to notice in the post war press, nor do they seem to have burial records for either Adelaide or Melbourne. Quigley’s wife and his mum are strangely side-by-side in West Terrace which seems to be sufficient grounds for checking to see who lives nextdoor to SM over the way; looks like they’re in a head to toe configuration which which could prove to be of some significance!….
16. milongal on February 18, 2019 at 8:14 pm said:

    @JS: Them dates be from GeneaologySA – which I think/assume gets its stuff from the registrar of BDM (they have newspaper stuff separtely). Either/or, it’s of little consequence, seeing as it seems they are not the Keanes we are looking for….
17. john sanders on February 24, 2019 at 7:36 am said:

    Milongal: The Keanes are somewhat habit forming could well be based on an intituitive sense or merely instinct coming into play. I’ve been busy with a whole new Keane collection and there be some real humdingers. Take T.H. (Tom Henry) for example, the Brisbane RSL ex 49th man who appears to have the distinction of having been a German POW in both world wars. His pic is posted on a Thomas Lawrence Keane thread and apart from having been originally from the old dart, he is not a suspect in any crime. QLD reminds me of a suspect James Thomas Keane, the stockman/tanner from Howard out of Maryborough QLD, a pissant place known also birthplace of the great Chad Morgan (The Sheik), oh and some bum Aust. PM named Fisher lived there….Bn. abt.1897, 5’10″+, fresh comp, grey eyes, light brown hair, a juvenile rap sheet and we note that mother Ellen was a Reid with family down south at Gundagai. Byron might be interested to know that Jim was in all probably syphilitic, which might have become full blown tertiary in middle age, say around 1948. I recall BD’s mention of like symptomology from SM’s autopsy and that Jack Cleland also held suspicions along similar lines….Just sample results to keep the heat on and still many likely candidates waiting to be cross examined.
18. john sanders on February 26, 2019 at 8:19 am said:

    James Thomas Sy(i)dney Keane, possibly aka O’connor, Kean, O’keane, Reid, Jones, Barry, was orphaned as an only child following death of his miner father Frank and mum Ellen in 1901. It seems that well heeled relatives in Brisbane and NSW raised him which seems uneventful enough, apart from his coming to notice as a juvenile. Later on he worked ‘Way-out-West’ D as a drover/stockman… then in 1915 aged 20, he went off to war as a driverwith RAE, in Egypt, GB and France whence he was almost continually down with the dreaded Cairo Rose. He married a Scots lassie Helen Duncan Leckie at war’s ’18 whom he brought to Brisbane as a war bride and in 1921 the couple settled on a SS farm acreage allocation in El Arish (of black hand fame) up Nth. Queensland way, he toiling as a bullocky, horse carter and cane chipper (while his ‘chummy’ fed the chooks). Boyo shot the moon about 1927/28 thereabouts and headed south leaving an allegedly mistreated spouse to fend for herself and the flock… I suspect that he may have had three run ins with the law (gambling premises Orange ’29, drunken riotous behaviour Innisfail ’35 and petty theft El Arish ’40) perhaps under the aliases James O’Kean Barry & Kean, by which time he had hooked up with, then apparently dumped at least one other lady from Maryborough…Wife Helen served papers on the rotter in early ’47 at Brisbane which secured an uncontested divorce, then about ’49 the bint ups and applies for a war widow’s pension which may mean something or nothing at all… Details can be researched further if anyone is inquisitive enough and has the dosh to open the other two ANA files, oh and by the way Debra (our Debra?) was looking into this cove for Alison back in 2009 as a family trace case.
19. nickpelling on February 27, 2019 at 11:34 pm said:

    May Kean first appears in Trove just before her 12th birthday (i.e. in May 1934):
    https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58850404

    So… if the Forestville Kean family arrived interstate or from another country, this is (probably) the latest date that can have happened.

    It’s still a source of mystery to me as to why none of these Keans seem to appear anywhere else. How many female Keans were born on 20th May 1922?
20. nickpelling on February 27, 2019 at 11:59 pm said:

    Patricia Kean was in the 20th May 1937 Catholic Subscription Ball in Adelaide (she’s number 16 in the photos here):
    https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167701722

    “Miss Patricia Kean wore a high waisted gown of heavy cream taffeta, slim fitting to the knees, then flaring widely. She carried a white posy, touched with gold to match her white and gold shoes.”
    https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167701673

    So if she was 18 then (is that correct?), she was born in 1918-1919.
21. john sanders on February 28, 2019 at 11:11 am said:

    I’ve managed to semi identify James Keane’s closest relative, but only on first name terms, along with a town of domicile, at least going back ten years. In order to make contact I’d need to inlist the help of a researcher having an ‘Ancestry account’, if I can see that it be worth a shot, in context of my previous post details.
22. milongal on February 28, 2019 at 7:57 pm said:

    So they called her May because she was born in May?

    All the girls at the debutants ball look the same…..

    No Kean born in SA in 1922. There was a Mary Ruth in 1923.
    Only female Keane born SA 1922 is Margaret Doris (to Grace Evelyn Mary HENLEY and Wilfred Charles KEANE)
    There’s a Monica May Keane born 1920 to Christina Mary MCKENZIE and Henry John KEANE)
    NB: what if May was a relative other than a daughter to Thomas? Perhaps a sister (granted big age gap), or perhaps niece?)

    If we really wanna clutch at straws…..
    There’s a Naida May Lillian KEEN (Elsie Evelyn Jean MYERS and Herbert Charles KEEN)

    In terms of Births, KEANE seems a lot more common than KEAN in SA….

    Crossing the border to Victoria (who unfortunately don’t list births after 1918 – must be a 100 year thing)….
    Constance May KEANE Mum’s maiden name PHELPS and father’s name Cornelius
    In fact it looks like most states do 100 years on births (SA does 90, possibly because they can’t count).

    But of course there’s always a possibility they weren’t Aussie too….
23. milongal on February 28, 2019 at 8:45 pm said:

    QLD I can’t search at the moment.
    WA has a Mary M KEAN born 1920 – no details of parents
    Tas yields nothing.
    ACT doesn’t seem to have a search (I think Canberra is only just over 100 years old, so a lot of that stuff might be on the NSW record)

    Nothing comes up on the SA maritime lists either (3 Kean(e) arrived in 1914 but they don’t look that interesting
24. john sanders on February 28, 2019 at 11:24 pm said:

    Milongal: If you would care to enlighten further on May’s obviously important place in the Keane scheme, perhaps I could help find what became of the lass. Always prepared to help when it comes to missing kiddies, especially ones of Mabel’s vintage.
25. Pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 1, 2019 at 5:19 am said:

    The Tom Kean caught knocking down a wet at Glenelg on Sunday May not have been so Kean in my estimation. Same goes for L. J. Keane from Forestville, married to Maud and in-lawed to the Dickers of Broken Hill, who was a tatood runt (ala Gordon Strapps) and a convicted army deserter (10 yrs HL) to boot. On the other hand aka Tom’s drinking pal, Mick Galvin was a twice wounded war hero and stalwart Glenelg RSL office bearer no less (All Night cafe right next door). Our lad bn. 1899, was Keen to inlist and did just that, three days before the krauts called quits so he was no coward. He can hardly be faulted in the company he kept either; So what’s all the fuss? what makes this bloke a Lonsdale St. nit-keeper and why is his suspected daughter May so all fired important??…..
26. nickpelling on March 1, 2019 at 3:34 pm said:

    milongal: perhaps unsurprisingly, I’m drawing basically the same blank as you everywhere else too. So I’m now wondering whether Kean might have instead been the three girls’ step-father: in which case perhaps the right thing to do would be to look for girls with first name May (Mabel was a little outdated by then, but was still a possibility) but unknown surname born not too far from Adelaide on 20th May 1922. There surely can’t be more than 3 or 4, and that might just be enough to get some kind of forward motion. Is that a search you could try?
27. frusconi [--AKA john sanders--] on March 1, 2019 at 11:56 pm said:

    Milongal: Aunt Joan was born around 1917 and was the brunt of many jokes about her birthname Mabel, which she detested until the time of her passing in 2009. M. Rudd nee Christensen, who died in the same year was also a Mabel, though she was never saddled with it; But she was born in 1921 so would not come within the precise DOB criteria stipulated in your search parameters. You might wish to consider that Mabel was more voguish in country towns throughout Australia during the period from pre federation to the late 30s. May as in Kean, on t’other hand was certainly very popular for a much longer span, though more likely to have been in a supporting role to a Christian name ie Agnes May….
28. milongal on March 3, 2019 at 9:38 pm said:

    @JS: Interest in May is simply as daughter to TJ of Forrestville. It does seem a touch odd that we can find her sisters, but minimal stuff on her (although I think the age of her record is part of the problem – . I think the angle is simply the more we can link to TJ the more we can decide whether he is or isn’t of any interst….

    @NP: 64 girls called ‘MAY’ born in SA between 1920 amd 1924 (unfortunately the search on genealogy SA seems a bit crude) – nothing is leaping out (there’s 2 records without a father listed, one in 1920, one in 1922 but doubt that means much) .
    I think it’s more likely that she was born in Vic (or elsewhere) where we can only see things older than 100 years…..

    If we want to clutch at some straws, though…..
    Irene May DOHNT born 1922 to Harriet Ellen Louisa MCPHEE (and Albert Robert Dohnt). The region is listed as ‘NORWOOD’, so it would be just North of the city.
    What if parents relationship breaks down, and she’s temporarily adopted by Keanes (wasn’t TJ’s wifes maiden name McPhee?)…..
    I think it draws one hell of a long bow, though…..

    FWIW can’t find a relevant DOHNT in cemetries in SA either (I don’t actually know how many cemetries there might be that aren’t listed under the ACA – but I’m pretty sure ACA doesn’t manage anywhere near all SA cemetries – so perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised we can’t find people). There are other sites, but they have various degrees of tedium….

    and pull out wierd things like this one from Jamestown:
    KEAN Mary, John, John Joseph, Johanna, mary Ann & Ellen Mary WALLACE

    If I get a chance, I might poke around on gravesecrets dot net and see what we can find
29. nickpelling on March 3, 2019 at 10:08 pm said:

    milongal: thanks very much for looking for May – though it does seem a little bit odd that we can’t see anything about her, chances are there’s some simple explanation for it (e.g. she preferred ‘May’ to her actual first name, etc) which might well turn up before long. Mind you, your Dohnt theory is an excellent attempt, I certainly can’t easily disprove it, no matter how big a stretch you might think it is. 😉

    BTW: just now I wheeled out the Google-fu site:gravesecrets.net trick to look for any Kean headstones there, but didn’t find anything obviously interesting. 🙁
30. Pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 4, 2019 at 5:41 am said:

    To have disappeared at the time she did, if she did, might suggest the real possibilty of “May” having taken orders as a novice with the Dominican Cabra nuns; In which case she would have undergone rebirthing to fit in with dictates of church law. The Kean search criteria would not be likely show colour if such were to have been the case, unless one can access Saint Mary’s order entry and service records for nuns which will have her original name listed.
31. milongal on March 4, 2019 at 8:50 pm said:

    @Pariah – that’s an interesting thouht,,,,,Joining the convent certainly might make something disappear – you’d expect an article in the ‘Southern Cross’, but by then they might use the name she’s chosen for her vocation rather than her real name.
    I know people who attended Cabra (mid-late 60s), but if the Dominicans don’t shift around too much (I don’t know how big an if that would be) it would be possible she would be teaching there (or something).

    I wonder if we can find things via the school…..
32. nickpelling on March 4, 2019 at 9:12 pm said:

    milongal: I’ve already asked, I’ll be delighted to pass on any information that I receive as a result. 🙂
33. milongal on March 4, 2019 at 9:26 pm said:

    Trove actually has some lists for Dominican Sisters of the third order – South Australia (North Adelaide) and “Dominican Sisters of the second Order – South Australia (Cabra). These lists generally link to Southern Cross articles when they profess their orders (one of them mentions a J Gleeson being a priest that was present – Adelaidean Catholics of a later era might recognise him as the first South Australian priest to be appointed Archbishop of Adelaide).

    Two references to Keane occur, but neither seem signifficant one was an Honorah KEANE died in the 40s aged 80+, the other is in an external link to gravesecrets that lists all those buried at Cabra (where a Sister Marie KERIN (b Jamestown 25/08/1922) has a mother Elizabeth Margaret KEANE).

    NB: Marie KERRIN is one of only 4 sisters listed by their non-vocational name. I’m not certain of the significance, but certainly at least 2 of the others were relatively significant (or at least well known) in the broader Catholic (and possibly South Australian) Community
34. milongal on March 4, 2019 at 11:27 pm said:

    ok, just to confirm, the McPhees are totally unrelated (but it was fun while it lasted). They were born 10 years apart on opposite sides of Victoria to different parents:

    (fields: Name, Mother’s Maiden Name, Father’s name, year, reference)
    MCPHEE Eileen Jessie, ATTRIDGE, Jas, 1896, 15657/1896
    MCPHEE Harriet Ellen Louise, MUNN, John, 1885, 67/1885
35. Pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 5, 2019 at 6:21 am said:

    I also chanced to work through the Dominican nun list for both orders without reward. In the other Cabra SC school year book, I did pick up on a joan Keane who was presented with a dilligence award at leaving certificate level in ’39, which under normal Australian schooling criteria would put her at 17 and most likely to have been a 1922 baby in my books…A rough chance to follow up on at a stretch…
36. milongal on March 5, 2019 at 8:12 pm said:

    I’m guessing Joan would be (I know back then Barossa was a long way, but Cabra was a boarding college – and there wouldn’t have been many Catholic Boarding Schools in Adelaide :
    1923 KEANE Joan Maria Stanislaus KEANE Lily Kathleen FORWARD Barossa 127A/279
37. pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 6, 2019 at 4:45 am said:

    I guess it might be interesting to note that a John Stanislaus Keane, a Newcastle bookmaker living in Sydney, was abducted from an illegal card game and literally taken for a ride ‘US gangster style’ according to the news reports of September, ‘33, later found dumped, with three terminal shots to the head….OK so Joan’s dad hailed from far off Port Perie S.A. and there was of course no mention of any ‘John’ when young Stan…married Lily Forward in ‘17 at Adelaide. On t’other hand I’m still Keane on John Stanislaus if only due to claims of his underworld connections and of course his vocation which ties in with our ‘nit keeper’ case rather handsomely. PS: Police were expecting to make an early arrest which would have been of little comfort to Lily and daughter Joan, if they did prove to be the deceased’s NOK.
38. pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 6, 2019 at 9:15 am said:

    Surprisingly the name Stanislau does occur occasionally with Anglo Irish families eg. James Joyce’s father and younger brother were both John Stanislau and a Rev. Stanislau Joyce died in Sydney, same year as the murdered man…..Kean(e) was also a common name in racing circles, occuring with two or more top Adelaide book makers of the thirties and forties period, both likely to have been members of the S.A. Grandstand BM Assoc. which might still retain past membership records…I’d not be surpised if the name Keane, along with its many derivatives, had been in the top 10 as far as commonality goes in old Australia which might suggest a reason for it having been used as a foil to thwart the police efforts to search for viable ID clues. PS: Stop press 7/11/33. Still no arrest in Mascot murder.
39. frusconi [--AKA john sanders--] on March 7, 2019 at 3:35 am said:

    Southern Cross mag of 19/3/37 surely got the names wrong in that it was Mary and May that played support roles to sister Pat, Mary was misprinted as Marjory who surely must be our long lost May or Agnes May whom I introduced a week ago in hope that those in the loop might pick up on it. Of course May as Marjorie (May to her mates) became Mrs. Spooner when she married reliable Alf the dumb arse Brit whose CV would nominate job skills to nclude chauffeur, b’guard, mechanic skimmer and a fair hand with both knife and shovel when such talents be needed. Of course we have chased down both May’s sibling sisters Pat and Mary, we know mum and dad and we’ve met some of the assumed rells. Ie. Len, Jim, Les, Bruce, Frank, Archie, Chas., Nora and Edna, the Kean clan from Forestville. I’m not at all sure how all these worthies could have missed seeing the SM photo spread of 2nd? Dec. ’48, though perhaps being p.n.g I’ve missed the relevance to baccarat nitpicker or anything else that connects with SM apart from a Keane tie and washbag or Kean singlet of undeterminable origin. I’d certainly not be laying out my un-earned Dong on a search for information that is already in the bag.
40. Byron Deveson on March 7, 2019 at 11:15 am said:

    News (Adelaide) 30th November 1951 page 3

    “…….This week Det.-Sgt. R.L. Leane and Det. L. Brown asked Perth police to check on a man named Tony Keene, last heard of when living in St. George’s terrace, Perth. This name ties up with the name found on cloth ing among unclaimed luggage at Adelaide Railway Station, which may have been deposited by the victim a few days before his body was found.”
41. pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 7, 2019 at 1:14 pm said:

    Gawdstruth, how is it that Gerry and Barry never picked up on Tony Keene. Could prove to be yet another game changer, if we can get him from Perth to Adelaide in good order and switch him with Tom or Joe from the overnighter cafe at old Glenelg, before the dark spiders get wind of him. Certainly sounds as if he could be yet another Baccarat nit picker…Hold up a tic, weren’t we reliably informed by our friend from the Maleny tiny writing spy booth, that Browny was taken off the case around the time of the inquest in June ‘49. If so how could it be that he’s still on the case in ‘51, surely someone at newscorp was mistaken. No matter we the undaunted dupes surely must change tac forthwith and take the new lead as given…Good catch that man, yer bloods worth bottling.
42. milongal on March 7, 2019 at 7:39 pm said:

    @Frusconi: I think it was mentioned earlier that Kean is unlikey to be SM – for the very reason you mention re plenty of rellies around that would have said something. But if the clothes were his, then there’s still a connection that could be of interest,
43. nickpelling on March 7, 2019 at 7:46 pm said:

    Milongal: in my opinion, it is better to collect enough evidence that it can tell its own story than to prejudge what ought or ought not to be the case. History (when done right) has a habit of telling entirely different stories from the ones we initially expect. 😉

    And anyway, the more we know about the various T. Kean(e)s of the right age, the better equipped we will be for noticing the faint echoes of that which remains. 🙂
44. milongal on March 7, 2019 at 8:14 pm said:

    @Byron: I thought it sounded familiar….looks like you mentioned it here about 5 years ago, and I seem to have briefly mentioned it 2 years ago….

    It does make an interesting point, that might explain the discrepancy between Kean/Keane (which again might have been mentioned before). What if the owner of the clothes didn’t label them himself? What sort of places would be likely to label someone elses clothes, and possibly fritz it up? Most obvious would be some sort of hospital or home where the cleaners label stuff so they can return them to their rightful owner – becomes even more plausible f the person in the home is non compos mentis (eg if the institution was a mental asylum, or an unconscious person is brough in – of course the latter suggests someone knew his name, which suggests at the time the name was put on the clothes they were associated with someone known, (so either it wasn’t SM, or he was somewhere where he was known or had paperwork on him).

    I’ve always been a little intrigued by the less flattering photos on GC’s . Without necessarily entertaining too much conspiracy about body switches or deliberate misinformation, it’s difficult to recognise the better known photos as the same man (for that matter, I think the bust matches the morgue shots better than the newspaper shots). This is presumably part of the reason some people thought they knew who it was until they saw the bust.
    While in SA people may have seen the photo and the bust, how widely was a picture of the bust spread elsewhere? I think it’s plausible the photo shared through the papers was sufficiently different to what SM looked like, that someone seeing only the photo (And not the bust) might not realise it’s someone they knew (and IMO the photo discrepancy is likely trying to clean up and stage a shot than deliberately misleading – but that is opinion only)

    Incidentally, JS if you’re around, both sets of photos have a tie – so not sure whether that fits your idea that one of the coppers put their tie on him for the photo shoot (unless all those photos were taken in the same sitting
45. pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 7, 2019 at 10:43 pm said:

    Seem to recall there having been a different tie used in the in the last phot, the one taken just before the plaster cast was done. Will check and confirm.
46. frusconi [--AKA john sanders--] on March 8, 2019 at 7:20 am said:

    Yes! a different tie pattern altother in the last mortuary shot, SM looking a little worse for ware. Also brings to mind a feeling I have that our man received special dispensation to keep his socks on throughout his period of post mortem custody.

    Of course Messrs. Feltus and Braish would almost certainly have played out the Tony Reede ticket for a resolution of sorts, which I guess we’ll need to confirm before puting that dubious lead to rest. Once bitten etc..
47. frusconi [--AKA john sanders--] on March 8, 2019 at 2:09 pm said:

    By mid February 1949, Detective Leane must have had some clue on the laundry marks and requested Sydney CIB to make specific inqiries with police in Newcasle further north. For some unknown reason they redirected to their regional hubs, including the country town of Kempsey on the mid north coast, however nothing came of this line of inquiry, and was so reported…..James Thomas Keane, who hailed from Qld, worked as a stockman and was last known to have been residing in Kempsey around 1934. His father Frank, who was a coalminer from the Newcastle district, had met and married Ellen Reid, but both died there when James was a lad. As it stands I only have what I’ve taken from Gerry’s book but there are mentions of NSW Police Gazette entries and so it’s likely that better insight can be gleaned from them. Certainly this information should be grounds for follow up.
48. pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 13, 2019 at 10:51 am said:

    I can see exactly how things got confused. Some how or other, just because Thomas Joseph Kean 1898 and Thomas John Keane bn. 98? were written up as both being from Forestville, folks (not I) assumed unwisely that they were likely to be one and the same. Not true of course; The Thomas Joseph Kean family which included wife Jessie (Eileen) and our three Cabra lasses, were from 41 First Street, whereas Thomas John Keane whose exact address, we never knew (possibly Edith Street where a large Keane mob were living)….To cut to the quick, we can surely now toss the kid’s father who had no known form, because he died most assuredly in 1968. In so doing we might give John Joseph Keane Union St. Dulwich the flick, simply because the name doesn’t fit well enough with Byron’s non gambling offender Thomas John Kean, who gets his pass simply because he has no form for nit keeping that we’re aware off..
49. nickpelling on March 13, 2019 at 12:05 pm said:

    pariah heep: if you have any documentary evidence supporting your flat assertions here, please put them forward. Otherwise you’re just adding to the noise, which in Somerton Man Research Land is already at a level that is close to deafening. 🙁
50. pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 13, 2019 at 1:18 pm said:

    Nick: That’s something along the lines of what stage four Peteb just threw up. You sound like a pair of clowns getting their hackles up trying to justify their limited ability to entertain the crowd and failing miserabily. Your Melbourne nitkeeper Thomas Joseph Kean outlasted Somerton Man by twenty years in my reckoning. So who is likely to be the next candidate might I ask.
51. nickpelling on March 13, 2019 at 2:00 pm said:

    pariah heep: yes, a (but not necessarily the) Thomas Joseph Kean died 25/07/1968 and was buried in Centennial Park, so – as always – feel free to pipe up if you have more information than that.
52. nickpelling on March 13, 2019 at 2:21 pm said:

    Here’s a different Thomas Joseph Kean: https://billiongraves.com/grave/Thomas-Joseph-Kean/6451594
53. pariah heep [--AKA john sanders--] on March 13, 2019 at 10:38 pm said:

    Nick: There is little to doubt about the (cremated) Centenial Park man being our girls father, which should suffice to close the gate on his further involvement and likewise all his kith and kin. His introduction had nothing going for it from the onset, yet was allowed to take on a life of it’s own on no real merit, with conflicting leads that were mish mished to add confusion. Don’t know what makes the Cheltenham man any more worthwhile, but for the tenuous attachment to the suitcase names, which must still be worthy of consideration, if only for its historic resillience, thus should not be discarded out of hand.
54. Alison Elliott nee Keane on April 9, 2019 at 4:28 am said:

    Well reading on I am quite shocked at your humerous take on my grandfather John Sanders. A few errors though..James was only involved in the 1935 Innisfail incident, not the others, he was not an alias Okeane or Barry. James Thomas Sydney Keanes bit on the side was my grandmother who he finished with when she died in 1945. JTS Keane had never come to Kempsey NSW ever. The Keanes the Newcastle police might have been investigating in Kempsey were those of an unrelated John Keane who was resident in Kempsey prior to 1900.
55. john sanders on April 9, 2019 at 8:47 am said:

    Allison Elliott: Call that indignant?.Your polite and informative advice re James Thomas Keane is well received (both posts) and seems to put rest to any doubts, if there were any, that grandfather could be our famous Somerton Man. You might like to follow the case as a matter of interest and respond to any further humorless indiscretions on my part. I’ll keep you informed personally should any news come in on the other Darwin lead unless you wish otherwise.
56. john sanders on April 9, 2019 at 12:30 pm said:

    Alison Elliott: Perhaps in order to create an element of total fulfillment regarding grandad’s non involvement, you might oblige us with some confirmation as to his demise at Rockhamton in 1950 and that of grandma at Brisbane in 1945, which, owing to my limitations, I have not been successful in doing, notwithstanding my own acceptance of your thorough family research results. I don’t wish to be accused of being party to any private talk confirmation bias, which might thus be anticipated from certain doubting thomas types that abound on certain less credible SM forums. Thanks Alison…
57. john sanders on April 9, 2019 at 1:55 pm said:

    We’re now fine with James Keane, Just as Alison advised. He lived at Nagoorin and was cremated on 21st December 1950. A member of the RSL and the Masonic Lodge, as was his old army confederate Claude Sarre who started up the RAE unit association in Adelaide in 1936.
58. john sanders on April 10, 2019 at 10:17 am said:

    From the Army News Darwin: On 17th August, 1943 Mrs. Peter Keane of Glenelg is notified that husband, Flying Officer Peter Keane is missing, believed killed, consequence of a non operational accident. He had of course been secretary of Brighton SC and a local La Crosse player of some note..So what; Keanes is everywhere, especially Glenelg, but with this one, there is no other mention of him anywhere including RAAF rolls and NAA Air Accidents investigatìons, which is a definate caution on placing too much reliance on such indices..Tried Brighton cemetery (R.C. section) and sure enough Peter Keane 1943 NFDs.
59. john sanders on April 10, 2019 at 10:56 am said:

    When Keane means Keene bn. ’17 a whole new world opens. Poor blighter went down flying between Cairns and somewhere else, leaving Ronda and newborn babe to wonder who won the war.
60. milongal on April 10, 2019 at 9:21 pm said:

    @JS: If you look at the tie, Reane/Rean/Reanic might be a possibility too…I previously dismissed it as rather rare, but I can find some records.

    For mine, the more I look at the tie, the more the ‘K’ looks like an incomplete ‘R’ (the top is very curved, and larger than the bottom). I’m also not convinced the last ‘E’ is an ‘E’ – or even a letter. I think someone’s floated the idea before that the ‘T’ isn’t a ‘T’ at all, but rather the number ‘7’….

    What if it’s Number, Surname, Initial…..7. Rean F (or something).
    It would be interesting to see the ‘KEAN’ from the other clothes to see whether it comes out clearer….

    I think we’ve been a little way down that rabbit hole before, and not certain how wise it is to go too much further….
61. john sanders on April 10, 2019 at 10:31 pm said:

    milongal: I am as confident as I can be that the formulation of both sets of Keane E bars are very much the same in spite of the last whole character appearing to be askew. I think it would be more apparent looking at both together under a light lens of about 1.5 or 2 power.
62. john sanders on April 11, 2019 at 12:35 pm said:

    Milongal: Yes, of course, I noticed, as you most certainly did. “What’s a good old Catholic boy doing getting tied up with a fraternal order like the Masonic Lodge and risking ex-communication etc?”. Perhaps Jim saw the light and changed faith in order to attain spiritule salvation, this being in spite of a propensity for untoward anti Christian social behavior in his unsettled days. In fairness to the man, he did marry into the Kirk and of course biased protestant RSL membership preference rules may have provided added insentive, as you’ll appreciate no doubt. To cut a long story short the Rockhampton rag reported the funeral details which I quoted verbatum more or less; so I for one have no doubts as to its veracity.
63. john sanders on April 12, 2019 at 12:58 am said:

    I’m trying to recall the plot from perhaps a Hercules Poirotten mystery that dealt predominently with the cover-up of an unidentified murder victim to avert recent unwanted public attention, long after incompetent police had come to a dead end in their inquiries. Amongst other neat little deception ploys laid by the culprits to allay suspicion, was to place a death notice of sorts in the local rag, providing certain details such as full name and some known affiliations connected with the victim…I couldn’t help but pick up on couple or three things from that fictional case that seem to resonate with our own SM mystery and it’s dubious connection with James Thomas Sidney Keane, which I’ll now attempt to address as follows…A rather unusual post death notice, addressed to relatives and friends of the late JTSK was posted in a Rockhampton newspaper informing those worthies that the deceased remains had been cremated the day before, that being 21/12/50. The ad noted that Mr.JTSK (a man of stated Catholic preference), had been affiliated with a masonic lodge in far off Brisbane and also his local RBSARILA, which could identify with RSSAILA, a Queensland war veterans movement, known these days as the RSL club or Returned & Services League….When viewed in the light of day, the more obvious presentational oddities are rather easy to spot and thereby not worth further comment. However I did pick up on one small detail that even a blood relative and family researcher seems not to have been aware of. Case in point being in the spelling of his middle name Sidney which James knew but authorities including Qld Police could never get right. Rockhampton Morning Bulletin paper somehow managed to get the name correct which causes one to wonder how they may have come by it at such short notice.
64. john sanders on April 12, 2019 at 5:50 am said:

    James Thomas Sidney Keane is not listed as a client with the Rockhampton City Crematorium under his name or other known and suspected aliases. Records date from 1948 and follow-up cemetery searches at Gladstone and nearby Naroorgin, his main place of residence proved likewise negative. Queensland death records are not for public scrutiny nor are wills and probate to my knowledge; so where do we go from here? or shall we just put faith in that single after-the-event (22/12/50) newspaper promo?.
65. john sanders on April 13, 2019 at 12:40 am said:

    Alison Elliott nee Keane: It seems most likey that convicted petty thief James Barry of El Arish Qld was in fact an early 20th century gold muddler who, by the 1930s had fallen on hard times and so was not likely to have been an alias for James Keane as you have correctly adjudged. On the other hand, the Xmas eve, 1935 Crown hotel, Innisfail melee, to which you seemingly identify grandad as being the perpetrator, was attributed to a James O’keane in at least two newspapers of the day, and so is unlikely to have been a typo as such. The so named offender from the Orange NSW ‘common gaming house’ take down a few years earlier, appeared on trove as one of only two, which I’d suggest is therefore no mere coincidence and likely to have been the same offender. As for the other reported alias, james Reid or Read which you do agree with, I found the first name connected with a juvenile theft case from Sydney in 1910 which does suggest yet anither link to NSW, allbeit more tenuous. Of course we know for certain that grandad spent some months camped in Sydney prior to being shipped off as a reinfocement,1/41 in1915; so we can’t say that he never came south of the Qld. border. As a little interesting aside, with regard to Kempsey having had no relevance to the police search for a possible SM/Keane connection in 1949, one might beg to differ, in that a J. Keane and family were known to be residing at 44 Eden Street in that town, by at least 1950 and as such, may have indeed been a lead for police to want to pursue…ps: I’ve searched incoming travel records fairly thorougly, to the extent of my serious limitations and can find no mention of grandad’s ex wife Helen Keane or Lackie for the date range you suggested. As I’m generally interested in what became of her, you might be able to advise further. She was still known to be living in El Arish about 1950 if that helps.
66. john sanders on November 27, 2021 at 7:53 am said:

    Margaret Alice Rau (Bruce William James) nee Keane, Kein, Cane etc., was one of at least 17 children of John Richard Keane (1857-1935) and Mary Julianna Roediger (1865-1944). This family moved about all over rural SA, Adelaide and Broken Hill and formed the basis of the at one time troublesome bunch from Union Street, Dulwich. Due to their somewhat questionable individual pedigrees and name mish mashing some of Maggies siblings are unaccounnted for. Some born just after 1900 may in fact be offspring of John and Mary’s early issue and to confuse things further, Leonard John bn. 1894 was not sired by his dad. I have managed to separate the clique from other large namesake families of Hamley Bridge, Burra & O’hallorans Hill etc. but don’t doubt that some interdiction could have occurred.

    Down to tin tacks, there must remain the possibility that a bloke once walked amongst the clan who looked a lot like somone we’ve been seeking since 1948, one of the tribe begat predominently by John & Mary Keane, or even of the next generation who wasn’t missed, after going off to the war in 1915 without telling his long past caring folks. Now here we have non compliant former SA acting premier and A.G. letting his guard down by showing the most perfect replica of his great grandfather’s big upper lug hole, a darn sight larger than the pokey little cavum below at any rate. It also compares quite nicely to that sported by our main man in his prime. Anyone wanting to make the necessary comparisons, there is one particulary good profile of Counselor Rau on line and a grainy though decent one of Great Grandpa John Richard Keane on the Myheritage site.

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