I was recently contacted by a reader who sent me the following story about his efforts to return a shop sign that came into his possession. So far he had hit a brick wall but thought you may like to read about his search so far and maybe someone will know a ‘Moriarty’ descendant. I wonder when they started to call mens hairdressers barbers?
The Story Behind A Sign – By Graham Higgins
In around 1986 I found an old Hairdressers shopfront sign at a home I had moved into in Kalgoorlie. The sign was for a J. Moriarty Hairdresser.
I relocated the sign to my parents house in Busselton where my father fitted it in a frame and fixed it to the wall in his garage. My father passed away in 1991 but the sign remained there until around 2008 when my mother sold the house and moved to Perth. I relocated the sign into storage in my daughters’ garage in Bunbury where it remained until very late 2014. She was moving house at that time so I took possession of the sign again.
I decided that I would try to locate the descendants of J. Moriarty to offer them this sign as I felt it would then be in its right place. Armed with that desire I tackled the internet to try and track down any such descendants and in doing so went on a tour of discovery that convinced me that this sign definitely belonged with the Moriarty family. It tells quite a story albeit I have only scraped the surface and it is by no means complete.
Hairdressers sign – J Moriarty
J Moriarty turns out to be an Ernest John Moriarty (known as Jack) born in Kalgoorlie in 1915 to Ernest (Snr) and Annie Moriarty (nee Quigley). He had a sibling brother Clarence James (known as Jim) born some 6 years later in 1921. The mother of Annie Quigley, Mary Anne(nee Baum?) married twice, firstly to Corneliues Keogh (Maldon – Victoria) and later to John Quigley a Publican and Councillor who lived for a time at least, in Bulong (just out of Kalgoorlie). They later moved to Kalgoorlie. Her step family (Keogh) consisted of Sarah (Mrs Coady – Bulong); James (Jim); Tim (Sydney – NSW); Doodie (Maldon – Vic); Cornelius Jnr(Con – Kalgoorlie) and William (Deceased). Her Quigley family siblings consisted of Thomas (Wyndham – WA); Mary (Mrs Partridge – Perenjori); Annie herself and Jack (Hawthorn – Vic).
Both Jack and Jim were to go on and serve their country during the Second World War – Jack (82620: 1942-1946) as a Leading Aircraftman in the RAAF (458 Squadron) and Jim (WX41256: 1944-1946 ) as a Private in the 2/2 Machine Gun battalion in the AIF.
The first reference to Jack operating a hairdressing business was found in the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper dated 9/4/1940 advertising his business at 24 Boulder Road in Kalgoorlie (next door to Green’s Garage). Later that year he moved to premises opposite the Town Hall (next to the Kalgoorlie Hotel) at 315 Hannan Street when he took over Dick Martin’s Hairdressing Salon as advertised in the Kalgoorlie Miner on 7/11/1940. It appears that Jack remained there until 13/1/1942 when an advert identified he had moved to the 20 Grand Hairdressing Salon. That business could not be located during my search but he was not there for long as it was on the 11 December that year that he enlisted in the RAAF, where he served until 6th March 1946.
In December 1945 his father Ernest passed away and a cousin Samuel Thomas Quigley (WX26852) Private, 2/48 Battalion died from wounds in Tarakan, Borneo.
Jack at some stage married Sally – unknown family. Not much was discovered about Sally (died 1992 aged 74 years) except the location of her grave (Fremantle Cemetery) which became one of the larger finds of this exercise. Buried right there with her was Jack (died 1959 aged 44 years)…and even more revealing was the location of a third family member in that grave……Jack and Sally’s only child Tony who passed away in 1976 aged 19 years. It was interesting to find that the next of kin noted on Jack’s RAAF records was a Sarah Moriarty which confuses the issue a little. Was this Sally’s actual name or a typing error?
It is apparent that Jack returned to Kalgoorlie and to the hairdressing business as identified by an advert placed in the Kalgoorlie Miner on the 23/10/1946, when he opened the Railway Hairdressing Salon which was opposite both the Kalgoorlie Railway Station and the Railway Hotel at 2 Wilson Street, Kalgoorlie. It appears that he may have remained at those premises until he left Kalgoorlie.
The family house at 139 Hare Street was put up for sale in December 1950 just prior to Jack being arrested and charged with operating an illegal SP Bookmaking Shop. He pleaded guilty and was fined 25 pounds with 1 pound 3/6 costs. Interestingly it is possible that he may have been operating the SP from the Hairdressing Salon. It was after all ideally placed next to a hotel!
There were no records found for Jack or Sally being in Kalgoorlie after that court appearance.
These somewhat tragic discoveries closed that line of possibility and the search shifted to trying to locate Jack’s brother Jim. Ultimately that was achieved via his surname and birth date using AIF records. With that I was able to locate his full name and burial records which identified his grave location at Karrakatta Cemetery. Those records identified information on the granting of the burial plot and the person it was granted to was a Gregory Laurence Moriarty. A search for Greg has led to him being possibly identified as a former Captain in the Australian Army and later an Australian Goverment Diplomat of significant standing having served in Iran amongst other overseas locations. At the time of writing this document he had just completed a 4 year tenure as the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia.
This information available places the sign as being dated either between 1940 – 42 or 1946 – 1950. I would favour the latter as the Boulder Road premises were used for only a short period of time and the Hannan Street premises were that of an existing hairdressing business. My guess (and it is exactly that) is that it was possibly from the shop at 2 Wilson Street.
If you would like to contact Graham you can reach him on: – grazman@westnet.com.au
Moya Sharp
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if you would like to phone 087 94463301 Eric Armstrong who maybe able to help re Tom Moriaty and the mens hairdressing of the goldfields.
Thank you Eric I will give him a call. Bye for now Moya
Hello Moya, My name is Graham Dyke & your story about Jack Moriarty Is about my Uncle Jack. He was married to my Aunty Sally (yes, real name was Sarah)…. nee Dyke. Aunty Sally was my fathers sister. Uncle Jack was of course remembered as an SP Bookie. My parents have now both passed on & somewhere in the family boxes is a photo of myself in Fremantle Hospital in 1953ish when Uncle Jack had cut my hair. Kind Regards, Graham.
Hello Moya. I am related to the late Tom Moriarty who live on the property known as Wanjarri Reserve. I have no idea if I am related to the Jack you write about. It’s interesting as I stumbled across your blog while trying to find information about Tom and another side of my family: Henry Robert Glover married Marie Gladys Maud Ethel Smith (Gay). Henry is buried in Wiluna and I was trying to find other information about their lives.
Thank you for all of the work you have done.
Kind regards,
Julie Ellis
Hi Julie That story was a long time ago, I can give tou the email of the fellow who sent me the info if you would like to look into it further. Glad you stumbled across the story.