William Moran

There are several features at Central Colo named after William "Billy" Moran these are:

  • Moran Rocks Reserve
  • Moran's Trig
  • Moran's Rock

    • William “Billy” Moran was born at the Colo on 17th March 1836 and died on the 13th June 1918 aged 82 from “senile decay”. Billy, as he was known, lived his entire life at the Colo, aside from the last 10 years of his life where he lived with relatives in the west of NSW.

    Billy owned land at Central Colo. The 1905 map shown below highlights Billy’s land holdings in yellow.

    Billy had three holdings at the Colo;

    • Lot 100 which was 40 acres,
    • Lot 20 which was 60 acres.
    • Lot 123 (the triangular east end of lot 20) which was 2 acres, 1 rood and 16 perches or 0.95 hectares in today’s measurement. Lot 123 is the approximate site of what is today known as “Moran’s Rocks Reserve” and sits just on the eastern side of the southern approach to the current Colo Bridge on the Putty Rd.

    Lot 100 has a road running through it. This road ran up the hill past a trig point known as Moran’s Trig and connected Central Colo to East Kurrjong. This road still exists today in virtually the same alignment and and is know as “Males fire trail”.

    The area around this part of the Colo became known as Moran’s Rock, presumably in reference to the rocks and cliff faces on Lots 100 and 123.

    In 1975 the top of the range above Moran’s holdings on the Colo was named “Moran Rocks“.

    Billy was a local character who never married and loved cricket and partying. You can read his obituary here:

    The following poem taken from Windsor and Richmond Gazette on Saturday 20th June 1908 provides a sense of Billy’s enjoyment of a good party.

    This article was taken from Windsor and Richmond Gazette on Saturday 20th Feb 1892 and refers to Billy’s lovable character.

    This article is also interesting because it discusses where a Post Office might be. At that time mail and goods came to the Colo by boat, generally to Gee’s wharf which was at the junction of Wheeny Creek and the Colo. There was discussion that Moran’s wharf at Lot 20 may have been a better loading and unloading point since the river between Moran’s wharf and Gee’s wharf wharf a couple of kms upstream was shallow and sand banks were a problem.

    References:

    1. https://proposals.gnb.nsw.gov.au/public/geonames/432a35e2-a4d7-4ea2-912f-5f6273e9fdd1
    2. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220152247/14450310
    3. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220207989?searchTerm=%22morans%20rock%22&searchLimits=
    4. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223977153/12900096
    5. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223979592?searchTerm=%22morans%20rock%22&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    6. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220169631?searchTerm=%22morans%20rock%22&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc#
    7. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224294033/12898596
    8. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223977153/12900096
    9. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225725744/13206694
    10. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117845599
    11. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85867068?searchTerm=%22willian%20moran%22&searchLimits=
    12. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13048120?searchTerm=%22w%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    13. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/72542327?searchTerm=%22billy%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    14. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66354176?searchTerm=%22billy%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    15. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85862821?searchTerm=%22billy%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    16. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85883098?searchTerm=%22billy%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    17. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85882667?searchTerm=%22billy%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    18. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/86152850?searchTerm=%22billy%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    19. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85868569?searchTerm=%22billy%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    20. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66358247?searchTerm=moran%2Bwheeny&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    21. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66351814?searchTerm=moran%2Bwheeny&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc#
    22. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66369492?searchTerm=moran%2Bwheeny&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    23. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66356407?searchTerm=moran%20colo%20wheeny&searchLimits=notWords|||requestHandler|||anyWords|||exactPhrase|||dateTo|||dateFrom|||sortby=dateAsc
    24. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85896086?searchTerm=moran%20colo%20wheeny&searchLimits=notWords|||requestHandler|||anyWords|||exactPhrase|||dateTo|||dateFrom|||sortby=dateAsc
    25. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13048120?searchTerm=%22w%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
    26. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66376262?searchTerm=%22w%20moran%22%2Bcolo&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc|||l-state=New+South+Wales
    27. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161472521
    28. https://hlrv.nswlrs.com.au/ (County Cook, Parish Meehan – Map 1905).