Patrick Coady Buckley : Short Biography

Patrick Cody/Coady was born inside Newgate Prison on St Patrick's Day, 17th March, 1816.  It is unsure whether his mother, Eleanor Cody, named him after St Patrick or whether she used the Irish naming order, as there were other Patrick's in the family.  Eleanor Cody was awaiting transportation to the colony of New South Wales on a seven year sentence for stealing from her employer.  She had been working as a domestic servant for Mr Michael Sweetman, a Dublin brewer.  She had married Tobias Cody (formerly of Gowran Kilkenny) in Dublin in 1809 and they already had one child, a daughter Ann, born in Dublin in 1812.  Tobias was also working for Mr Sweetman as a stable hand.  Eleanor and baby Patrick sailed from Cork to Sydney on the 'Canada' in 1817 where they were placed in the Parramatta Female Factory.  However at that time the policy of the colony was to try to 'match' female convicts with 'ticket of leave' men so that they could help develop the new settlement.  Eleanor Cody married Edmund Buckley in 1818.  He was a convicted Irish convict who had arrived in Sydney in 1812 and after having served some of his life sentence, now had a conditional pardon.  Like Eleanor, he had been married in Ireland, leaving his wife and two sons behind.  Edmund now became Patrick's step-father and reared the boy well.  Patrick was given a childhood on the land, but was also educated at school in Sydney.  Patrick's mother died in Sydney in 1837.  HIs step-father Edmund had ventured south into the area known as Gippsland where he, along with other pastoralists, could find better grass for their stock during the drought that was ravaging areas west of Sydney.  After the death of his mother, Patrick joined Edmund in the area known originally as Buckley's Crossing, but today is called Dalgety.  In the early 1840's Patrick and Edmund had a disagreement and Patrick headed further south towards the coast to claim a squatting run which he named Prospect.  It had a total of 54,000 acres in an area near where a port had already been established and stock was being conveyed to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) to supply the convict population there.  This gave Patrick an immediate source of revenue as he regularly drove stock to Port Albert for shipping.  Patrick remained on this run until his untimely death in 1872, keeping an extensive diary of his 28 years.  This manuscript has been an important document for historians to understand the life of early squatters in the area, as well as the establishment of the Catholic church within the surrounding districts.  He had established his land, built a dwelling for himself and buildings to house his employees.  He bred fine stock and grew excellent crops.  He was much loved by his neighbours with whom he did business and also socialised.  Patrick never married, although he kept close company with Eliza Ricketts, the daughter of his housekeeper.  Later Eliza claimed that they had been unofficially engaged.  Patrick died intestate and after his death it took ten years of commissions sent by the Melbourne Supreme Court to Dublin, Kilkenny, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New York to discover nine living first cousins who shared in what was left of his fortune after court costs swallowed up more than half.  The whereabouts of Patrick's biological father, Tobias, and his sister Ann, has remained a mystery.  Patrick is buried in the Sale Cemetery in a modest grave with a headstone which reads: "In loving memory of Patrick Coady Buckley, one of the earliest settlers in Gippsland, died at Prospect on 16th June 1872, aged 52 years."