Ellen Casey
Ellen was most likely born between February and May 1834. Her marriage certificate to Henry Holdsworth lists her birth place as Waterford, Ireland and her parents as Daniel Casey and Mary Ryan.

She allegedly arrived in Adelaide aged 15 (or 16) on a ship full of Irish orphan girls. One could infer she most likely lived in an orphanage in Ireland and was a victim of the famine raging throughout Ireland at the time. The orphanage records are mainly non-existent and so far we've been unable to find any record of Ellen at any Irish orphanage. It was not uncommon to simply ship these girls to the colonies to get them out of the way. "Ellen Casey" was a common name at that time (there are records of at least one other "Ellen Casey" arriving in Australia around the same time, as well as the wealth of seemingly unrelated "Ellen Casey"s in Ireland in the 19th century).

Jill says, "... we know nothing about where she was actually born and as she was a famine orphan, it is not likely that we will get any further but Ian is still pursuing this. In some documents she gives her birthplace as Waterford and in others as Dublin - the ship sailed from Waterford but how she got there is the mystery and she may have been too young to remember. Although she came out in the famine era, she could have been an orphan for some time before that."

According to The Ships List, Ellen was a resident at a poor-house at Clonmel, Tipperary and several other residents from that and other poor houses were also aboard the Elgin.

The barque Elgin, 518 tons, commanded by Captain Burns, carrying a total of 221 female orphans in the steerage departed Liverpool on 17th May and Plymouth on 1st June (or 31st May) 1849 and arrived in Adelaide on 10 Sep 1849. Her future husband, William Delahoy, arrived in Adelaide exactly one month later on 10 Oct 1849. Ellen and William met shortly thereafter and were married on 6 March 1851; he was 22 years old and she was around 17 years old.

The marriage lasted about 10 1/2 years until William left in November 1861 to continue his gold prospecting on his own. The life and times of William and Ellen are described elsewhere. Their marriage produced seven children: John William (1 Aug 1852), Emma Louise (24 Dec 1853), two unknown male children some time in 1854 and 1855, William (30 Jun 1856), Walter (14 Oct 1858) and George (27 Oct 1860). The first child, John William, died in Jan 1853 at just 5 1/2 months old.

Ellen (junior) was born 5 Apr 1865 at Barkly, the father is unknown.

Henry Holdsworth appeared on the scene some time either during or after 1861 and they were evidently 'close friends' for a number of years prior to 1870. The Avoca rate books for 1865 and 1866 note he was a butcher at Barkly and owned 2 1/2 acres of land with 250 foot on street frontage.

The Avoca rate books list Ellen as owning "house and garden" in 1864 and "house and store" in 1865 and 1866. Ellen applied for a beer licence at the Court of Petty Sessions, Landsborough on 10 January 1867. She appears to have been running a store of some description and either wanted a licence to sell liquor or wanted to buy or run a hotel in the area.

Rosaline was born in June 1866, father unknown. Ararat Hospital notes Rosaline's death in 1886 aged 19 years old.

Henry (junior) was born in 1868 at Frenchman's Creek. The father is unknown but it seems likely it was Henry Holdsworth. The birth certificate mentions the informant as "Henry Holdsworth - Neighbour - Frenchmans".

The five children, Emma, William, Walter, George and Ellen all attended school at Landsborough between 1868 and 1878.

In Feb 1870 Ellen married Henry Holdsworth in Barkly at the home of a Mr Blair. She gave birth to Henry Robert four days later. Her youngest son, Henry, died at Moonambel five weeks later aged around 2 years old.

The marriage certificate lists Henry as "bachelor, farmer age 44" and Ellen as "storekeeper age 35". It also lists "seven children living and three dead".

The Victoria Police Gazette has the following entry: "On the night of 29th Oct 1871, Henry Holdsworth had tea, cheese, fish, shovel and axe stolen from his shop at Raggetty Diggins, Moonambel, 7 Nov 1871".

Ellen and Henry moved to Great Western some years later (probably around 1880) and bought or ran the Exchange Hotel. The Victorian Police Gazette notes Ellen Holdsworth took out a business licence on 1 Aug 1880. Sources say the original hotel was destroyed by fire and a new hotel built in its place. Henry Holdsworth took out a tobacconists licence on 12 Jan 1887. From the complete lack of any further information, one would infer that Ellen and Henry had a happy or at least comparatively uneventful marriage for the next 36 years.

Ellen (junior) married Edwin Humphrey on 17 Oct 1881 and had four children. Ellen's last child, Henry Robert, married Margaret Daley and had ten children. Walter married Ellen Mitchell on 28 Nov 1887 in Stawell. William (junior) died on 18 Dec 1887 aged 31; he apparently hanged himself.

Judging from the various birth and marriage certificates, we conclude there were a total of eleven children. There were two males born between 1854 and 1855. One died very early, the other died sometime between Oct 1860 and Feb 1870.

It appears Henry Robert was still living in Great Western in 1907.

The famous photograph of the Exchange Hotel was taken around 1890 when Ellen was in her late fifties and clearly shows Ellen, Henry, her son George (complete with butcher's apron) and his wife Ellen. Henry died on 26 July 1906 and Ellen died six months later on 1 Feb 1907 aged 72 years old. They are both buried in Great Western. Of her eleven children, she outlived seven of them.