IN a new booklet now available in the Oberon Library, Col Roberts has researched the story of a pioneering Oberon family which, to date, has received little mention in the town’s local history.
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The Kellys Of Racecourse Creek is the story of Hugh Kelly and his family.
Older local residents may recall two of Hugh’s children, Jack Kelly and his sister Hazel Kelly, who lived in the family home on Kelly’s Lane.
Jack was the father of rugby league in Oberon, having formed the Oberon Reds in 1917 and played with and administered the club for some 30 years.
Hazel, on her death, left significant money to the Oberon Hospital and to the Uniting Church.
Neither Jack nor Hazel had children, and their house was passed to family members and is today held by descendant David Gregory.
According to David: “The Kellys never threw anything away. The house is still full of Kelly family belongings and memorabilia which has helped us piece together their family story.”
“Each time I would see David he would show me an item belonging to one of the Kellys and the story that went with it,” author Col Roberts said.
“I was hooked from the start by these stories and by the fact that Hugh Kelly’s mother and her brother were some of the earliest Oberon residents.”
Both Hugh Kelly and his mother Nancy Clarke have their name on Land Grants made around Oberon in the 1850s.
Hugh was a respected and prosperous farmer and went on to be a member of the first Oberon Council in 1906, which he chaired for a couple of years.
He had 17 children to two wives.
Descendants are now widely scattered around Australia and New Zealand, but none from this family with the name Kelly remain in Oberon.
Kevin Campbell’s family and the Noel Whalan family are also descendants.
