McKAY, Jane

Name – McKAY, Jane
Born – 13/11/1859
Died – 1/12/1938
Location – No 53 Presbyterian Section
Mother – Grace Sloan
Father – Thomas Martin

Notes – Jane was born to Grace (nee Sloan) and Thomas Martin in Loddon, Victoria. Her parents were the original Scottish residents for the family in Australia. Jane had seven siblings, John, Mary Ann, Eliza, James, Thomas and Sarah.

Jane Martin married Donald McKay in Victoria on the 8th of April, 1885. They had eight children – William Alexander (1886), John Thomas (1887), Jane (1890), Charles James (1895), Jessie (1896), George (1898), Helen (1899) and Alexander (1901). Jane and Donald moved with their family to Queensland, eventually setteling at Goranba, Tara in August 1914.

Electoral rolls show in 1915 Jane, Donald and John Thomas at Gunbower Selection, Goranba, in 1922 with Donald and Helen and John Thomas and George at Gunbower Selection Goranba. She stays at the same loction from that time on.

Her family were either with her or living close by. Jane and her husband were one of the first settlers to the Tara District, moving from Jondaryan to Tara. Originally they came from Gunbower in Victoria. I have included her husbands story for you to read. It would have been a very worrying time for poor Jane.

Jane has a headstone that reads – In loving Memory of Jane McKay 1859-1938. Her grandson Robert James McKay lies in an unmarked grave beside her.

Newspaper Article – Read here and Read here.

War Service File  –

Learn more about the Tara Cemetery here.