MARGARET GANLEY
GANLEY Margaret
It is with sad hearts that we acknowledge the passing of our friend and contributor to The Torquay and District Historical Society. Margaret Ganley and her family have been involved with the preservation of Torquay’s history for many years, and we have been privileged to hold many of their family’s historic photos, to remind us of her proud history and that of our wonderful town as far back as to the late 1800’s and the beginning of the 20th century. Margaret was the grand daughter of William Pride, who was an early visitor and one of the first to settle in Torquay. He was a foundation member of the Torquay Improvement Association and purchased the Joseph H Scammell when it floundered on Point Danger in 1891 Our condolences to Carleen and Margaret’s family, she is and will be sadly missed and always remembered. A beautiful lady with a magic smile. Torquay and District Historical Society
Pride family history
On May the 7th 1891 the ship Joseph H. Scammell during a wild storm went onto the rocks at Point Danger, 400 yards from the shore and about half a mile from the Torquay Coffee Palace (Follett’s) (Now the Torquay Hotel). There she became stuck.
Local fisherman Felix Rosser was inspecting his crayfish pots at around 11pm, on that night and saw the red and green lights of a ship approaching in close, and then, torches flashing from on deck. The storm was so severe he could do nothing. A rider was sent to Geelong to raise the alarm and he rowed out to the Scammell to let them know that they would be rescued in the morning. The Customs officers, and constabulary arrived the next morning and all were rescued. The deck house broke away when the Scammell broke up, and floated to shore. Mr. Pride paid Forty pounds for the deck house and transported it to The Esplanade where he extended it and it became the Holiday Home of the Pride Family. The Pride Family still own the house located in Pride Street, which in 1891 was the rear of the house on the Esplanade and at the writing of this post it has been the home of Margaret for all of her life. 8th January, 2020.
Jan Pobjoy (nee Cuthbertdson)
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What a lovely tribute to Margaret. I visited The Scammell 15 years ago and photographed my great aunt’s wedding photo which was on Margaret’s wall. My great aunt was Agnes Pride (nee Cuthbertson) and the Pride & Cuthbertson families had many happy holidays at The Scammell. My father Russell Cuthbertson (1920-1987) told me many tales of scaring Uncle Bill Pride by talking on the ship’s talking tube. When Bill Pride died they laid him out on the downstairs table
Lorraine Marshall
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Dear Jan, thank you for sharing your memories with us. Margaret was a true treasure and a supporter of our Historical Society.
We have quite a collection of Pride photos from the Scammell days, all donated by Margaret’s daughter Carleen on behalf of Margaret. We will all miss seeing her more recently on her walking frame at the age of 104 years old.
alwyne merritt
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Hi Lorraine etc. I saw and appreciated your heartfelt and informative tribute to Margaret Ganly in the Geelong Advertiser at the time of her death but was disappointed that you had spelt Carleen’s name as Carlene and have repeated this in your response to Jan Pobjoy. I know there are variants of names with this type of ending but the death notices etc have it correctly. I have known Carleen from childhood and am familiar with the spelling. From where I am writing this I can see the list of names in the people search which includes Margaret Ganley and it might be advisable to change that to the correct spelling as many of us don’t like incorrect spelling for our names to those of people we know.
With best wishes, Alwyne Merritt
Lorraine Marshall
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Dear Alwyne,
Just to acknowledge your post and to let you know I have amended the copy. Thank you
Lorraine