Family background
Albert Gahan was born 1872 in Collingwood, Victoria, the son of English immigrants Henry Gahan and Maria Jane Hains. Following the death of his mother in 1882, he was admitted to the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children at the age of 10. On 2 September 1885, aged 13, he left Randwick to be apprenticed as a labourer for Casper Hergenhan (1829-1904), head of a prominent farming family in the Bega district.
Gahan married Mary Beesley (née Lee; –14 February 1920), a widow with two daughters from a previous marriage, in Paddington in 1911. The pair had three daughters: Jean Marie (born 6 January 1912), Bernice Noelle (born 4 April 1914), and Evelyn Ruby (born 16 October 1917).
Resident from 1925 in the suburb of Croydon Park, Gahan died at the Canterbury District Hospital aged 62 on 13 October 1934. His funeral, conducted by Wood Coffill Funeral Directors, was held on 15 October 1934 at Waverley Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
Albert Gahan worked as a labourer.
Local government service
Albert Gahan was elected to the Municipality of Paddington (Middle Ward), on 31 January 1920, representing the Australian Labor Party. He was re-elected in December 1922, when Labor took majority control of the Council.
On 21 December 1923, Gahan was elected for a single term as mayor. He declined to stand again as mayor in December 1924, and the Labor caucus chose Harold Falvey as his successor.
Having moved from Paddington to the suburb of Croydon Park in early 1925, Gahan retired from the Council at the December 1925 election.
References
Compiled and researched by Andrew Beveridge, 2024
The information about this alderman was compiled in collaboration with Woollahra Library and Information Service.
Registers for the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children, 1852 – 1915, State Records and Archives NSW; Series: NRS 13362; Item: 7/3798; Roll: 1867.
‘Deaths. Gahan’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 February 1920, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15879692
‘Deaths. Gahan’, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 October 1934, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17118483
‘Mr A. Gahan’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 October 1934, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17140506
‘Funerals. Gahan’, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 October 1934, p. 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17118468
‘Municipal Elections. Municipality of Paddington’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 1920, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15885090
‘Municipal Labor’, The Sun, 15 January 1920, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221389800
‘Municipal Elections. Municipality of Paddington’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 December 1922, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16028163
‘Paddington All Labor’, The Sun, 4 December 1922, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224159977
‘Public Notices. Municipality of Paddington’, The Daily Telegraph, 22 December 1923, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246003208
‘Caucus Picks Mayor – Paddington Election’, The Sun, 22 December 1924, p. 14, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223567541
‘The Municipal Elections. Notes on the Contest’, The Daily Telegraph, 25 November 1925, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245053059