Family background
Cornelius John (Neil) Huolohan was born on 27 December 1900 in Orangeville in the Camden District, the son of Thomas Patrick Huolohan and Ellen Higgins.
Huolohan married Ellen May Murrill (1903–1994) on 9 June 1924 in Sydney, and they had three children.
Huolohan died aged 82 in the Camden District Hospital on 9 May 1983, survived by his wife, two children, 13 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. His funeral, conducted by P. E. Butler Funerals, was held on 13 May 1983 at St Aloysius Catholic Church, The Oaks, and he was buried at the nearby St Aloysius Catholic Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
After education at local schools in Orangeville and The Oaks, Huolohan worked as a blacksmith, and moved with his family in 1912 to the eastern and inner suburbs of Sydney, gaining employment as a crane driver for steel manufacturers, John Lysaght and Co.
On 6 November 1915, at the age of 14 and resident at 6 Australia Street, Newtown, Huolohan enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, falsely declaring his age as 18½. Initially a private of the 18th Battalion, he was transported to Egypt by February 1916, and on 16 March 1916 transferred to the newly formed 1st Pioneer Battalion, which saw service on the Western Front in France and Belgium. In late 1917, while recovering from trench fever in hospital in England, it was discovered that Huolohan was underage, and he was promptly sent back to Australia on 22 January 1918 and discharged on 22 March 1918. His elder brother, Paul Huolohan, was killed in action on 9 April 1917, while serving with the 1st Infantry Battalion in France.
Back in Australia, Huolohan worked as a labourer for the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage in 1919–27 and then became a power station fitter’s labourer and crane driver for the Electricity Department of the Municipal Council of Sydney, which became the Sydney County Council in 1935. In 1950–51, Huolohan moved back to Orangeville and transferred from the SCC to the Electricity Commission of New South Wales, working as a crane driver from 1953 to 1960 at the Oakdale State Coal Mine.
Community activity
On 28 April 1944, while resident at 62 Oxford Street, Paddington, Huolohan was appointed a Justice of the Peace in NSW.
After 1945, Huolohan was the welfare officer for the Paddington-Woollahra Returned Soldiers and Sailors League. In Orangeville from 1950, Huolohan was involved with the St Vincent De Paul Society, the Macarthur Crisis Centre, and the Wollondilly Shire Bush Fire Brigade, from which he received a 15-year long service certificate in 1974.
Local government service
On 15 March 1943, William Fandlan resigned as an alderman for the Middle Ward of Paddington Council, and Houlahan stood as a candidate for the ensuing by-election. At the by-election held on 3 April 1943, Huolohan was successful with 307 votes against Joseph McGrath’s 109 votes.
Huolohan was re-elected at the December 1944 municipal election and served on the Council until its amalgamation into the City of Sydney on 31 December 1948. In March 1945, Huolohan was involved with Richard Christen in an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss the Town Clerk, R. O. Hill, over questions of Council expenditure.
References
Compiled and researched by Andrew Beveridge, 2025
The information about this alderman was compiled in collaboration with Woollahra Library and Information Service.
‘Funerals. Huolohan’, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 May 1983, p. 27
‘Death of Cornelius Huolohan’, Camden Crier, 16 May 1983, p. 2
National Archives of Australia: B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920), HOULOHAN C 3336; B2455, HUOLOHAN P 3808
‘Gas And Electricity Act, 1935—Transfer of Officers and Servants of The Municipal Council Of Sydney to the Service of the Sydney County Council’, New South Wales Government Gazette, 20 December 1935, 214, p. 4969, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223070747
‘Electricity Commission Act, 1950. Transfer of Servants of the Sydney County Council to the Service of the Electricity Commission of New South Wales’, New South Wales Government Gazette, 21 December 1951, 232, p. 3806, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220110125
New South Wales Government Gazette, 28 April 1944, 41, p. 791, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225095183
‘Municipal and Shire Elections. Municipality of Paddington’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 March 1943, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17842022
‘Paddington Council’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April 1943, p. 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17843232
‘Municipal and Shire Elections. Municipality of Paddington Extraordinary Election’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 1943, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17843317
‘Municipal and Shire Elections – Municipality of Paddington Triennial Election, 2nd December 1944. Declaration of the Poll’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 December 1944, p. 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17778013
‘Suspension Of Town Clerk Moved’, The Daily Telegraph, 6 March 1945, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247665027
‘Move To Suspend Town Clerk Fails’, The Daily Telegraph, 20 March 1945, p. 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247661835