Австралиядағы ирланд алтын іздеушісі Патрик Ханнан

Irish born gold prospector in Australia

Patrick Hannan (baptised 26 April 1840 – 4 November 1925) was a gold prospector whose lucrative discovery on 14 June 1893 set off a major gold rush in the area now known as Kalgoorlie Boulder in Western Australia. The resulting goldfield has been mined ever since and is renowned as The Golden Mile, the richest square mile in the world. The modern open cut mine is a vast, astonishing sight known as the Super Pit. Hannan from Quin, County Clare, and his partners Thomas Flanagan from Ennis, County Clare and Daniel Shea from County Cork, are still remembered and celebrated in Australia and in Ireland.

Paddy Hannan was the son of John Hannan and Bridget Lynch, and was baptised on 26 April 1840 in the town of Quin, County Clare, Ireland. His baptismal record shows that his godparents (sponsors) were Margaret Lynch and John O'Brien. Many of the people in his family emigrated to Australia from 1852 onwards, and close ties were maintained. Two of Hannan's nieces would welcome Hannan into their house for the last years of his life. Hannan emigrated to Australia when he was 22, arriving in Melbourne on 23 December 1862 aboard the Henry Fernie from Liverpool. He is recorded in the passenger list as Pat Hannan, a labourer.

In 1904, at the age of sixty four, Hannan was granted an annual pension of £150 by the Government of Western Australia. Having searched for gold throughout his adult life, he did not cease his prospecting activities until after 1910, his seventieth year. At that time he went to live with two of his nieces in Fallon Street, Brunswick, Victoria (close to the city of Melbourne). He died there in 1925 and was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery, in the Catholic section, near the North Gate. In 1993 his grave was restored by the citizens of Kalgoorlie, led by Tess Thomson, as a part of the celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the original find by Hannan, Flanagan and Shea.

In memory of a man who is regarded as the founder of Kalgoorlie, the main street and a suburb in Kalgoorlie both bear Hannan's name, and in 1929 a statue of him by the sculptor John MacLeod was erected there. The city boasts several commemorative plaques to the three Irishmen, Hannan, Flanagan and Shea. A popular Irish pub at the Burswood Entertainment Complex was also named after Hannan. In Ireland there is a plaque dedicated to his memory opposite Quin Abbey, Quin, County Clare, and there is a bust with an explanatory dedication on display inside the DeValera Library in Ennis, County Clare.