Opinion & Perspectives
27 June, 2026
OBITUARY: Remembering Barry Kearnan
"WELL Dad, you have finally left us and at 93, almost 94, it’s been an incredibly good innings."
WELL Dad, you have finally left us and at 93, almost 94, it’s been an incredibly good innings. In his last wishes, he wanted dearly to pass and be buried in St Arnaud, and have family and friends gather for a drink afterwards, so here we are.
Charles Barry Kearnan was the 4th generation of Kearnan’s living and working in St Arnaud. His G-Grandfather Thomas Kearnan was 8 years old when he emigrated with his family to NSW from County Leitrim in Ireland in 1840. He became a boot maker by trade, and moved to Victoria in 1855, eventually settling in St Arnaud, setting up his boot-making business in Napier Street in 1859. Then his son, Charles Herbert, ran a hairdressing and tobacconist shop also in Napier Street.
And his son, Barry’s dad – Charles Edward – took over his father’s business and ran it for many years before selling and buying an agency business dealing in insurance. It seemed inevitable that Charles Barry Kearnan should become the 4th generation of Napier Street businessmen.
The Kearnan’s were linked by marriage to many old St Arnaud families – the Young’s, the Gunns, the Perry’s and the Malcolms at Stuart Mill – all part of Barry’s heritage.
It was the Young family that Barry most identified with. William Young was born in Co Armagh, Ireland. One of Barry’s great-great-grandfathers settled in St Arnaud in the 1850s after leaving the British Army, and the family farmed just out of St Arnaud on Blinkbonnie Road. The Young family continued to have a strong military connection with several members serving in either the Boer War, WWI, or WWII.
I think the military element resonated deeply with Barry and was reflected in the immense pride he felt for his own son Charlie – my little brother. Barry was extraordinarily proud of Charlie’s decorated military service even though it placed him at the sharp end of overseas conflicts.
So, there he was, Charles Barry Kearnan, born in 1932 in St Arnaud, eldest of three children – sister Meg and brother Roger – all growing up in the family home in Queens Ave. They all attended St Arnaud State School and St Arnaud High School.
Barry finished school with his leaving certificate and commenced his first job soon after in the Shire offices.
Later he joined his father’s new insurance business.
In 1952 his parents moved to 2 Walker Street; Dad moved with them, his room being the sleep-out on the back veranda.
Barry ventured to Melbourne to work at Manchester Unity to learn more about the insurance industry. It did not last long as he was very homesick – he missed St Arnaud terribly – so the decision was made to come back to St Arnaud to help grow his dad’s business, which he took over in 1968.
He added a travel agency in the 1970s. He became active in AFTA and through this involvement enjoyed a number of overseas trips. Later in life he successfully transitioned the business into real estate, which he continued to run successfully until his retirement.
In 1960 he married a local woman, Annette Jackson, and I was born in 1961 and named after Jacqui Kennedy, who was famous at that time. We lived at 29 Silvermines Road, bought in 1961.
I was too young at the time to appreciate the depth of sorrow that followed the death of their next child in 1963, which undoubtedly left lasting scars. My sister Christine followed, and we were joined by our brother Charlie in 1971. We all grew up and went to school here in St Arnaud.
While Barry was probably not the most engaged father, we had a good childhood – particularly if good fathering is measured by children who can make and tie a fly for fishing or make their own shotgun cartridges for shooting.
The 1980s were a low time for Barry, but in just a few years he started courting a Melbourne woman who he had been introduced to by mutual friends, and in late 1987 he married Margit – a memorable wedding for all of us, Charlie in particular. Dad and Margit were married for 39 years.
After his parents passed, Barry had bought their Walker Street home, Dundrennan. He started a renovation in 1987, and so the new bride Margit joined Barry in the half-renovated house, which at the time more closely resembled a building site than a family home.
Business was more often good than bad for Barry, and latterly his real estate business had some good years matching the prosperity of the district. He always contributed to the community. He was a local councillor for many years and involved on a number of key committees. He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace (a role he performed for 20 years), and he continued to support local activities including Pioneer Park and the memorial trees around King George’s Park.
He rarely blasphemed. The only time he would swear was when one of the dogs chewed a favourite hat or stole a steak from the barbecue – that’s when he would very loudly call the dog a “Billy stitch”.
His guns too were important, and he had collected a large number which he kept in the gun shed, where he spent hours cleaning and admiring his collection. His favourite was the Cogswell and Harrison shotgun, which truly was a magnificent piece.
And fishing, of course – he had a lovely collection of rods and flies, and through membership of the Ballarat Fly-Fishing Club and the Stuart Mill Fishing Club spent many hours angling at Teddington and elsewhere around Australia.
He loved bird-watching and counted and identified birds as he walked and trained his dogs in the bush paths up behind the old mine and Pioneer Park.
Barry was also recognised as a great repository of local knowledge and history. He knew the details of most of the old families in the district, knew about most businesses his business served, and he knew the links, relationships and quirks of the community.
In business he was known for fair dealing and honesty. He was always polite, cheery and friendly. He had a good sense of humour and enjoyed a joke. Because of the Irish heritage of the Kearnan’s and Young’s, Barry liked to identify as an Aussie of Irish heritage, despite actually being more English by ancestry. He traditionally marked St Patrick’s Day by raising the Irish flag and enjoying a Guinness or two in celebration. He was interested in his family history, but only the bits he liked – he didn’t want to know about the Tassie convict ancestors.
Barry loved St Arnaud and preferred to be here all his life. It wasn’t about being the big fish in a little pond, but rather being comfortable in a place he knew intimately – a smaller, quieter community of which he and his forebears were an integral part, and where he could contribute meaningfully for most of his life.
He was a founder of the Friends of Queen Mary Gardens with Bryan Small, served on the Garden’s management committee, and helped facilitate the publication of a historical photograph book on St Arnaud. Over the years, he was involved with Scouts, Apex, Jaycees, Rotary, the local Arts Council and the Historical Society – which he fondly referred to as the “hysterical society.”
Barry had a few idiosyncrasies. The most obvious was his formality – perhaps he felt like a kind of English squire. Always well-dressed, perhaps overdressed, and some might even say old-fashioned. No wonder he was called “His Lordship” at home.
He chose to drive a Rover – an English car of course – and family legend has it that he once arrived home white-knuckled after reaching 100 miles an hour on the road home from the Woolpack.
He often wore a hat; there was quite a collection hanging on the hatstand in the hall. He probably had the biggest collection of bow ties in Victoria. My children joked that Barry was the only person who would wear a tie while gardening.
There are lots of good memories for the grandchildren – picnics at Teddington, winter barbecues down Centre Road, wine tastings at Moonambel, Avoca and Redbank, and a firm favourite – Christmas dinners around the big table at Dundrennan. Wonderful memories that will remain forever.
He loved his garden and had some big successes, especially his vegetable patch, fruit trees and roses – and some misses too, like continually trying to put in an English lawn at Walker Street during the drought years.
Over the years he had several dogs, each having a special place in his heart. Dad devoted countless hours and effort training them in the finer points of sitting, retrieving and pointing.
I like to think about Dad’s life through a favourite quotation of my grandfather, who was a passionate cricket fan.
The words were written by the American sportswriter Grantland Rice:
For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks, not that you won or lost,
But how you played the game.
Barry leaves behind his wife Margit, three adult children and partners, nine grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and was stepfather to Margit’s children.
This eulogy was written by Barry’s eldest daughter Jac on behalf of the Kearnan family.
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