WE know it as Pioneer Park, however once upon a time the land, which serves as a popular lookout over the town, was known as Mt Coughlan, after Michael Coughlan, who had come to Cootamundra to set up John Hurley original landholding in the region.
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Mr Coughlan’s affiliation with the area led him to pay the passage for his three nephews and one niece (Michael 21 years, Johanna 19 years, John 17 years and Daniel 15 years) to come to Australia.
Mr Coughlan settled his family in the region from Boorowa to Cootamundra and by the late 1800s all the children, now married with families of their own had located to Cootamundra or Bethungra.
Descendents of the late Mr Coughlan will hold a memorial this month to celebrate the lives of their family members and erect a plaque in memory of the 19 unmarked and lost graves of the Coughlan and Devine families.
The Devine line harks back to Boorowa, where Johanna Coughlin married John Devine.
There are a number of marked graves in the Cootamundra Cemetery belong to Daniel Coughlan and his family.
Daniel worked a property in Bethungra and retired to Cootamundra.
Organiser of the memorial Katie Devine said she has been researching her family history for some time and for the first time in 100 years all of the different lines of the family have reconnected, making this the right time to hold the memorial.
Ms Devine said the family is now spread all over the world.
She indicated the plaque will be erected behind the current Daniel Coughlan marble headstone.
The memorial will take place on Saturday, March 24 from 11am.
Ms Devine indicated she has representatives from all four family lines descending from Mr Coughlan.