Person:Micheal O'Sullivan (1)

Michael Francis O'Sullivan was born on the 12th January 1890 in Warragamba, near Rochester, Bendigo, Victoria to James Thomas O’Sullivan and Ellen Louisa Roney. Michael had a big build and was one of eleven children and became known as Mick to his family and friends. After Michael was born but before his sister Sarah was born two years later in April 1892, their parents moved from Victoria to New South Wales.

On the 28th of July 1911 Mick received a certificate of competence indicating that he was now fully qualified to fulfill the duties of a Locomotive Fireman with the New South Wales Government Railways and then on the 14th of July 1914 he became a Locomotive Engineman. It should be noted that these jobs were on steam trains as it was not until 1926 that the first electric train ran in Sydney. By 1932 the major suburban lines and a link across the Harbour Bridge were electrified followed by extensive work after World War II. Mick transferred his skills to the electric trains as at the time of his death in 1960, Mick’s occupation was listed as an Electric Train Driver.

On the 30th of October 1915, Mick and Ruby who were 25 and 23 respectively, were married at the Catholic Church in Golden Grove, NSW. (Golden Grove is located between the railway line at Redfern and Sydney University). At the time of their marriage Mick and Ruby were living together at 141 Wilson St, Redfern.

On the 8th September 1917 Mick and Ruby had their only child, a son named Francis James O’Sullivan, who was known as Frank.

Mick and Ruby built a house at 30 Kemp St, Mortdale, NSW, Australia where it is remembered by their grand daughters that they had stained glass windows, one of which was a kookaburra and another an owl.

Their son, Frank and his family lived with them until 1957 when their own home had been built. The space between the two homes was across a bush paddock and is now the Church of Latter Day Saints in Mortdale.

There was a bus stop out the front of the house and when he was home, Mick would insist that the people wait up on the verandah if it was raining, after a while they began to do it out of habit. Mick also regularly made Ginger Beer and once when he stored it in the bottom of Ruby’s good sideboard. It exploded, blowing the doors off the cupboard. The explosion was heard by people half way to Mortdale railway station which is a little over a kilometer away.

Working on trains, Mick and Ruby would take the whole family to the train drivers Christmas party every year which included Ruby spending lots of time making sandwiches and sweets for the day.

They dad a dog called Dusty, that followed Mick to the train yard. One day it got on a train, got off at a station and the family thought they would never see it again. A couple of weeks later it came home, footsore, weary and with cut paws. A few train drivers said they saw it getting on and off trains at stations. As the train driver Mick had someone jump in front of a train he was driving and his nephew Tommy Crawford said he was never the same again.

Mick and Ruby's granddaughters remember that Mick had a favourite curved chair that sat at the end of the hall and that he had gallstones out and kept them in a jar beside his bed and would show everyone how big they were. He would let the kids ride on the running board of the car while bringing it in and both Mick and Ruby enjoyed lawn bowls as they got older.

Three days after his 70th birthday, Mick died on 15th January 1960 at Lidcombe State Hospital. The cause of death was given as;

1.Cerebral thrombosis (Occurs when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in an artery that supplies blood to the brain. Blood vessels that are furred up with fatty deposits make a blockage more likely. The clot prevents blood flowing to the brain and cells are starved of oxygen).

2.Generalised atherosclerosis (A disease in which plaque builds up on the insides of your arteries).

Mick is buried at the Catholic Cemetery in Woronora, NSW, Australia.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Death of Michael O'Sullivan, in New South Wales, Australia. Registry of births, deaths & marriages. (Department of Justice, New South Wales Government)
   3197/1960 , 15 Jan 1960.
2. ↑ Mick O'Sullivan, in NSW Government Railways. Train Driver training.
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