Joseph McKay

Joseph McKay (c.1892-1906) was a young teenager who was drowned in the Redan Creek.

History
Joseph McKay (also spelled as McKey) was born on 4 December 1892 in the small gold mining town of Blackwood, one of several children born to John McKay and his wife Margaret Higgins.

McKay was swept away in flood waters while trying to cross the Redan Creek on 27 September 1906: "A BOY MISSING. BALLARAT. Thursday. A boy named Joseph M'Kay, aged 14 years, was to-night reported as missing from his home in Redan-street south. It is feared that he has been drowned in the Redan Creek, as he was last seen taking a short cut home towards the creek. The stream at the time was running bank high, owing to the heavy rain." "FLOOD TRAGEDY. A LAD SWEPT AWAY. BALLARAT, Friday. A lad named Joseph M'Kay, 14 years of age, who resided with his parents at Redan South, failed to return to his home yesterday afternoon. Inquiries disclosed the fact that the boy was seen going towards a crossing in the creek at Redan at a point near the quarry holes. In consequence of the heavy rain the creek at the time was running a banker, and the lad's parents, fearing that he might have been lost, reported the matter to the police. A systematic search was undertaken, but night closed in without any trace of the missing boy being discovered. This morning early the search was resumed. The boy's father and a number of friends walked along the Yarrowee Creek to near the Magpie bridge. In the bed of the creek they found the lad's body lying in comparatively shallow water. He had evidently tried to cross higher up, and getting Into the flood waters, was carried away."

He was buried in the Ballarat New Cemetery on Sunday 30 September 1906: "OBITUARY. The remains of the lad, Joseph M'Kay, who was drowned in the Redan Creek on Thursday night last, during the storm, were yesterday interred in the Cemetery. The funeral cortege was lengthy one, and was preceded by some 200 of the lad’s school mates from the Christian Brothers’ school."