Patrick Fennelly arrived in Sydney in 1857 from Kilkenny, Ireland. He was a bootmaker by trade but his emigration application records him as a farm labourer. This, at the time, was one of the more desired skills for the colony. Catherine Brophy, a house servant, was also from Kilkenny and also arrived in 1857. She and Patrick were married the same year in St Marys Cathedral. Both could read though neither could sign the marriage register. They lived in 85 Gloucester Street and in 1865 they bought 3 of the houses on Gloucester Street. Over the next 25 years they lived at various times in numbers 83 and 85. After Patrick died in 1888 Catherine moved into No.89. As well as the Gloucester Street houses, Partick's estate also included land on the North Shore, in Lane Cove, Chatswood and Enfield. In 1889 Catherine built 2 more terraces on the site of the old Armsden House. She died in 1890 at the age of 57.
Inside the Rocks: The Archaeology of a Neighbourhood.
by Grace Karskens.
ISBN 0 86806 666 4
Keeping up with the McNamaras.
A Historical Archaeological Study of the Cumberland and Gloucester Streets site
by Penny Crook, Laila Ellmoos and Tim Murray.
Cumberland Street Dig Site - Archaeology, Heritage and Conservation Register
The Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre
The Cumberland/Gloucester Street archaeological site(book), National Library of Australia
Cumberland Street Archaeological site, The Dirt on the Rocks
The Sydney Harbour YHA and the Big Dig
International Conservation Services