up Popran Creek is Spurt Island named so by poet Henry Kendall. Kelly family In the upper reaches of the Popran land was first taken up by Edward Kelly in the year 1826. Kelly had been convicted for stealing a cow and was transported from Cork, Ireland in 1818. Kelly served out his sentence and the colonial records indicate he worked as a labourer. His original land grant was 50 acres and was located around four miles from the mouth of the Popran where it flows into Mangrove Creek. Edward Kelly had left behind in Ireland his wife Mary and five children. In 1842, twenty two years after his conviction in Ireland his wife and two of his sons arrived in Sydney aboard the Royal Saxon. The descendants of Edward Kelly occupied this original property until the mid nineteen hundreds. One of the descendants of Edward Kelly and his wife Mary was his grandson Joseph Bede Kelly (1855-1931) who was a Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly from 1894 until 1898 and also one of the founders and first chairman of directors of the North Coast Cooperative Company (NORCO). Joseph Bede Kelly was the son of John Kelly, the son of Edward Kelly. John Kelly, his brother Edward (jnr) and their mother arrived in Sydney in 1841, sixteen years after Edward had arrived in the colony as a convict. John Kelly married Mary Bevan in 1844 and Joseph Bede Kelly was born on 1 May 1855 at Popran. He was the sixth of eight children. Joseph Kelly was educated at Fort Street High School and subsequently joined the NSW Surveyor- General's Department. After an initial posting to Orange he was appointed assistant Government Surveyor with the North Coast Survey Department at Grafton, NSW. From 1881 until 1919 Joseph Kelly was a prominent figure in the development of the Northern rivers region. He was a surveyor, farmer, businessman and politician. See also List of valleys of Australia Joseph Kelly (New South Wales politician) References Valleys of Australia Hawkesbury River Central Coast (New South Wales)