Edmund "Old Ned" Holloway was born in Hull, England, and came out to Australia as a sailor[1] "jumping ship" at Hobart.
In 1874 he leased the Queen's Theatre, Sydney where the couple played Palgrave Simpson's Broken Ties to good houses,[7] the first appearance for both actors in three years.
[9] Later that same year they leased the Olympic Theatre, Maitland, where Frank and Annie Towers played Uncle Tom's Cabin showcasing their precocious daughter Rosa.
[10] From 1878 to 1901 Holloway was closely associated with Alfred Dampier and his Australian Dramatic Company at the Alexandra Theatre, playing Robbery Under Arms, For the Term of His Natural Life (as the hominivorous "Gabbit") and W. J. Lincoln's The Bush King and as Paul Kruger in Briton and Boer[11] (1900).
[12] Reckoned the oldest Australian actor still working, his last role was as Dan Moran, Starlight's rival in Robbery Under Arms.