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For a time after the marriage Jane and Lawrence Mountjoy lived in Fyans St, in South Geelong:
Lawrence is listed as being the owner of a house there between November 1856 and October
1858.
They never had any children - none that survived. And Lawrence would surely never have
known about Jane's bastard son in England, the unfortunate George.
14. Rosiyn and the Barrabool Hills
Lawrence Mountjoy was a widower, his first wife having died in Australia in 1854, when she
was 23. As he and his two younger brothers feature largely in the lives thereafter of Jane and
her father William, as well as in Victorian histories, their past and future merit a closer look.
The Mountjoys came from Kiikhampton, a village in the northeast corner of Cornwall, two miles
from the Devon border. Lawrence was born there in 1820-His father, James, was also a
shoemaker; his mother was Anna Maria Harward.
Lawrence had two younger brothers that we know of, Thomas and Caleb. The three brothers
emigrated to Australia, but not at the same time. They were preceded thither by Richard
Mountjoy, Lawrence's cousin.
Richard, born about 1309 and a yeoman farmer like his father, Henry, made the move that set
in motion a chain of events that not only led to Jane's marriage to Lawrence, but also to the
Mountjoy family proliferating in Victoria and leaving their mark on the lands and people west
and south of Geelong.
In 1852 Richard Mountjoy decided to leave his farm near Kiikhampton and emigrate with his
wife, Mary, and their six children, whose ages ranged from 10 downwards to a few months.
Lawrence Mountjoy went with them, and with him went his first wife, Mary. She was then 21,
according to the passenger list; Lawrence was 32.
The list also informs us that Richard was 41 and his wife 39- In fact be was about 43 and she
was 28; their first child was born when she was 18. They had 12 children in all, 10 of whom
survived and married in Australia - apart from two infants: Richard, who died in Geelong in
1853 within a year of reaching the colony, and Samuel, who also died young.
The Mountjoys {Richard, his family, his younger cousin Lawrence and Lawrence's 21-year-
old-wife, Mary) sailed from Plymouth on the Prince Regent on 9 July 1852, bound for Adelaide
and Port Phillip. The master of the 530-ton vessel was Walter Jago, and there were 221
passengers on board, of whom 10 were cabin passengers: 42 were children and there were
eight infants. The Mountjoys apparently travelled steerage, and among their neighbours, mainly
West Country people, were the Gilberts, Jewells, Littlejohns, Mitchells (two young brothers),
Tydemans, Dobsons and Wilds. The trades represented on board inciuded a draper, builder,
baker, farmer, victualler, dealer and engineer; there were also several 'gents'. The Prince
Regent, minus some passengers who disembarked at Adelaide, reached Melbourne on 6
November.
Perhaps the Mountjoys, like other emigrants, were following the trail blazed by some relation
who had emigrated earlier and sent back good reports. As far as we know, Richard and
Lawrence resisted the temptation to join in the gold-rush and before long made their way from
Melbourne to Geelong, about the time that William Honeycombe and his family made a similar
move,
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