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mother, had had a breakdown after the birth of her seventh and last child in 1893. Or perhaps
John had thought about finding jobs and homes for his sons in Melbourne through his older
brother Richard, or through Jane in Geelong.
John was 52 in June 1894 - his wife was 12 years younger. He had been a gold-miner all his
life, latterly in Charters Towers, and when he travelled south with his sons, probably staying for
a while with Richard Honeycombe's family in Footscray, he left his four younger children in
Charters Towers to be looked after by family and friends.
How long did John and his sons stay in Geelong? Did he leave them at Fernside for a time while
he went to Ballarat, or perhaps to Bendigo, looking for work? Willie, the eldest son, was 15
then. Did he accompany his father on his travels? Or did he remain at Fernside with his younger
brother, Bob, who was 11 years old?
Bob apparently made a more favourable impression on the elderly Mountjoys, especially on
childless Jane. And family tradition says that she offered to educate Bob and his brother in
Geelong and bring them up. But the boys, it is said, declined the offer, and in due course John
removed his two sons from the greener pastures of Highton and took them home to the heat of
Charters Towers, where they were immersed in the fatal darkness of the mines.
Perhaps John might have stayed on in Geelong himself. But the rural ambience of Sleepy
Hollow, combined with church-going and teetotal parlours, were probably not for him. Most
probably he dallied in saloon bars and amused himself at the Exhibition Theatre, which was
flourishing then, a venue for star turns. Mark Twain lectured there in 1895, as did Mrs Annie
Besant, and later the actor, Oscar Asche, born in Yarra St in 1871. Carrie Moore, who was
also born
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in Geelong and became a musical comedy star, sang at the Exhibition Theatre when she was 14,
in 1896.
John may also have been intrigued by local interest in the development of agricultural and other
machinery, and have been disparaging about the chances of Timaru's cargo of frozen mutton
that left Geelong for England in April 1894. In fact, most of it had to be thrown overboard en
route, as the refrigerating machinery broke down. But James Harrison's pioneering work in this
field - he had been manufacturing and selling ice since 1852 - was ultimately successful, although
he died seven months before the Timaru sailed. And if John was in Geelong in June 1895, he
would have seen Edison's kinetoscope demonstrated - the earliest moving pictures. Edison's
phonograph, or talking machine, had already been demonstrated in Geelong, in September
1890.
After John left, Jane never saw Willie and Bob again, although she wrote to them occasionally.
She probably saw John once more, early in the next century, before he went west, looking for
work and that lucky strike that would make his fortune, and never did.
In June 1897, Geelong celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign.
Two years later, in May 1899, Lawrence Mountjoy died, after suffering from prostate trouble
for two years. Aged 78, he was buried in the Mountjoy plot in Highton cemetery. The funeral
service was, one imagines, well attended - by his brothers and their families, besides many
members of the Wesleyan and local communities. Jane, who was 73, and becoming quite frail
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