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was a stipulated condition of her marrying Jack, I was told, that Lily and he would produce no
children, and they had to sign a declaration to this effect. Indeed, the marriage certificate bears
the minister's handwritten addition to the printed formula 'that Marriage was solemnized' - 'after
declaration wade'. This ban could only be ensured if they practised safe sex or abstained
altogether. Or if Lil had an abortion when by chance she conceived. But what precautions were
taken, or what occurred, we do not know.
Nor will we know what Lil's life with Jack was like, apart from the fact that he continued to be
employed as a carpenter, doing odd jobs, until he was quite old, and that Lily did piece-work in
a munitions factory during the Second World War. All we have are dates and places. From
1922 to 1937 they lived at 6 Argyle Street, Footscray. Then they were at 317A Barkley St
during the Second World War, moving to 9 Wolverhampton Street, Footscray in 1953, where
Jack died, on A July 1956, aged 94.9.
The move away from Argyle St was apparently caused by the failure of some business venture,
and the house there had to be sold. The house in Wolverhampton St was rented from Shell Oil,
and when the company wished to expand an adjacent service station, an old house with a
corrugated iron roof was bought for Lil by Shell at 354 Barkly St, and she rented it for life, until
she had to move out, unwillingly, and go to an old folk's home.
Jack's great-nephew, Arthur, remembers that the sprightly little old man, who wore glasses and
smoked a pipe, followed the fortunes of Carlton Football Club and Test Cricket, and that at
Argyle Street he kept chooks. Also, that he went to his father's funeral in 1925, and that at the
wedding of Arthur's sister, Thelma, in 1949, old Jack Honeycombe danced.
Old Richard Honeycombe, who was 90 in September 1919, may not have been too
concerned, or even interested, in the second marriage of his youngest son, Jack, and his grand-
daughter Lil. The fact that the odd couple continued to live in Footscray seems to indicate there
was insufficient family opprobrium or disapproval for them to move elsewhere. The earlier
wedding of his grandson, young Dick, and Addie Thompson, may have been distinguished by
his presence. For young Dick bore his forename and had lived in Footscray all his life; and the
old man was still sufficiently mobile to get out and about - as we know from his attendance at
events commemorating the anniversary of the masons' march.
It was in March 1916 that old Dick wrote to The Age, claiming to be 'the last of the 75 masons
who marched from the Belvedere Hotel1 and adding 'I did not join the Association it not being
convenient at the time'.
His wife, Elizabeth, who was still alive then, would have known the truth or otherwise of this
assertion. But by then she might not have been in a state to see or understand what was said.
However, his eldest daughter, Jane, would have been able to support or refute her father's
claim, as she was VA in April
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1856, when the masons marched. She certainly seems to have humoured him in his bid for
temporal fame, as it was surely she who had inscribed on the family gravestone after his name -
8 Hours Pioneer (Mason).
Old Dick was indubitedly one of the oldest stonemasons in Australia, as well as a member of
one of the oldest trade unions. His great age also gave him some distinction. And it was this that
impressed a young boy who called on him in 1922.
Ernie Lawless was 10. His mother, Mrs Olive Lawless, eldest daughter of Jack Honeycombe
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