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called Edwin Murrant. She married him in the Towers in March 1884. They separated a few
weeks later, when he was accused of theft. This couple are of some interest, in that both
became famous elsewhere bearing other names.
Edwin Murrant is said to have been Harry 'Breaker' Morant, who was court-martialled and
executed by firing squad in South Africa at the end of the Boer War, in February 1902. Daisy
Murrant, or Morant, left Charters Towers when her marriage failed, travelling south to New
South Wales, to be a governess in Nowra (where Mary Honeycombe would one day die). At
Nowra, Daisy May married the eldest son of the family by whom she was employed; their name
was Bates. Nine years later she abandoned both her husband and small son and voyaged to
London, where she became a journalist. Returning eventually to Australia and to her husband,
now a cattleman in Western Australia, she took an interest in the culture and legends of local
aborigines and began writing about them, carving herself a niche as an amateur ethnographer
and aboriginal 'expert', as Daisy Bates.
It's just possible, back in Charters Towers in 1884, that our Irish Mary knew Irish Daisy. And
it's interesting to know that the histories of Daisy Bates and Breaker Morant briefly combined in
Charters Towers as further branches sprouted on the Honeycombe family tree.
In the first years of his marriage, John Honeycombe and his burgeoning family lived in Resident
Street on the St Patrick Block, a mining area of several acres where he was also employed. The
St Patrick was one of the earliest mines to be established in the Towers and was the first to be
richly productive. In 1876, when several mills, or batteries, were already engaged in crushing
ore from hundreds of claims, the St Patrick Block produced over 4,000 tons of ore, with a gold
return of nearly 10,000 ounces. Its major shareholder and virtual owner was a former
blacksmith, Frank Stubley. Was little Frank named after him?
Stubley became a very rich man, earning himself about £1,000 a week. But a few years later
production dwindled as 'the line' ran out. By 1883 the St Patrick was but thinly productive, and
other mines forged ahead in output and reputation: Day Dawn produced 20,000 ounces that
year. Frank Stubley, who had gambled and given his fortune away, wandered off on his own,
prospecting, and his remains were found two years later by a track in the bush. By then the
Honeycombes had moved 600km to the southeast, to the mining community at Crocodile
Creek, later called Bouldercombe, and 21 km southwest of Rockhampton.
The discovery of gold at Canoona, 36 miles northwest of Rockhampton, in 1858, had led
indirectly to JH Brady's find at Crocodile Creek eight years later.
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Gold was also found elsewhere in the area. But by the time John Honeyoombe went there all
alluvial gold had been picked up and claimed and the mines had gone deep underground.
We will never know why John initiated the move to Crocodile Creek in 1884. It was
presumably made in pursuit of a better paid job, by the actual offer of one, or because of
reports that working conditions and opportunities were better further south. Perhaps some
friend or relation, already established in the area, recommended the move. Perhaps a
deterioration in the family's health determined it. In any event, the train journey, from Charters
Towers to Townsville and thence to Rockhampton, would not only have speeded the whole
process of moving, but have been viewed by the eldest of the little boys (Willie was five in
1884) with some delight. After this noisy, dusty and tiring experience, the family would have
travelled out to their new home by coach or on horse and cart. They would settle at or near
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