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the area. Still in use today and open-cast, it is now some 300 metres deep.
Crocodile Creek was halfway between Mt Morgan and Rockhampton, and the makeshift
communities scattered thereabouts were officially consolidated in 1899 and designated as the
new township ot Bouldercombe. That December, the local paper remarked that 'from a
somewhat dreary little mining hamlet', it had changed into 'a lively, well-built and somewhat
picturesque bush town,' whose population numbered about 500 people.
Ten years earlier, when the Honeycombes lived there, the 'dreary' hamlet boasted only a post
office, a hotel, a state school and a store. The Chinese were still very much in evidence, and
although their gardens managed to provide some fresh vegetables in the drought of 1885, they
were still resented, and were prevented from trading on Sundays, when all Christian shops were
closed.
Three Mile Creek was about three miles from the diggings at Crocodile Creek. Elsewhere, reef
mining, carried out to a depth of about 150 feet, took place on a small ridge known by the
diggers as Unionville or Union Hill, half a mile or so from Three Mile Creek. Several mines were
also established at Mt Usher, when a Mr W Usher discovered a gold reef there. Work on the
Crocodile claims was very laborious: boulders abounded, and some diggings required almost
constant bailing out. A dredger was in operation there in 1890. But John Honeycombe would
have earned quite a good wage, about £2.10.0 a week. The top rate was £3.
It was in this area, part of the Westwood District, that John and Mary's next three children were
born: Jane Winifred (December 1885), Lawrence Sydney (April 1888), and Annie Frances
(February 1891). One of the children died there, young Frank.
A week after his seventh birthday, on 1 November 1888, he was riding with the driver on a
butcher's cart when he fell off. A wheel struck and fractured
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his skull. He died three days later in Rockhampton Hospital and was buried in the town's
cemetery. No headstone was erected. Because of vandalism, all marker spikes have recently
been removed by the council and stored away. So nothing now marks his early death, except an
entry in the Burial Book: "Francis Honeycombe, male, 7 years, C of E, Section 14, Grave
Number 2185.
The Caphcornian of 10 November has, however, a note of his death: 'A little boy named
Honeycomb... son of Mr J Honeycomb, manager of the Mount Peers mine, when on his way to
school the other morning fell out of a butcher's cart and hurt his head. He was brought into town
on Thursday, and died the same night'.
The Capricornian also noted 'an almost total lack of amusements this week, except that the
Prince of Wales's birthday was celebrated on the 9th ' in the usual loyal fashion - being
observed as a holiday and devoted to outdoor amusements'. There was a Regatta, a day
excursion by the SS Dolphin to Curtis Island, and a Salvation Army picnic.
All the Honeycombe children were educated at the (very) Provisional School at Crocodile
Creek. A photograph exists of it in the drought year of 1885, when the school was attended by
over 100 children. Willie (Bill), who is listed on the school register in 1884, is very probably the
small boy sitting behind the little girl first on the right. Little Frank did not go the school until
August 1886, and Bob not until October 1888. In the photograph, the straw hats worn by the
girls are noteworthy, as are the slats on the badly made roof, and the boys' closet far back on
the left.
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