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have done) with the celebrated surgeon and Tasmanian JP, Cornelius Casey, or with his son
Richard, the notable Queensland pastoralist and chairman of the Mt Morgan Company, which
was actually launched in 1886, when the Honeycombes were living down the road.
Mary died in 1912, nearly 50 years before Lord Casey's ennoblement. It was her daughter,
Jenny then married to George Butcher, who perpetuated this particular fantasy of the family's
famous relation, recording it later as if it were fact in her husband's obituary, where she is
described as 'a second cousin of Lord Casey'. Alas, not true.
It seems highly improbable that Mary Casey was ever a relative of the incipient lord, or that she
was ever a ballet dancer or the Belle of the Ball. It seems more likely, given the general
circumstances of her marriage to John in 1881 - she was 28, pregnant with her second child,
and 11 years younger than he - that she may have been a dancer of another sort, in music halls
or saloons.
After the marriage the record is fairly dour: five children to add to the first two, one of whom
dies in an accident, and a hard impoverished life in various mining communities. Then, about the
time of the birth of her seventh and last child in 1893 she is abandoned by her husband - there is
a separation - and she has some sort of breakdown. For seven years she brings up her younger
children on her own until in 1900 she is taken away from her children and put in a mental
hospital for over two years.
246
Where was Mary living in the last eight years of her life - from the time she left Queensland early
in 1904 until just before her death in 1912? The information is scanty. But it is more than
probable that after she moved to New South Wales she never saw her husband again, nor any
of her children. Nor, as far as we know, did she ever return to Queensland. Poor health as well
as poverty may have restricted her movements, and her kin and doctors may have insisted that
she should live in a more temperate climate. Probably her family claimed her after she rejected,
or was rejected by, John. Her version of the separation and of her life with him in Queensland
may not have endeared him to the Caseys. It would certainly have been different from his.
But where was she? All that is known is that she died in Berry in 1912. But we may presume
that in 1904, once out of Goodna, Mary went to live with a sister and/or her ageing mother in or
near Nowra in New South Wales.
Patrick Casey had died in Nowra in New South Wales in July 1899; he was 71. Mary was then
in Goodna. Norah Casey, his second daughter, bought a burial plot for him in the Catholic
section of Shoalhaven Cemetery in Nowra on 4 July, the day he was buried there. His death
certificate describes him as a 'contractor'. Mary's, 13 years later, says he was a 'labourer1. His
place of residence on his death certificate has, however, been left blank. This certificate names
nine of Patrick's children as still living at the time of his death. They are given as: Mary, 45
years; Norah 43 (who was unmarried); George 41; Peter 39; Margaret 37; Ellen 35; Patrick
32; James 30; Lizzie 27. Only Norah's age tallies with her baptismal date in the registers for
New South Wales.
Nowra, where Patrick died, is about 100 miles south of Sydney. Berry is nearby, some 16
kilometers to the north of Nowra and as many kilometers east of the spectacular forested
amphitheatre of Kangaroo Valley.
Berry, where Mary died, is situated in the lush dairy country between the Southern Highlands
and the sea. Farms abound and there are some wineries. The countryside is pretty, peaceful,
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