John Hollier arrived on the ship 'Wallace' on 16th of  February 1844 in Port Melbourne, Victoria. On the same ship were Eden, Mary Hollier and their daughter Martha who were all from Sydenham.  It is probable that Eden and John were cousins but the exact relationship between the Lewknor and Sydenham Holliers has not been determined yet.

John was christened in St Margaret’s church, Lewknor on 21st of September 1813. In the 1841 census John was recorded as living with his maternal grandfather, William Hayes, and with William Hollier, tailor, probably his brother in Lewknor and was employed as a farm labourer. He does not appear in any subsequent censuses in England.

It seems as though John did not leave the Port Melbourne area for any length of time for the rest of his life. For the 1856-7 Legislative Assembly election in Victoria, under which secret ballots were mandated, he was entitled to enrol and vote, being over 21 years old and holding a ‘Miner’s Right. On 22 January 1856, he was amongst 300 householders in Williamstown who petitioned His Excellency, the Governor of Victoria to proclaim the district of Williamstown as a Municipal District.

Williamstown Chronicle & Light Houses of Australia Inc website state that from sometime in 1844 to about March 1858 he was assistant lighthouse keeper to Mr Thomas Mason, initially in the wooden tower and later in the new, first bluestone tower, built after 1849, in Gellibrand Point, Williamstown, Melbourne, Victoria.

Williamstownwoodenlighthouse

Lithograph of the Williamstown Lighthouse by Charles Turner dated 1853 and current photograph

click on image for full size


During this period he met and married Catherine Palmer, widow, (nee Pringle) by the rites of the Wesleyan Circuit of Melbourne on 21st of October 1852. He immediately acquired his wife Catherine's children from her first marriage to William Palmer, who had died in Rotherlithe, Surrey on 15th of August 1849 from asiatic cholera.  It is unclear whether Catherine and her children returned to Berwick-upon-Tweed after her husband’s death but she sailed from Liverpool on 4th of April 1851 in the 'Satellite' with several members of her family and disembarked in Hobson Bay, Melbourne about four months later on 2nd of August 1851. 

The voyage must have been difficult based upon a newspaper article in the "Argus”.

 
“THE SATELLITE
To the Editor of the Argus; Tuesday 9 September 1851, p. 4
Sir,- We the undersigned, being passengers from Liverpool, to this port, in the ship Satellite, John Markham, commander, are much surprised at seeing a paragraph ¡n your paper (of Monday last), expressive of great satisfaction by the original passengers. We therefore, on public grounds, beg to state our unanimous disapprobation at the ungentlemanly and uncourteous conduct of Capt Markham throughout the voyage, and also we consider him to bo a person totally unfit to conduct a ship carrying passengers.
This good ship Satellite, was so leaky, that for a Great part of our voyage, there was not a dry berth in second cabin, intermediate, or steerage, and we had to lie on tables, chests, doors, the floor of the desk, or sit up all night. We consider it a public duty to state these facts to prevent others being imposed upon.
We are, Sir,
Your obedient servants,
Thomas Jenkinson,
Alex Hem and family, Hy. Ambrose, B.S. Fish.
William Harvey,  
Edw. Wilson and family Robert Tighe,
Richard Tighe and wife.     Melbourne, Sept, 9th, 1851.”

In 1856 John, Catherine and children, including his biological daughter, the two year old Agnes Emma Hollier were living at Stevedore street, Williamstown, Melbourne.  Agnes Emma ultimately married Arthur John Castle Emmerson and their descendants now live in many parts of Australia.

On 8th of March 1858 George was born to John and Catherine in Williamstown.  When George was registered, John recorded his occupation as gardener, at which he appears to have worked until his death. John wrote his will on 2nd of October 1876 in Williamstown, in which he was a gardener and left an estate of just over 383 pounds.  He died on 12th of November 1889 and two days later was buried in the Williamstown cemetery, Melbourne.  Catherine Hollier lived on until 28th February 1901 and was buried near her then rural Victorian residence in Meeniyan cemetery.