Mary Bunston

Mary Bunston

Mary was christened on February 8^th 1837 in South Petherton. She was the second child and eldest daughter of Samuel and Fannie.

In February 1855, Mary left England for Australia with her eldest brother, George and his wife, Sarah, sailing on the “Epaminondras”. The ship landed at Port Philip Bay on June 1^st 1855.

Mary had a job waiting for her in South Geelong, working for J. Kellar.

In 1858 Mary married Jacob Walters. Jacob was born in Cornwall, England in 1834. He was the son of Edward Walters and Sophia Comes.

Mary and Jacob moved around a lot of the next eight or nine years. This is documented in the birth registrations of their children. The first four children, all daughters, were born in South Geelong, Melbourne, Ballarat and Daylesford.

Jacob Walters aka William Johnston

Jacob also changed his name several times during this period. From 1858 to 1862 he was known as Jacob Walters. On the registration for the birth of his forth child, Sophia, he was known as William Walters. In 1868 when his second son was born he went by the name of William Johnston.

Mary’s name changed on the registrations too, although this may be simply due to poor spelling.

After Jacob had changed his name to William Johnston, the family seemed to settle down as the four youngest children were all born in Mount Prospect, north of Ballarat.

There are two known “family stories” that explain Jacob Walters change of name. The first story is that he was a captain in the army and he deserted from the Crimean Government Troupes, the Rum Brigade. The second story is that he left the army in England, came to Australia and then changed his name to avoid detection.

Altogether, Mary and Jacob had nine children: Mary (1858); Sarah (1860); Ann (1862); Sophia (1864); Abraham (1865); Abraham (1868); William (1870); Henry (1872) and Elizabeth (1874).

Jacob Walters aka William Johnston died on June 4^th 1875 at Langdon Hill. He was buried two days later at Mount Prospect. William was harrowing a paddock on his property when he collapsed and died. A coroner’s inquest found an aneurism of the aorta had ruptured.

Four years later, on June 24^th 1879 Mary married her second husband, George William Breadmore. George was the son of William Breadmore.

Mary was George’s third wife. He married his first wife, Mary Tarr, on April 6^th 1839. Alicia Elizabeth Phillips became George’s second wife on October 21^st 1849. George and Mary Tarr had two children together. With Alicia, George had eleven more children. Mary Walters (Bunston) had a daughter, Alice (1881) with George.

George Breadmore died in 1900 at Rock Lead, near Ballarat. Mary died at Yarraville on March 28^th 1924. She is possibly buried at Mount Prospect.

Although the members of this family moved to many parts of Victoria, they remained close. They travelled the distance between Pyramid Hill and Rocky Lead many times to visit each other. It would also appear that Mary and her family remained close to her brother, George and his family as several members of his family attended some of Mary’s children’s weddings.