James Boyce

James James Boyce and Eliza Boyce named their Ballarat born daughter Alice Eureka Boyce.

Obituary

An old pioneer, in the person of Mr. James Boyce, recently expired in the Gippsland Hospital, aged 84. The deceased was born in Launceston (Tasmania), in 1819, his father being a civil engineer employed on the Government works there, and son-in-law to Lieutenant Shortland, an officer who accompanied the first fleet to Botany Bay, and subsequently discovered the Hunter River, New South Wales. Mr. J. J. Boyce crossed the straits to Port Phillip in 1844, under engagement to Mr. Ed. Henty, and after remaining with that gentleman at Portland Bay for some time he settled in Warrnambool. Early in 1852, however, when the gold fever broke out, he went to Ballarat, and established a butchering business on Bakery Hill, which he conducted throughout the tumultuous period of the Eureka riots. Leaving Ballarat shortly afterwards Mr. Boyce battled with varying fortune on other goldfields, and was one of those selected to accompany the Burke and Wills expedition, but the sudden and severe illness of his wife caused him to abandon the projected trip to the Gulf. In the following year he went to Gippsland, and set up business in the township of Stratford, but after some years he abandoned business pursuits and worked as a prospector in the mountainous region beyond Briagolong, an occupation which be followed almost to the time of his death.

Also See

Alice Eureka Boyce