CLEAVES, William (1820-1866)
Cleaves married Jane Lewis in London on 23 May 1853 and then they sailed to Australia with her three sisters on the Sussex. After spending time at the Caledonia goldfields and in New Zealand, William Cleaves built the Watsons Creek Hotel and became its licensee. In May 1866 he sustained fatal injuries from a kangaroo and is buried at the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery. As he and Jane had no children their nephew William Cleaves Calwell was named heir but as he was only three at the time he did not receive his inheritance until 1884, after the hotel burnt down in 1882.
Sources: Digger Pioneer Index; Mick Woiwod, The Christmas Hills Story, 2010
