William Delahoy
William represents the beginning of the first of at least two lines of Australian Delahoys. His father, Isaac Delahoy was born in 1797 in Sutton St Nicholas (Longsutton) and married Susannah (family name unknown) on 18 Jul 1821 in Sutton Lincolnshire. He was a shoemaker by trade. William was born in 1829 in Longsutton Lincoln, the fourth of eight children. Nothing is known about the first twenty years of his life. He boarded the Cheapside leaving Plymouth on 5 Jul 1849 and arrived at Port Adelaide on 10 Oct 1849.

Nothing is known about the man. He had no known trade and no evidence of any jobs. We could speculate that he came to Australia to 'seek his fortune' spending his time haunting the diggings looking for gold. He married Ellen Casey in Adelaide in 1851 when he was 22 years old. The life and times of William and Ellen are described elsewhere.

William left Ellen, it appears, to pursue his gold prospecting alone, probably November 1861, when he was about 32 years old. Eventually he teamed up with a man by the name of Carruthers and they travelled on horseback to Omeo where gold had been discovered. After arriving in Omeo, Carruthers persued his interests elsewhere and on 18 Apr 1870, William died alone in Livingstone Creek, Omeo of cirrhosis of the liver (alcoholic poisoning) and he was identified only by the publican and buried in Omeo. The death registration lists the cause of death as "Ulceration of the stomach and bowels, 14 days". It also lists his profession as "carpenter".

He was about 41 years old. Nobody knew he had a family or where he came from. Carruthers returned to Omeo some time later to receive the bad news and it was only on his return to western Victoria that Ellen learned William had died.

According to historians, it was not unusual for men to leave their wives in search of gold. It's not known exactly when he left Ellen, her marriage certificate to Henry Holdsworth states he "was not heard of" since 1 November 1861.

Livingstone Creek is not listed in contemporary maps as a town. However there is an actual creek by that name to the west of Omeo which is about 370 kilometres due east of Avoca, across the other side of the state, a long journey for anyone in 1870.