Could this be his mother on the Creswick goldfields?
In the Creswick Police Court, 14 Sep 1855, Mary HICKS was charged by Mary CLIFF with obscene and abusive language to the Complainant in a public place at Creswick on 6 Sep. Fined 20/- or 1 week's imprisonment and bound over to keep the peace for 6 months. Following this entry there was a counter charge.
Mary CLIFF was charged with assaulting Mary HICKS on 6 Sep at Creswick. Fined 40/- or 1 week's imprisonment and bound to keep the peace for 3 months. [VPRS 5797 Police Record Book Creswick 1855-60]
There is a reference to William CLIFF in the Creswick Petty Sessions Court Register for 1861 but at the time William Henry would have been only 3 yrs old.

William Henry CLIFFE of Bardoc, WA, was admitted as a patient at the Fremantle Asylum on 18 May 1901. His wife Catherine CLIFFE of Bardoc was mentioned in the papers obtained by Peter Spark.

Ballarat & District Directories
1882 CLIFF Mrs Catherine, George Street, Clunes [p148]
1888-89 CLIFF Catherine, George Street, Clunes
(Perhaps Catherine was living as Mrs CLIFF before her marriage.)

Catherine SPARK m2. 5 Oct 1891 Inglewood (Civil Marriage) [Vic 8750]
The marriage certificate stated that William Henry CLIFF was a bachelor, a Laborer aged 37 b Melbourne s/o William CLIFF and Mary MORRIS, and that Catherine, a nurse aged 45 b Melbourne d/o Amos SHOEMACK and Mary SHEA, was widowed in 1884 and had 6 living children and 2 who had died. Both were living at Charlton.
The 6 living children would have been: Catherine Ann SPARK ARMSTRONG, Phoebe Elizabeth SPARK LEWIS, James Amos SPARK, Alexander Edward SPARK, Lavinia Alice SPARK and Christina Sarah SPARK. The 2 deceased would have been: Mary Jane SPARK TURNER d 1888 and Janet Georgina SPARK d 1888. This was not counting 3 other children who died in infancy: John SPARK (b and d 1860) and George SPARK b and d 1861 (chn to John SPARK) and Margaret Alice SPARK b and d 1873 (child of James SPARK). Kate had a total of 11 children.

In her late forties Kate married bigamously, as did her first husband John SPARK. He had married Elizabeth TAYLOR in 1880 and was convicted of bigamy in 1885 at Maryborough Assizes and sentenced to 6 months Hard Labour. He died in 1917 aged 79 yrs at Clunes, Victoria.
James SPARK was named as the previous husband of Kate SHUMACK SPARK CLIFF on her death certificate in 1919. Although not officially married they had nine children born 1863-76 at Ascot.

According to research, divorce was an impractical option in Victoria before 1890 and there is evidence that the community attitude to a variety of relationships was one of tolerance. This would seem to be true in Kate's case where all those involved continued to live in the goldfields district for some time. An admission to the Ballarat Base Hospital 18-26 Mar 1885, gives Kate's address as Ascot and although her husband John SPARK married bigamously in 1880 in a registry offfice in Stawell, his 3 children to Elizabeth TAYLOR were born 1871-75 in Clunes.

Catherine CLIFFE aged 75 yrs, Home Duties, died 26 July 1919 in the Government Hospital Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The informant was Alfred Kyle, Undertaker of Kalgoorlie but a good deal of family information was supplied. It was stated that Catherine was born in Melbourne, the daughter of Amos SHOMACH (SHUMACK), Labourer and Mary ms SHEA (SHIER). She had lived 50 yrs in Victoria and 25 yrs in WA. Catherine had been married twice - firstly aged 16 yrs in Victoria to James SPARK and secondly aged 48 yrs in Victoria to William CLIFFE.
Living children of the first marriage were Catherine Ann 55, Phoebe Elizabeth 54, James Amos 52, Alexander 51, Lavinia Alice 45 and Christina Sarah 43 yrs. Deceased children of the first marriage were 2 females. Catherine's burial was conducted by Rev W R LANG, Methodist Minister, 27 July 1919 Kalgoorlie Cemetery. [death certificate details provided by Peter Spark]