Edward, Ann and her 5 children sailed from Liverpool on 4 Aug 1852 under the surname MANNION on the 'fever ship' Ticonderoga which arrived in Port Phillip Bay on 5 Nov 1852 and Melbourne on 22 December 1852. All passengers were quarantined on the beach at Portsea until all signs of disease had abated. This was the origin of the Quarantine Station at Portsea.

More information about the Ticonderoga at www.ticonderoga.com.au/

This family suffered no losses and made their way to Mr Waldie's. Thomas WALDIE was a Scottish born squatter who was one of the first Europeans to take up land in 1838 before Ballarat came into being with the 1851 goldrush. His sheep station was established about 3 miles north of Lake Wendouree near present day Gillies Street. Edward and Ann were living here for the birth of their first Australian born child in 1854.

On an 1870s parish map of Ascot, Lilly WALDIE was the owner of 96 acres adjacent to a block of 28 acres owned by John SPARK. John and William SPARK (sons of Ann) owned another 63 acres also at Ascot.

Anne MANGIN, together with her son George SPARK and her married daughter Anne FRASER, defended a charge in the Creswick Petty Sessions on 21 Oct 1859. extracts 1859

Ann was still known as Annie MANGIN on 26 Jun 1860 when there was a falling out with her son William SPARK. extracts 1860
There was more trouble between mother and son on 5 Feb 1861 in the Creswick Petty Sessions Court.
On the 19 Mar 1861 William had to answer a charge brought by his stepfather Edward MANGAN.
Also in the Creswick Police Court on the 6 Aug 1861, a charge brought by David McKENZIE against Edward MANGIN, claiming £4-0-6 for money lent, was struck out. extracts 1861

In the next year or so Annie dropped the surname MANGAN. She was known as Ann SPARKS on 13 May 1863 in the Creswick County Court when she was running the Wheatsheaf Hotel at Ascot in the absence of her son John. extracts 1861
In the Ballarat Shire Rate Book for 1868 Ann SPARK(ES) farmed 29 acres at Ascot.
Occupations for Edward MANGAN: Agricultural Labourer 1851-52, Miner 1854, Dairyman 1856, Labourer 1870-72, Farmer in 1878 and at his death in 1887.

Creswick Hospital In-Patient's Register 1863-1883
Admission 4 Feb 1870, Edward MANGAN, Ascot, 65 yrs, labourer, Married, Birthplace: Ireland, RC, 17 yrs in Colony of Victoria, Result of Treatment: Cured of acute conjestion. Recommender: J McDougall. Discharged 3 Mar 1870.
Admission 22 Sep 1872, Edward MANGAN, Ascot, 58 yrs (this age is close to the truth), Labourer, Married, Birthplace: Ireland, RC, Years in Colony - . Recommender: James SPARK (stepson). Illness relieved and discharged on 30 Sep 1972.

Death of Edward MANGAN
Edward MANGAN died 17 Jul 1887 aged 75 yrs Barrakee, Shire of Korong, County of Gladstone, Victoria. The cause of death was Senile Decay. His birthplace was County of Sligo, Ireland, parents unknown, married Fifeshire, Scotland, age unknown, to Ann SPARKS.
Informant was Mrs Mary Ann (herXmark) SPARKS, Friend, Barrakee, who registered the death on 18 Jul 1887 at Charlton, bur 19 Jul 1884 C of E Charlton Cemetery.
Issue: Alexander 30, Christina 28 yrs. [Death certificate 9559 R/N 296 provided by Peter Spark]

Who was this illiterate friend named Mary Ann SPARKS?
Strong possibility would be the 18 yr old daughter of George SPARK and Elizabeth CARMICHAEL b 1869 Clunes, who had an illegitimate daughter b 1894 Allandale/Clunes and married 1897 aged abt 28 to John MICHELL. This Mary Ann SPARK(S) would not be a blood relative to the deceased but she was the grandchild of Edward MANGAN's wife, Ann WHITEHILL SPARK MANGAN.
At the time of his death Edward MANGAN was living with his elder son Alexander who was a farmer at Barrakee, near Charlton from at least 1881. He may have employed his stepbrother's daughter to help his wife Annie (McKINNON) to help care for their brood of young children which had grown to at least five by 1887.
It is likely that Mary Ann was sent off to Charlton to register the death of the old man who she had probably helped care for but she was not aware of the existence of the younger son Edward who left Clunes 1886-87 to settle at Swan Hill on the NSW border.
'Friend' would be easier than trying to explain a complicated relationship.

The story of the life and death of 'our' Edward MANGAN made sense until another death, eleven years later, of the 'same' Edward MANGAN with the same wife and children.
We can't be sure of the explanation but at this stage it seems that 'our' Edward MANGAN died at Barrakee in 1887 and his estranged son Edward Jnr believed that the man named William BARKMEYER who died in Swan Hill in 1898 was his father.

The BARKMEYER story

Death of Ann SPARK
Ann SPARK ms WHITEHILL died suddenly of heart disease on 28 Sep 1878, aged 58 yrs, Ascot, County of Talbot, Victoria, Australia [Vic 8097] bur 2 Oct 1878 Clunes Cemetery. There was an Inquiry into her death where it was stated by Catherine SPARKS that her mother-in-law was a hard working woman of intemperate habits.
We have her birthdate as 28 Feb 1814 (IGI) so in truth her age was probably abt 64, but Ann gave conflicting information about her age at various times - b1816 (birth of child in 1854), b1819 (birth of child in 1859), b1820 (census in 1851), b1824 (birth of child in 1856).
Ann WHITEHILL SPARK MANGAN had certainly led a remarkable life from the time of her birth in the small Scottish village of Crosskeys, Dunfermline, Fife, to her demise in the far away Colony of Victoria. She had given birth to nine children, eight of whom married and had families of their own.