Biography

Amy went missing on 10 February and, although extensive searching was carried out, no trace could be found of the little girl. On 9 July, Police Constable Chipper received a report that the remains of the child had been found i the bush about 3 miles from the Arthur River Bridge and about100 yards from the road between Barron's property and Tarwonga Inn. The remains were collected and taken to the Mt Pleasant Inn. An inquest found that the child had died from starvation and exposure in the bush on or about 13 February.

It was not the first tragedy to strike the Harris family while living at the 131-Mile. Two boys, twins, aged 3 years, drowned in a well. At one time, as William Harris arrived home with his team and the children, as usual, ran to meet him, one child slipped off the wagon and fell under wheels causing death. A daughter, aged 12 years, was burned to death when her dress caught on fire. Yet another daughter, Frances Agnes Mary, who married a Mr Claydon, also appears in this website when she and one of her sisters drowned while she was teaching her sister to swim.

Mary Noonan was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1834.  She arrived in Western Australia on 13 January 1853 aboard the "Travancore" with her parents, William and Eleanor, and siblings Bridget, William, Elinor and Margaret.

She married William Harris on 10 August 1853 (Marriage Registration 537/1853, Perth) at the Wesley Church in Perth.  Their children were: Charlotte Letitia Mary born 1855 in Perth (Birth Registration 2701/1855); Elizabeth Margaret born 3 September 1859 in Perth (Birth Registration 4751/1859); Charles William born 1861 (Birth Registration 5951/1861); George Albert born 21 July 1863 in Albany Road (Birth Registration 8057/1864); Thomas Edmund born 1866 in Beaufort (Birth Registration 9641/1866); Mary Alice born 1869 in Williams Bridge (Birth Registration 11273/1869); Frances Agnes born 1874 Williams Bridge (Birth Registration 15505/1874); Emily Jane born 1876, Arthur River (Birth Registration 17712/1876 Arthur River); Amy born 1877 in Arthur River.

Five members of the Harris family died tragically and are memorialised in a plaque on the family property.  Buried side by side are twin boys, aged three years, who drowned in a well on this property; a girl, aged 12 years, who was burned to death when her dress caught on fire; a girl aged 1 month who died of whopping cough and an unnamed baby girl who died at birth.  Another sister, Frances Agnes Mary Claydon (nee Harris) drowned with her sister in the Hillman River in 1893 while teaching that sister to swim.