I only have one lonely reference to the name Hillyer. It’s from the police journals of Sergeant Wells which were published in “All Quiet” by his great great grandson Doyle Wells. At 9am on Feb 15 1886 Constable Meaney served James Hillyer a summons for assaulting Mrs. Alfred Rideout. The case of Rideout vs. Hillyer occupied the court the following day. 1886 was before the Rideout family converted to the Salvation Army so I suspect they were still tangled up with the rum runners which may give some insight into the assault. I’ll be curious to see if Mr. Hillyer fell within the ranks of Little Bay’s Temperance Movement or on the pro-alcohol side. James Hillyer has no further run-ins with the police. I have no other references to the name Hillyer at all nor have I spotted any of the other spellings for it there. The lack of recording could speak to him being from the labour ranks or it could hint to his time in Little Bay being short-lived, perhaps both. A large portion of the mine’s labour ranks were transitory. His quick departure wouldn’t be exactly shocking either as Mr. Rideout probably wasn’t too happy with him!