Donald Hocking the great grandson of William and Addie recounted:

We now enter the world of the great grandparents, Here we relate the life and times of William Hocking and Victoria Adelaide (Addie),(:nee Smith).Again we find ourselves in the Bathurst district but more rural than urban.    William was born at sea aboard the sailing clipper Marco Polo, (This ship had previously set the record for the run from Portsmouth to Melbourne). The Marro Polo, from all accounts, was the QE 2 of the 1850’s, A journalist of the “Illustrated London News” describes the ship in the following terms, “On deck forward of the poop, which is used as a ladies’ cabin, is a ‘home on deck’, to be used as a dining saloon. It is ceiled with maple and the pilasters are panelled with richly ornamented and silvered glass — coins of various countries being a novel feature of the decoration. Between each pilaster is a circular aperture. about 6 feet in circumference, for light and ventilation: over it is placed a sheet of plate—glass with a cleverly painted picturesque view in the centre, with a framework of foliage and scroll in opaque colours and gold,,,, The saloon doors are panelled in stained glass, bearing figures of commerce and industry,, , ,The upholstery is embossed in crimson velvet.” And so the description goes on.    Arriving at Port Phillip some three or four weeks old, was hardly the right age to take part in the 1853 gold rush. The Hocking family was in Ballarat during the Eureka Stockade uprising, but our research does not show that the Hockings took any active part, William was later taken to Durham Lead, a town on the road to Geelong, We are not sure when William left the family home.  His mother died in 1870 when Willian was 17 years of age, but this age was somewhat late for lads at that period to leave home.  We do know that William eventually travelled to Rockley, neat Bathurst, where he married on Christmas eve, 1875, aged twenty two. The birth of his son, John Thomas, some three months later was made bitter sweet by the consequent death of his wife, Victoria Adelaide, (nee Smith). A marriage to a widow, (Mrs Pascoe), gave John Thomas a very necessary stepmother,. William worked in the mines at Burraga, some ten miles from Rockley and had several children to his second wife. He died at thirty five years of age.    Source: Donald Hocking via J Oldfield  

Ref: Rockley Manners p 245    It is not known when William left home but he was 17 when his mother died. He arrived at Rockley at a time when he was droving cattle for a living. At the age of 22 he married Victoria Adelaide Smith on Christmas Eve 1875. Victoria was the daughter of William, the son of a convict and Mary Ann Barsden, a free settler family of 1800 [ her mother was of the Blackman family, pioneers of Bathurst and Mudgee]. William and Mary Ann had 12 children and lived in the Oberon district where William had large land holdings. He died in 1890.  Three months after William and Adelaide were married, the arrival of their son, John Thomas was accompanied by the tragic death of Adelaide at the age of 17 years. William later married a widow Mrs Pascoe. At the time of his death at the age of 35 years, William was a miner living at Burraga. He died of cancer.    John Thomas, son of William Hocking and Adelaide Smith was born in 1876, he married Lydia Ann Lovett...

John Thomas did marry Lydia Ann Lovett  at Rockley in 1894. Donald Hocking their grandson recounted:

Fathers parent~ John Thomas Hocking and Lydia Annie (nec Lovett) were of farming and storekeeping background. John Thomas was one of the most polite gentlemen i have ever met. He was an exceptionally good grandfather with a unique ability to really listen to people. I remember him as always being well dressed and groomed. Even in my early days, when I had a slight stutter he was always very patient. A shortish man, shorter than his son and brown haired where his son had been rather auburn. His early days were as a farmer, managing one of his grandfathers many family properties. He later inherited the 300 acre farm, known as Essington Park, but lost it through gambling on the race horses he bred.  His grandfather William Richard Smith, also bequeathed him a Stradivarius violin which the executor forgot to pass over. (Related by his daughter Liela (Walpole)) He spent his later days as a railway boilermaker. I believe he was one of the very early members of the Labor Party having joined about 1897
Lydia Annie always seemed to be something of a matriarch.  Perhaps this was a role placed upon her by the circumstances of her life. Owing to her mothers early death, she was called on to mother' her brothers and sisters, and, later, to perform the same duties for the children of her stepmother. Her husbands easy-going manner also required her to adopt the role of head of the family. I was always rather scared in her presence and missed out on the opportunity to achieve a worthwhile bonding.   Author: Donald Hocking related via J Oldfield as descendant.