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6.  Mary Ann Louisa RICKETTS (Thomas Butcher-3, George Charles-2, JOHN-1) was born on 19 Apr 1865 in Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia.
She died on 24 Mar 1943 at the age of 77 in Mackay, Queensland, Australia.

[Daily Mercury - 26th March 1943
A very old identity of the Mackay district, Mrs. Mary Ann Louisa Mills, passed away in a private hospital on Wednesday night at the advanced age of 79 years. Her husband. Mr. John Henry Mills, died in 1919, since when she has been residing with various members of her family and up to the time of her death with Mrs. P. S. Williams, of Wellington-street. The name of Mills is insepar-able from the Mount Britten goldfield, some 25 miles from Nebo. It was amidst a thriving community of some 1100 or 1200 people that all the members of her family were born. They are Messrs. A. M. B. Mills, Mackay and C. W. Mills, of Boonah, Mes-dames Ethel Williams and R. G. Johnson, of Mackay, and Mrs. Harry Winzar, of Ipswich. There are 12 grandchildren. Her husband had in company  with Mr. Reckett a substantial holding in the Edith Mary gold mine. She was married at Mt. Britten in the days when it was booming and splendid returns were being obtained from a group of mines, prominent among which was the Edith Mary. The returns from this mine were very rich. Mr. A. M. B. Mills has some specimen stone recently collected showing rich alluvial gold. It is on record, however, that a sum of £260 was netted from the mine in a fortnight, the price then being as low as £3/10/ an ounce, compared with about £10 or £11 at present. One bucket of stone is said to have realised £65. The late Mrs. Mills was keenly interested In the CWA and only recently resigned, due to ill-health, as a member of the parochial council of the Church of Eng-land, which she had occupied for many years. The funeral took place from Holy Trinity Church yesterday afternoon, the pall bearers being Messrs. C. Jackson, A. Ungerer, B. Ungerer, R. Ford, P. Turner and J. E. Waller. The Rector, Rev. H. G. Robin-son, conducted the services at the church and the graveside and the arrangements were in the hands of Messrs. Cathcart and Andrew].

Mary Ann Louisa RICKETTS and John Henry MILLS were married on 22 Oct 1882 in Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia.
[MILLS-RICKETTS.-On the 22nd October, at Mount Britton, by the Rev. A. A. Maclaren, John Henry Mills, son of Joseph Mills, late ofFix this text Coventry, Warwickshire, England, to Mary Ann Louisa Ricketts, second daughter of T. B. Ricketts, late of Copperfield.]

John Henry MILLS, son of Joseph MILLS and Sarah HILL, was born on 26 Apr 1851 in Coventry, Warwick, England.
He immigrated on 2 Jul 1865 to Queensland, Australia. [Arrived with his parents on the 'Lobella'.]
 He died in 1919 at the age of 68 in Mackay, Queensland, Australia.
John was buried in 1919 in Mackay, Queensland, Australia. [Holy Trinity Church of England].

John Henry Mills emigrated from England with his parents in 1865 at 14 years of age.
After a few years experience as a Policemen, John Henry became a professional photographer when the colony of Queensland had been in existence for only 13 years and photography was a relatively new art requiring great expertise.
He travelled widely around Queensland with his partners William Boag (Boag & Mills) and Albert Reckitt (Reckitt & Mills). As a result he has provided today's generations with a remarkable photographic record of Queensland as it was at that time. The quality of the photographs, not just the setting up of the scene and the posing of the subjects, but in their longevity, is something to be admired.
Reckitt & Mills left Mackay in 1881 to join the rush to the newly discovered Nebo gold field. The township that had sprung up on the site was named Mount Britton.
 John Henry became a professional goldminer and beekeeper in addition to continuing to provide a photographic record of life on a goldfield.
[The unceasing quest for Gold continued with more heartbreak than success, but the lure of Gold and his love for Mount Britton kept him there long after other prospectors had given up].
 
John Henry MILLS and Mary Ann Louisa RICKETTS had the following children:
 
+12 i. Albert Mount Britton MILLS, born 30 Sep 1883, Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia;
married Alice Tryphena CURLEY, 14 Apr 1915, Mackay, Queensland, Australia;
died 20 Jan 1960, Queensland, Australia.

13 ii. Ernest MILLS was born on 6 May 1885 in Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia.
He died in 1886 at the age of 1 in Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia.

+14 iii. Ethel MILLS, born 27 Feb 1887, Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia;
married Frederick Stanley WILLIAMS, 17 Jun 1908, Mackay, Queensland, Australia;
died 1968, Queensland, Australia.

+15 iv. Edith Mary MILLS, born 25 Sep 1889, Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia;
 married William Cass JACKSON, 24 Apr 1916, Queensland, Australia;
 died 7 May 1935, North Eton, Queensland, Australia.

+16 v. Cyril Whetstone MILLS, born 18 Oct 1892, Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia;
married Margaret GREIG, Jun 1921;
died 15 Sep 1963, Queensland, Australia.




Mills Family [1895]
Portrait of Mr J. H.Mills and family from Mount Britton. From left to right the family members are: Ethel, Edie (with a doll), Mary-Ann, Louisia, Bert, Cyril and John Henry Mills. At the time this portrait was taken, Flora the second last daughter was not yet born (Description supplied with photograph).
+17 vi. Florence Alice MILLS, born 24 Dec 1896, Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia;
married Ralph Godschall JOHNSON, 3 Apr 1923, Mackay, Queensland, Australia;
died 5 Dec 1944, Mackay, Queensland, Australia.

+18 vii. Maud Emma MILLS, born 13 Jun 1899, Mount Britton, Queensland, Australia;
married Henry Samuel WINZAR, 30 Dec 1935, Mackay, Queensland, Australia.


Mills family, Mt. Britton, ca. 1906 Mills family from Mt. Britton.
The family pictured from left are: Edie, Bert, Ethel, Nanny Mills, Cyril, Flora, John Henry and Maud.
(Description supplied with photograph).