ok, seems like a might have some info for you if Morse's Creek is in play. A couple of weeks ago I chased down a story on a Patrick O'Farrell / Mary Leydon / Leadon/ Laden/ Ladain) that had so much in common with the story passed down to me in terms of names and places. Unfortunately the son James of this Mary Leyden died ten years earlier than the son James of Mary Morrissey, something which I could not explain especially after the other Morrissey children lined up with my Dad's recollection of aunts and uncles and even funerals.
This Patrick was born in Wexford and presumably arrived in current Portland and worked his way through the central goldfields to Morses Creek, later renamed to Bright, where he met and married Mary Leyden. Patrick and Mary then moved with the gold to Woods Point and Jordan so not difficult to assume they later made their way to Beechworth and Yackandandah. Anyhow, they had two daughters called Mary Ann, the first in 1866 d one year later and another in 1872.
A guy kindly looked this up on his Diggers Database when I was trying to confirm "MORS" referred to Morses Creek. All of the details at
http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.oceania.australia.vic.general/10072.1/mb.ashx.