Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld.) - Thursday 31 March 1887...
"WIFE DESERTION.
Ann Halberstaedter, the wife of Adolph Halberstaedter, brought an action against her husband for deserting her by compelling her to leave his residence on the 16th of February, and not providing for her maintenance since that date. - Mr. W. Thompson appeared for the prosecutrix, and Mr. Pattison for the defendant. — Mr. Pattison objected to the information on the ground that it did not disclose that the prosecutrix had been deserted for sixty days. — Mr. Lukin said a common-sense view of the case must be taken. Was a woman to starve for sixty days before she could obtain satisfaction? — Mr. Pattison did not press the point, and Mr. Thompson briefly opened the case. — Ann Halberstaedter, wife of the defendant, a gardener residing at North Rockhampton, stated she had been married to him for many years; after the marriage she lived with him for ten or twelve years, and then had to leave him in consequence of ill-treatment; she remained away about six months; she prosecuted him at the end of that term to compel him to support her, and was ordered to return by the presiding magistrate; she stayed with him after this for four or five years, and left again in consequence of his conduct; he frequently told her to go, saying she had gone away once before, and had crawled back again; he also said he would get rid of "that —— old piece," meaning her, and get a young one; he made these remarks in the presence of their four children; he took her by the hair several times, and dragged her about the yard, and at other times beat her; he was always beating her, or saying something to her, and she was forced to leave, fearing she would lose her reason if she remained; when she had spoken at the meal table, he would say "Lie down you ——— old ———," and make her lie under the table at his feet ; he jumped on her back one night while she was in bed, and injured her so severely that she was under treatment for some time ; since she left him, four years ago, she had been keeping a boarding-house ; then she took a store, but the times became so bad that she had to close ; she was unable to sue for debts owing to her, but had to sell off her goods to pay her creditors ; Mr. C. Hourigan had filled the shop she lately kept with goods, and her daughter, aged seventeen, was in charge ; she received all she could make ; Mr. Jones sent the defendant a letter relative to summoning him for maintenance, and received an offer that was so small that she would not accept it ; in February she got a bill from Kirby Brothers, in which she was charged for goods she had never received ; on inquiry she learnt that they were supplied to a woman who was taken to the shop by the defendant, and introduced as Mrs. Halberstaedter ; a few days after this she went to her husband's house and saw a woman who told her she was not wanted there ; witness replied that she had as much right there as her, and told her to clear, as she intended to come home; witness went away then, and when she returned met her husband ; he asked her what she wanted ; he ran to the woman referred to and warned her to shut herself in ; witness said "I will not have my own door locked against me ; if there is an axe about I will open it again" ; the defendant ordered her out, and when she refused to go he pushed her ; witness saw a candle alongside the bed, and asked "Does she keep you in the cradle?" he said "It does not matter whether she does or not — any woman but you can be here" ; she took up a little frock and threw it out, and he ran at her with a hammer ; afterwards he went for the police to give her in charge, refusing to allow her to remain ; he told her she was not going to "loaf" on him for a feed, and that as he had had her kicked out be would keep her away ; she went to make a cup of tea, and he ran away with the teapot ; Mrs. Belfield accompanied her on this occasion; the defendant had a garden, which he said was worth £1000; it contained eighteen acres ; she did not know his income ; she had never handled any of his money ; all she had to do was to work ; he had a hundred head of cattle when she left ; he always had a ready sale for his fruit, and came into town twice with fruit on some days ; she had to work very hard, as besides her household duties she had to milk cows, churn milk, prune and wash trees, and feed the pigs and fowls ; the cause of her leaving him was that she was afraid he would do her a personal injury. — By Mr. Pattison : She would be afraid to return home now that all her sons were away ; there would be no one to protect her ; when she left Halberstaedter four years ago she took away the furniture she had bought during the six months she was absent before, and an old cupboard he had given her ; she only threw something at her husband once, and that was a cup of tea when he called her a prostitute ; she sold a horse when she left him last, but it was her own property. — By the Police Magistrate : The children did not assist her at all now. — Isabella Belfield, wife of William Belfield, late licensee, of the Volunteer Arms, corroborated the prosecutrix's statements as to what took place at the defendant's house on the 16th of February. She said the woman who was there was Mrs. Lock. — This concluded the case for the prosecution, and for the defence, Adolph Halberstaedter, the defendant, stated that just before his wife left him four, and a-half years ago she said she would ruin the place so that it would not be worth a penny, and then leave ; when she was going away she asked for money, and he said he had none ; she then sold a mare and foal, and two draught horses — in fact, she left him without a horse to bring his fruit into town ; she took the furniture away too ; he could not work himself, and being too poor to pay a man let the garden for 2s. 6d. a week ; he thought the lessee would bring it round again ; the prosecutrix took £20 from his son's box and gave him the horses referred to in return ; at that time he had five or six acres under cultivation, but now had only about an acre and a-half ; his wife had let the cattle in, and ruined every- thing ; he had made very little out of the garden for the last four years ; 8s. would be a good week ; sometimes he only took 5s.; matters were improving now, as he had a good crop of oranges ; he only made enough to live on ; the prosecutor always got what money she wanted, and she took care to have it ; she said the poultry and cattle were hers, and he let her have the money she made out of them ; he could not support her away from him, and had never been asked to do so ; the woman she saw there the other day had gone away ; she was frightened away. — Mr. Lukin asked the defendant how much he could pay for his wife's maintenance apart from him. The witness said his receipts were about 15s. a week. He would give her half. — Mr. Lukin remarked that it struck him that was quite enough for a woman who seemed to say everything belonged to her. He would make an order for the payment of that   amount weekly for twelve months, the payments to be made regularly on the first of every month. — The defendant asked if the Bench would bind his wife over to keep the peace. — Mr. Lukin said she was not to go near his house at all ; if she did he was to take out a summons against her. — Mr Thompson applied for costs, and Mr. Pattison objected. — Mr. Lukin declined to grant the application, saying he had only made the order because he thought it advisable the parties should live apart."

Qld Marriage Cert No. 1867/C000438 states that, in 1867, Ann FERAN was married to Adolf HALBERSTAEDTER 
Marriage witnesses were David Straiton and Mary Dunn (who signed with her mark 'x', as did Ann Feran)
Adolf was aged 36 at the time of this marriage and Ann Feran was a widow, aged 30.
At the time of this marriage,it appears that the 'usual place of residence for both of them was "Mount Brewer, near Rockhampton".