Hi Elizabeth
Have just found your site and thought you may be interested to know that I am (distantly) related to Charles Atherton’s mother. She was married to Samuel Atherton, however this was her second marriage.
She was first married to James Rowles b 25/10/1801 - d 3/6/1836, Portbury His brother is my direct descendant and all my family come from the Portbury and Clapton area. However, since I have been researching my family tree I have had contact from a lady who lives in Maryborough. Her direct descendant is Joseph the son of James and Eliza Caple.
Eliza was actually born in 1803 and from her marriage to James had 5 children, Mary Ann, Joseph, William, Robert & Emma. At the time of the 1851 census, Joseph and Robert were living with the Athertons in Tickenham and there were a further 4 children, Marina, Charles, John and Lavinia. I know now that Joseph and Robert went to Australia in 1852 arriving in Adelaide where they married 2 sisters in 1854 who were both from Somerset, England. They both died in Maryborough.
Robert had land just outside of Maryborough and was mainly into mining, there is a reef called “Rowles’s Reef” on what was his land. Joseph either worked or owned vineyards in Maryborough. This was a bit of a family tradition as there a lot of the Rowles family before were publicans and Samuel Atherton was also a Publican (interestingly you say he was born in Leicestershire, the 1851 census has him from Bourton, Somerset – just goes to show how incorrect a lot of the census info was)
It would appear that Charles followed them out after 1861 (he and his wife appear in the 1861 census still living in Tickenham) and if he was a miner as you say I wonder if they worked together or he came out to work for Robert.