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Hi ya Richard, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
On my current mission, I'm hoping the weather will be good enough for a visit to Ohineakai. I've been to Akuaku and it's a truly great walk. Ohineakai is a little bit further "up-the-hill". The family do "walks" every so often, just to cover the ground our ancestors covered, so, hopefully, I'll be doing that before I head back to Australia.
You asked the question about how William and Harata could have possibly met, and I think I might have found a possible answer for that, today in the Gisborne library. A look at the Akuaku native school registration records show that Harata attended this school. In the listings, it states:
Date of admission or re-admission: 1 February 1886, parent or guardian: Hirini Pehu. Date of Birth: 14 October 1874.
Last day of attendance: 27 January 1888. And a curious title, Destination: Kennedys Bay. Now, I know the whanau group we belong to is called Whanau a Rakairoa. We have a connection with Maori at Kennedy Bay (on the Coromandel) when trading was going on between the EAst Coast and Auckland. I haven't connected anything with Coromandel YET, but  the McIlroy family were working either as blacksmiths or miners on the Coromandel and it's POSSIBLE that Harata met William Francis, under these circumstances.
Unfortunately, I'm still getting feedback from the elder family members that William Francis DID have issues with the bottle, and at times had taken to "abusing" Harata. Rumours are still doing the rounds that the elder sons of Harata and William Francis were more than willing to "bash" the old man.
Anyway, that's all part of our history at this end of the McIlroy world, and I'm taking the good with the bad and the ugly.
Well, after New Years day, I'll be heading up the East Coast to continue the chase and head back to Australia on the 23rd of January. When I get back, I'll update ALL my records and will scan and email my results to you.
In the meantime, enjoy the fruits of the research, and yes, you WILL walk through quite a lot of cemeteries, but it's part of the journey. Have a magic New Year, and keep in touch.
Sincerely your relation,
Chulu Fox...aka Jaffer.

Hi Richard, thanks for your PM. Geez, loved your questions and statements.
1) Mullabrach, was the spelling in the Discharge book. My Google search showed Mullaghbrack in County Armagh and roughly "down the road" from Belfast.
2) Samuel McIlroy born about 1813, this information received in my original research and is open for correction.
3) Reference to Mullaghbrack, see answer number 1.
4) Regarding Samuel's death, as in answer 2, from original research and is open for correction.
5) At the moment, I cannot locate a place of death for Samuel.
6) You raise a valid question as to whether Bartholomew II went back to Sydney or even Ireland. Honestly, I don't know yet. My process of elimination as I get information and certificates dictates my "final" postings! So everything I do, I'm open to correction.
7) Information about William Francis or Harata or her father Hirini, I've only heard "stories". Most relate to William having "issues" with the bottle! Whether that meant any form of abuse, I don't know and my elder cousins aren't or won't say. All that's mentioned is that life for them was tough, considering at the time, they were breaking-in the country for farming. How William got to the East Coast, we have no information on that.
Ohineakai...as you've discovered, it's at the end of McIlroy Road at Waipiro Bay. A track used to lead to Ohineakai, but erosion over the years, means access is via the beach and usually at low tide or you're climbing scrub covered hills and marshy land. The walk from the end of the road is about 40 minutes, the land has a large flat area and an old cemetery with some existing headstones of extended members of the family. Why they moved is not clear, but most of the family moved further up the hills to areas called Taharora and Te Kiekie. Follow your Google map west-ish and you'll find them. BTW, McIlroy Road was named after McIlroy family who lived at the end of the road, Jim McIlroy, a son of William and Harata and brother of my grandmother Mereana.
9) The Catholic Register I mentioned is actually located on CDRom at Auckland Central Library and is a collection of all the Church records, I think for Otahuhu, births, baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths. The entry for Henry Arthur shows surname, First names, year of event, the event, fathers name, mothers name and an ID which I couldn't get an explanantion.

I hope this un-muddies the waters a bit.

Chu.