1892 – Died in the bush.
These simple words carved into an old headstone do little to reflect the weeks of desperate searching for missing Durham hotel-keeper Tim Lorigan.
The man’s horse was found, still with its harness on, by the Cobb and Co mailman, John Swan, six miles east of the Herberton-Georgetown crossing of the Einasleigh River.
Police were sent in search of Lorigan, for “whose safety fears are entertained, as he suffers from fits and bad health”.
Finally found, Lorigan’s body was “in an advanced state of decomposition”.
Lorigan’s wife continued with running the hotel and the mine the couple owned after his death, but her woes were not over.
Only four months later, the hotel was robbed.
“ A widow’s life is not a happy one’’, the newspaper report proclaimed, “ at Durham at any rate’’.
“The silver in the bar till was taken by the burglars, who then entered the bedroom of the proprietress, opened the safe, presumably with a duplicate key, and took all the cash amounting to about £140.
“The robbery took place on the evening of the monthly (mining) pay day. There is no clue to the perpetrators of the robbery, and great sympathy is felt for the widow.
Soon after Mrs Lorigin had to face court to fight an action when a mining engineer made a claim for a half share in the Hawkins Hill Extended No 1 West mine now owned by herself and her orphaned children.
The Mining Warden refused the application for forfeiture and Mrs Lorigan was cheered and the applicant “ warmly hooted’’ on leaving court, presumably because he had tried to take advantage of a grieving widow.
The Durham/Etheridge minefields closest point of reference today is Georgetown, and it was for a short time the richest goldfield in Queensland.
Sources: The Queenslander, Saturday 16 January 1892 – p 144
The Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 5 April 1892 – p 5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspasia_Mine_and_Battery
Way to go Australia 