Apprentice’s errand turned deadly

Lismore, 1891 – Sixteen-year-old builder’s apprentice Herbert Cottee died when he became entangled in the shaft of a sawmill engine.

He was only visiting the sawmill to sharpen some chisels and plane irons.

He had worked with a firm called Brown and Jolly for about six months when, one  Tuesday afternoon,  he asked for permission  to visit the nearby sawmill to sharpen his tools

He had previously visited the south Lismore sawmill on the river bank, which was owned by George Cottee (a cousin of his deceased father Spencer),  for the same purpose.   But for some reason, this time he became entangled in the machinery and was killed quite horrifically.

An inquiry into his death, held the next day, heard Herbert had arrived at the mill, and asked George for permission to grind his tools.

Soon after George heard a flapping noise and an employee called out for him to stop the engine which drove the shaft spinning the sawblades.

This he did, and another employee, a wood-turner called Charles Callard called out “The boy is round the shaft.”

George went round under the mill to investigate  and was greeted by the macabre sight.

“As far as I could see his skull was broken, and both legs and arms broken, ’’ he said.

The last time anyone had seen Herbert, he was doing what he came to do – working his tools on a grindstone.

No-one at the inquest explained how he came to  be wrapped around the mill’s engine, but a news article a few weeks later had an explanation and description, although it did not say where the information had come from.

“In stepping over a shaft which was close to the ground, his foot caught in the loop of some rope which had been placed round the shaft to tighten the belting, and he was instantly thrown down and wound round the shaft, every bone in his body being broken into fragments less than 1 inch in length. Death must have been instantaneous.”

Herbert’s older brother Spencer Milton Cottee later founded what was to become the Cottee’s cordial company, producing a staple in every Australian household’s pantry.

Sources:  The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 18 March 1891, p 8

Northern Star, Saturday 21 March 1891, p 4

Bowral Free Press and Berrima District Intelligencer, Saturday 4 April 1891, p1

Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, Wednesday 18 March 1891, p 3