The scourge of typhoid ripped through mining camps across Western Australia, but it was not only miners who caught the disease. The disease peaked over the 1890s and 1900s. The Western Australia gold fields boasted the” largest episode of epidemic typhoid in Australia’s history”, according to the Western Australia museum. “In the early years ofContinue reading “Typhoid takes down strong policeman”
Author Archives: Sharyn Moodie
Typhoid terrorised the nation
Epidemics of infectious diseases came and went in early Australian history – smallpox, measles, the plague, Asiatic and Spanish flu – but typhoid was considered endemic. Outbreaks in the goldfields were inevitable, with overcrowding, no sanitation, a limited water supply and co-existing gold fever. It tended to occur in healthy young men and showed noContinue reading “Typhoid terrorised the nation”
Sacked man takes tomahawk to boss
Ilfracombe’s Railway Hotel licencee Bernard Muldoon sacked his yardman William Sheehan. The next day, Sheehan killed him. How did it come to this? Muldoon was only 44, Sheehan “older than 60”, although his exact age is unknown. Why Muldoon sacked him is lost to history, but details of an altercation the two had in theContinue reading “Sacked man takes tomahawk to boss”
Kelly gang admirers on murder spree
It was 1883. The Wilsons lived in a weatherboard shack by the railway line between Epping station and Campbell Town in mid north-eastern Tasmania. WIlson, a line repairer, was in bed with his wife on the night of April 9. He was about to lose his life as a drama said to be inspired byContinue reading “Kelly gang admirers on murder spree”
Boss brained in self-defence
James Brennan was a drover who was killed in outback Queensland via the handy instrument of a shovel. Or to use the eloquency of the Truth newspaper of the time, ” With a Shovel, Batters Out His Boss’s Brains. The wielder of said shovel, William Shehan, also spelt Shean, but also known as Shannon, wasContinue reading “Boss brained in self-defence”
Fire consumes new widow and family
It was a tragedy when Sophia Quinn and her five children lost their father, a part owner of the Parkes flour mill, in January 1895. So when Mrs Quinn, the children and her sister were burned alive in August, the newspapers’ elequent responses were heart-rending. Mrs Quinn’s brother George Perry and a youth named CookContinue reading “Fire consumes new widow and family”
Shoot, you bastard, shoot
Shoot, you bastard, shoot. These were the last words Charles Corse said to his murderer. He had just put his head between his legs – assumedly to present his rear – as he made ‘a disgusting noise with his mouth.” There is more to the story of his death at the hands of mine managerContinue reading “Shoot, you bastard, shoot”
Christmas Day sorrow
This dirt-dusted gravestone in Cunnamulla cemetery only caught my eyes because I have a thing for 1888. And the stone was so covered in debris it was difficult to make out more details. But when I cleaned it off, this is what was below. Parents Richard and Alice had married in 1887, and it appearsContinue reading “Christmas Day sorrow”
Convict lived long life of excitements
John Pedley’s newspaper obituary described him as “quite a character, with a fine Roman head, and a splendid memory, which he retained almost to the last.” This character was forged in the flames of transportation as a convict as a teenager, the harshness of frontier life, Aboriginal massacres and being kidnapped by bushrangers. Aged 90, inContinue reading “Convict lived long life of excitements”
Strychnine ends sorrows
William Stamp, 54, was chief engineer at No 4 Pump Station on the outskirts of Merredin. One day in March, 1928, he walked into the engine room dripping wet and asked a fellow employee “how’s things?’’ When his co-worker asked why he was wet, he said “Things are not too good with me. “I haveContinue reading “Strychnine ends sorrows”
Way to go Australia 