1886 – “No-one was better known or more respected in Gladstone than James Hawthorne”, a newspaper declared when he suddenly met his end. While death notices described the 42-year-old as a saddler, a James Hawthorne was mayor of the town some years earlier and it can be assumed it was the same person. James wasContinue reading “Fell from his horse and drowned”
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Reputation trashed after explosive death
How do I choose which historic death to investigate? There is no database of “fascinating cause of demises’’. What I do is trawl through cemeteries. I walk around, tripping on rabbit holes and the like – because I’m walking and quickly scanning headstones at the same time, until I find a headstone with the wordsContinue reading “Reputation trashed after explosive death”
Shooting game leads to tragedy
1929 – Two little boys playing with guns, both thinking they weren’t loaded. One was wrong. Alfred Fenton, nine, had an air-gun and his friend and neighbour William Brown a 22-calibre pea rifle. It was a few days after Christmas – perhaps one or the other was a gift. Fenton pointed his air-gun at Brown and fired, butContinue reading “Shooting game leads to tragedy”
Great flood takes eight lives during fruitless rescue
1894 – Albert Cummins and the Buchanan family refused to leave their houses when the waters rose. They changed their minds when rescuers came, only to drown before reaching safety. The highest floods yet recorded at Ingham in Far North Queensland came early on a Sunday in April. The town had already had 111 inchesContinue reading “Great flood takes eight lives during fruitless rescue”
Innocence protested at gallows
1901 – Charles Beckman declared he did not kill Alfred Anderson, even as he stood on the gallows at Brisbane’s Boggo Road Gaol awaiting hanging for the crime. “I am now going to my end, and before my Maker, and I know it, I know this is my end, and again I say I amContinue reading “Innocence protested at gallows”
Step of fate killed driver
1917 – Shunting driver Alfred “Leonard” Breeding was working at Cockburn on the border of NSW and SA, when he got the heel of his boot stuck between two rails and was run over. That is what initial newspaper reports of his death claimed. But there was no mention of his foot being stuck in theContinue reading “Step of fate killed driver”
Death advised by letter after remote car accident
It must be immeasurably sad to learn of your only son’s death by letter, but in the early days of Australian history, it was the way it was sometimes done. It’s hard to imagine in these days of instant telecommunications. This is the only account I could find of Charlie Buswell’s death in the QueenslandContinue reading “Death advised by letter after remote car accident”
Hats found floating after playdate
1913 – Eight-year old Mary McDermott was visiting her friend Penelope Bowdler, 10, in East Cobar, New South Wales on a Saturday morning in October. Mrs Bowdler saw them playing about 11am and at noon went to check on them again. Their hats were found floating in a six-foot-deep waterhole only 30 yards from theContinue reading “Hats found floating after playdate”
Newspapers make history harder
Digging out headstone history can be a real brain-teaser. This West End, Townsville cemetery gravestone is for an Emile Gustav Cravino, whose headstone reads that he was killed on the jetty works, but there were no newspaper reports for such a death. There were, however, reports for a man variously named “Carandist” and “Cavanagh”, withContinue reading “Newspapers make history harder”
Drain dies in bath
1907 – There is a sad irony in a man named Drain breaking his neck in a swimming bath. Thirty- year-old Charles Drain was visiting Central Queensland’s Gladstone from the nearby copper mining region of Nanandu, now known as Many Peaks. The copper from the mine was used as a flux in the Mount MorganContinue reading “Drain dies in bath”
Way to go Australia 