Deaths in the Aussie frontier
1906 – Albany Police’s Inspector James Connor came to a sad end in the most innocuous way – on a Saturday afternoon fishing excursion with his son and nephew. But did he die in a gallant effort to rescue a boy who could swim well, or did he simply fall in? James had finished workContinue reading “Gallant endeavour or just a tragic mis-step?”
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1898 – W Satterley died for the sake of a pair of pyjamas. He was a carpenter on the cargo ship Cornwall, which was moored at the Albany wharf. It was on its way to London with frozen goods including beef. As he shook a quilt over the side of the boat in the earlyContinue reading “Pyjamas led sailor to final sleep”
1903 – Grazier Andrew Muir was unable to save his son when he got caught in the surf off the south western Australian coast. In fact, he had to be rescued himself. Mr Muir, his third son Melville and another man George Arber, all of Mt Barker had gone to visit his cattle run atContinue reading “Father couldn’t save drowning son”
The gravestones of the children in the Albany Pioneer cemetery tell some fascinating tales of the dangers of childhood. “Died of convulsions”, “died of ant sting” and “accidentally injured while playing” … read some of the more obvious stones. There was no story to be found on Catherine Runciman, who died convulsing aged two inContinue reading “Children’s stones tell sorry stories of early days”
Wildflowers dot the ground around the solid stone memorial, a delicate visual lacework. The daisies are part of Western Australia’s famous annual display, each floral renewal marking one more year since several horrific events took place at this site. And they cover the mounds of rock which are hard to make out among the boulder-strewnContinue reading “Wildflowers frame horrific history”
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1909 – Railway fettler John Donahee was instantly killed when he was run down by a passenger train from Cowra. Donahee and another fettler, Mackay, were on a railway tricycle, about a quarter of a mile west of the Blayney station. The passenger train from Orange was due, and the men were cautioned to watchContinue reading “Simple mistake costs life”
1928 – Charles Dunbar’s life was over in a flash. The workman was camped out about 50 miles north of Yalgoo, WA, which is still a remote place to be today. He was with his boss, Mr McPherson and the boss’s son Ross, when the three of them were hit by lightning. It was aboutContinue reading “Lightning hit trio, killing one”
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1901 – Eleanor Mary Spencer was one of two people to die of ‘heat apoplexy’ (heat stroke) at Cue on January 7, 1901, claimed The Southern Cross Times and numerous other newspapers. It was a week of temperatures above 38 degrees, in the remote Western Australia outback mining town. The other victim, they said, wasContinue reading “Heat too much for teen”
The headstone of half-Aboriginal woman Mary Cuper stands tall and proud, set apart from the simple white crosses and the myriad unmarked graves belonging to other Noongar inhabitants of the New Norcia cemetery. Intriguingly, the words “at her sorrowful husband’s expences (sic) are found at the bottom of a description of her achievements. The townContinue reading “Noongar woman a trailblazer”
1917 – Alfred Chesson, 19, accidentally shot himself on the way home from a hitherto-successful shooting expedition. The family lived at Day Dawn, a Western Australian gold mining settlement which today is a whisper of a ghost town, 6 kilometres from Cue. On Saturday afternoon Alf, his father, also Alfred, and a younger brother hadContinue reading “Hunting trip ends in tragedy”
Way to go Australia