A weathered moss-adorned wooden grave marker tilts slightly towards the horizon at the Strahan cemetery, high on a hill overlooking the water. Only a few hundred metres below lies the West Coast Wilderness Railway station at Regatta Point, which takes tourists on fun day trips. And there one finds the Strahan-Zeehan railway turntable, which wasContinue reading “Little Alice went out to play”
Tag Archives: australian cemeteries
Shortcut ends to gruesome demise
It was 64-year-old Alfred James Hockey’s habit to meet the Forbes mail train by taking a short cut across the tracks at Orange Railway Station. He had “rheumatism’’ and so avoided the longer route via an overhead footbridge, half a mile away. His mangled remains were found near the station by two railway shunters onContinue reading “Shortcut ends to gruesome demise”
Typhoid takes down strong policeman
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
Dying so far from home
In Australia’s pioneering days, many died far from home. “Rev John Otley Rhodes, missionary in Ceylon who died in Bathurst, March 21, 1881 on his way to England in search of health, aged 36 years.” – Bathurst cemetery “John Kirkup born at Healthpool, Northumberland, England, died 23rd July 1883 in his 50th year, and wasContinue reading “Dying so far from home”
Way to go Australia 