Deaths in the Aussie frontier
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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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”
1901 – Farmer Ernest Pye was walking near the Mudgee Racecourse, central New South Wales, about 7pm one evening when he heard a woman cry. Turning around, he saw a woman sitting outside her house with a child’s wet body in her arms. The woman was Helen Cook, the mother of ten children. She hadContinue reading “Toddler “got in a scot” and drowned”
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1909 – Mining accidents were common in the early days of the 20th century, yet when Ambrose Fox was burnt to death by an explosion of molten metal in the Great Cobar mine, his funeral was said to be the largest the town had ever seen. The 44-year-old was killed after a repaired appliance knownContinue reading “Molten metal a nightmare death”
1873 – Joseph Paxton’s mining company was said to be one of the best-managed in the Hills End district of New South Wales. However, when it came to mining in the early years of Australia, anything could happen. And unfortunately it did, to one William Oliver. Basically, Oliver heard a bang, thought the explosive chargeContinue reading “Misheard blast kills miner”
1921 – Seventeen-year-old Eileen Flynn’s “splendid physique’ (as described by the newspapers) wasn’t enough to save her life when she went horse riding. She and her mother had been living apart from their father/husband for two years, while he was at their home in Broken Hill. This arrangement was a result of industrial unrest atContinue reading “Eileen didn’t get to father for Christmas”
August 15, 1888 – Almost all of the children of Bourke, country New South Wales, were in the back of horse-drawn vehicles heading to the country town’s picnic ground by the Darling River. The Annual Children’s Picnic procession would have been full of laughter and expectation, as the annual event brought the town together. ThereContinue reading “Three children die on their way to town’s day of fun”
1896 – There was great suspicion about Kalgoorlie when James Moore went missing for a day. He had acted as accountant/confidential clerk for local auctioneer J Miller and Co for two months and had gained the confidence of his employers. However, he was missing, and so were the keys to the business safe. Moreover, heContinue reading “Rumours flew over missing man”
While a river-side plaque tells the story of a sad drowning in Menindee’s Darling River, the nearby cemetery reinforces just how dangerous it was to early settlers. Robert and Elizabeth Scobie, aged 9 and 7, had only been in Australia for six months when they drowned in 1883. They had emigrated from Scotland, and theirContinue reading “Siblings drown while fetching water”
Way to go Australia