“Some day we’ll understand” Peter Duff’s headstone 1929 – Peter Duff, 29, was known as a popular and leading businessman in the Northcliffe region of southern Western Australia. So the community was surprised when he was found dead in the scrub, having died by suicide. It was only three days after Christmas, on a Saturday night,Continue reading “Suicide reporting changes with the times”
Tag Archives: cemetery
Choir angel dies suddenly
1903 – Sixteen-year-old Agnes Ashworth died after meningitis was superceded by pneumonia. Only a week before her death she was singing in the local church choir at Yackandandah, a former gold mining town in the north-east of Victoria. When she first complained of feeling unwell, her parents talked of taking her to the doctor, butContinue reading “Choir angel dies suddenly”
Broken headstone marks tragic fall from horse
1890 – A poignantly broken headstone in a country cemetery marks the resting place of Irishman Richard Clements, who died when he came off his horse. The 53-year-old, a well-known and well-off grazier in the Whorouly area, was taking cattle to Bowman’s Forest railway station, which lies along what is now the Great Alpine Road leading from theContinue reading “Broken headstone marks tragic fall from horse”
Time travel through TI cemetery
To wander through the Thursday Island cemetery is to take a 135-year time travel journey through the complex and fascinating history of the region. With a population which from 1890 comprised Europeans, Chinese, Torres Strait Islanders and Aborigines, South Sea Islanders, Malays, Filipinos, Japanese, Singhalese, Indians and a few Thais, Arabs and Africans, visits toContinue reading “Time travel through TI cemetery”
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”
Barman kills policemen
Why would a barman shoot two policemen dead and wound a third in Bourke in 1877? No-one really knows, but newspapers of the day blamed either the delirium tremors, or a temporary madness on the part of one Samuel Getting. “ He must, it is thought, have been suddenly afflicted with homicidal mania, or madness,Continue reading “Barman kills policemen”
Bringing in the cows
Eight-year-old Archie was sent “out after cows’’ at his parents’ property 12 miles from Condobolin, NSW, one Saturday afternoon. His horse came home riderless about 20 minutes later, and the boy was found unconscious about 400 metres from the house. From an open gate and a stirrup iron lying close to the body, it wasContinue reading “Bringing in the cows”
Way to go Australia 