Fell from his horse and drowned

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”

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”