As the shearer’s dispute of 1891 raged around him, a union carrier named Mark Cavanaugh was burned to death helping to put out a bushfire. The strike, which sparked the development of the Australian Labor Party, was over the use of non-unionised shearers. From February until May that year, central Queensland was on the brinkContinue reading “Rain damps fire too late for firefighter”
Tag Archives: way to go australia
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”
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”
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”
Way to go Australia 