6 April 1933

LIVES DOGGED BY TRAGEDY

Strange Tale Of A West Coast Youth

One does not have to go abroad for curious happenings. Our own State can furnish many examples. Nothing could be more dramatic than the story of a West Coast youth told in the article following. His life began in tragedy and ended in tragedy.

In spite of what the scoffers say, there are some people who are lucky in life and others who are not. This is the story of a West Coast boy whose life was dogged by bad fortune.

At the age of three he sent his father's sheep dog after a young colt, which galloped over his twin sister, causing injuries to which she eventually succumbed.

At ten he fell off the school porch and broke both legs.

At fourteen he collided with another lad during a football match, again breaking a leg besides damaging the other lad to such an extent that one of his kidneys had to be removed.

During his college days he accidentally injured the spine of his best friend in a wrestling match, and several hours later he received a telegram to say that his younger brother had been killed in tragic circumstances while working a tractor.

Besides the many accidents in which he was involved he had a long run of hard luck in minor things. Circumstantial evidence always went against him. Many a time he cheerfully took severe whippings from his dad and canings from his teacher for the misdeeds of other lads.

At 20 his parents retired, and the farm was presented to him. Within a week both his parents were killed as a result of a street collision after settling down in Melbourne, where they intended to reside.

On his 21st birthday he visited Melbourne. He took a basket of flowers and laid on his parents' graves. It was in the cemetery that he met a beautiful girl, who was tearfully placing flowers on the grave of her mother. They became acquainted. Neither had a near relative left in the world. A whirlwind courtship followed, for it was only natural that a lonely boy and girl, of deep, impulsive temperaments, should crave for the love and sympathy of the opposite sex.

Together they took up life on the old farm. It was common knowledge that the young couple were madly in love. It seemed as if at last life had suddenly taken on a golden hue for them. As for the girl, she had everything that a true woman could wish for. She had a husband whom everyone found handsome and lovable. She was mistress of a beautiful home and one of the biggest and most prosperous wheat farms in the whole of Australia. A little mite came along in due course.

The waving cornland took on a golden hue. The young wife was thrilled and impatient for the hum of the great auto-header which her husband never seemed tired of admiring in preparation for the great crop that was almost ripe.

At last the big day arrived. From her home the young wife watched the huge, throbbing machine cut a wide white swathe through the undulating fields. Long before the usual hour she took her husband's luncheon out to him in the car, taking the baby with her. Thrilled by the novelty of everything so new to her, she laid the sleeping babe on some clean straw, near the back wheel of the car and in its shade. Then she accompanied her husband round the field on the lumbering header.

A quarter of an hour later, when they had circled the paddock, the young parents were appalled to find their child dead, its tiny face smashed in beyond all recognition. The tyre of the car had burst, presumably through the heat, and the rim had been forced off, striking the babe full in the face.

The cruelly smitten couple abandoned farm and everything. They went to America, where the young farmer bought a partnership in a fairly big business. There the ill fated young man and his beautiful wife were killed outright some months later during a joy ride in an aeroplane. — 'CD.' Charra.

Life's Tragic Side.

— One evening to wards the end of 1911 we were busy on our farm with various duties. All at once a cry rent the air. On looking out towards the main road to Port Augusta we saw a man with his arms upraised. He was calling out, 'Oh, God help me, Jesus Christ take me home.' At first we thought of going to help him, but later we saw by his actions that he was insane. He turned and ran up the road, still calling loudly. After running a short distance he came to his swag. This he picked up, put on his back, and then walked quietly down the road. We heard later that when he reached the next farm, about a quarter of a mile on, he went, in and asked for food, which was given him. The people noticed nothing unusual about the man. Late that night we heard a noise in the distance, like a bull roaring. As the noise seemed to be getting further and further away we took no notice. But next morning, when a young chap was driving in a spring dray from Port Germein, he saw lying on the road a man with his throat cut, dead as the proverbial door nail. It was reported from Port Augusta later that a man had left there a few days previously on the verge of delirium tremens. The victim of the tragedy, we surmised, was the same man.— 'Wattle Blossom,' Port Germein.

Port Lincoln In the 'Sixties.

— The large shady trees that line Tasman terrace and other streets at Port Lincoln, add considerably to the beauty of the town. They were planted about 70 years ago.

At that time Port Lincoln was in its infancy, the population numbering round about 200. Mr. H. Holroyd, a magistrate, and also a member of the Road Board, was instrumental in having the trees planted.

Only a few public buildings were erected In Port Lincoln in those days; one bank, an hotel, post-office, church and courthouse.

A few small steamers called at the township regularly. Among them was the 'Lubra,' a vessel of 220 tons. In rough weather these small vessels used to have a bad time coming through the Althorpes. The passengers were always thankful to step out on to the one roughly built jetty at Lincoln.— 'B.V.H.,' Yeelanna.

Early Gawler.

— It is hard to imagine that the busy, prosperous township of Gawler, less than a century ago consisted of a cluster of half a dozen huts, an inn, and police barracks huddled together on a barren and uncultivated plain.

The first building erected at Gawler is believed to have been the Old Spot Hotel. A German (Schiebner) saw prospects of trade from travellers passing to and from the northern sheep and cattle stations. About six to 10 people passed by daily.

A few acres of land had been surveyed and taken up near the township, and it is reported that in 1840 there were 33 acres of wheat and eight acres of oats under cultivation. At this time there was no post-office at Gawler nor any facilities provided for travelling to or from Adelaide.

A couple of years later (1842) copper was discovered at Kapunda, and Gawler became important as a stopping-place for teams and carters carrying loads of ore from Kapunda to Port Adelaide.

The Old Spot Hotel was the scene of much carousing at that time. It had been purchased by a Mr. Calton, who also made arrangements for the opening of a post-office. He also started a spring cart service from Gawler to Adelaide for the convenience of the travelling public.

Roads hardly deserved the name in those days, and drivers had the utmost difficulty in getting to their destinations, especially in the winter time. Rivers became flooded, and as there were no bridges it often meant a wait of several days until the waters subsided. Provisions for these emergencies had always to be carried.

As late as 1860 it was still considered something of an adventure to travel to Gawler by 'mail coach.' It was a common thing to leave Adelaide in the morning and not arrive at Gawler until midnight. Horses were changed at a station above Salisbury.

One dismal, rainy night the driver lost his way on the Gawler Plains. He had a full load of passengers. After driving around aimlessly in the mud and bog for an hour or so he decided to give up until the morning. A most miserable night was endured by driver, passengers, and horses. When daylight dawned they found that they had got back to within a mile of where they had exchanged horses in the afternoon!— 'R.V.H.,' Yeelanna.

[See also Gawler was Once the Heart of the Bush and Walled City of the Barossa Ranges]

Young Mother's Ordeal

— Nearly twenty years ago, the young wife of a well known farmer and racing man of Charra, went through a terrible ordeal.

One day, whilst procuring water from the underground tank for household purposes, she made an awful discovery. Her first babe, a beautiful little toddler, was floating face downwards on the water.

Unhesitatingly the brave little mother sprang into the tank, while several lubras, wailing and panic stricken, fled into the scrub. Clutching the lifeless little body to her breast, and standing in several feet of ice cold water, the distracted mother made frantic appeals for help which went unheeded until after some time the frightened natives reappeared. They then assisted her to the surface.

A few more minutes and the cold water would have cramped her muscles. With the still, sodden little form clutched tightly the woman ran to the nearest farm, several miles distant, where her husband had gone on a visit. All methods of resuscitation proved futile.

The loss of her babe and the terrible ordeal through which she passed, told terribly on the mother. For days her life hung in the balance.— 'CD.,' Charra.

Homing Instinct Of Horses.

— Horses as well as cats, have a strong homing instinct. About 40 years ago it was the custom to drive horses to the yearly Adelaide horse sales. On one occasion a local man drove three with a mob that was being taken to town, this man, after selling his horses, spent three or four days in Adelaide.

In the meantime the purchaser of the animals had taken them to McLaren Vale. But when the seller arrived home he found the horses that he had sold were there before him.

At the same sale were a number of horses from Narruns. They had been brought across Lake Alexandrina by steamer to Milang, and thence driven to town. These horses were sold, and went to somewhere near Willunga. Amongst them were a mare and a colt. About a week after the sale these two horses were back at Milang. They fed along the lake, about nine miles from Milang, and a fisherman watched them for several days. One morning he noticed them swimming. Finally he missed them. About two days later, after a big south blow, the body of the colt was washed into the shore, but the mare safely completed her 11-mile swim home. It is thought that the mare got too far ahead of the colt, that it became disheartened, and turned back, and then found it was further from the lake shore than from home, and so perished.

The mare, when she reached the other side of the lake was almost done, and got stuck in some bog. People noticed her, and she was saved. It is curious how the horses took the direct line from Poman's Point to their home, whereas if they had followed the point back and gone down the next point they would have only had to swim the river, follow the land around, and swim the neck of Albert Lake. — 'Tea,' Milang.

Real Stories Of South Australia (1933, April 6). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 16. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90895272