To lose a cemetery is rather careless, but how one goes about losing it in the first place is so easy - just don't use it!
The Township That Lost Its Cemetery
Further Reading;
Bribie Island History - Cemeteries Why You Can't Be Buried On Bribie Island.
...he, or rather, this one in particular, had a novel idea to solve the pesky problem of uncovering previously interred bodies when digging new graves - evict the original residents into a nearby mine shaft.
That harsh sound you hear are the sounds of thousands of genealogists heads exploding.
Source;
Bones In Old Mine Shaft
Came across this article which tickled my fancy.
A little investigation - very little - turned up this article which puts everything into place & perspective
Another revolting creature; doubly so as it claimed God protected it as it killed people.
Worked its way up from fraud to serial killing, claiming 10 victims.
Further Reading -
John Lynch; The Pious Hatchetman
Lynch, Bushranger Berrima's Notorious Criminal
Confessions of Lynch the Murderer
It's safe to say the two blokes having a scratch around in the dirt at Wedderburn got a nasty shock when the remains of a man were uncovered.
Despite following up leads for years afterwards the police were never able to identify the victim.
But they never solved the mystery of his identity or who killed him.
Further reading -
Wedderburn Mystery Murder Suspected
Well.
There's certainly nothing of the subtle about ye old timey newspaper reporting.
Lady Ann was, from all contemporary accounts, a very nice, kind person.
She was the first female of the species to enroll at the Uni of Sydney School of Veterinary Science, and she continued her vet practice right up until her death.
An odd death; she'd not long separated from her husband, a fierce gate-keeper of everyone's morals who was busy banning books, plays, films all over the shop whilst his pile of Playboys kept his desk drawer cosy.
Sir Arthur Rylah was definitely punching above his weight, such a shame his wife was cremated so quickly without an inquest. It left people wondering, and an inquest could have easily answered so many questions...
Further reading -
Lady Chatterley and Alexander Portnoy: Narrowing the Limits of Censorship in Australia
Molly met and married Marthanda Bhairava Tondiman in a whirlwind romance in Australia in 1915.
Although welcomed by the people of Pudukota, there was some question of Molly being poisoned, alongside the rudeness of the British Govt who refused to recognise her title, nor later would they recognise their son as heir to the principality.
Another Royal love story, Netflix...!
Further reading -
The Indian Royal who gave up his throne to marry an Australian socialite
Well, here's another garden variety arsehole; convicted of one murder Burns confessed to the hangman he'd killed seven more people.
Why confess to the hangman? Is it an attempt to impress a bloke who's paid to kill people for the government?
Anyway, the seven further victims are based on speculation; although the useless mongrel gave clues he didn't give names (said he was useless) but this is well-considered with much evidence.
Further reading -
HH Princess Melikoff was born as Pauline Curran into a Tasmanian family that benefited greatly as part-inheritors of the Tattersall's fortune.
When Pauline was old enough to do as she pleased - this was when her father had passed away and she was allegedly past her first bloom of youth *ahem* - she found herself a handsome Russian aristocrat Prince Maximilian Melikoff and put on a Royal Wedding in Hobart in 1926 where police had to halt traffic for three hours.
Again, Netflix, here's a true Royal wedding story.
Princess Melikoff established a trust fund on her death which supports marine conservation and rescues of stranded marine mammals.
Further Reading -
Serial killer Frank Butler aka Richard Ashe was a garden variety prick; he's been incorrectly labelled "Australia's First Serial Killer" - nah, plenty of those mongrel bastards came before Frank.
It was Australia's First Serial Killer MANHUNT.
Gutless mongrel; he shot his victims in the back after he'd got them to dig their own graves.
Plenty all over the net about this piece of vile canker.
His victims were
Arthur Preston
Charles Burgess
Further details -
We don't often connect Aussies with Royalty - unless they're claiming to be Richard III's 14th generation granddaughter... - but there have been plenty of times Aussie-born ladies have caught the eye and hearts of Royalty.
Today is a quick run-down on Joan Falkiner, whose real life romance with Taley Muhammed Khan, Nawab of Palanpur, out-did any Barbara Cartland novel =
They met while he was recovering from a polo injury resulting in a real-life elopement to another country against her wealthy parents wishes to a man much older than herself, of a different religion, with a living first wife, a son her same age, scorned by the British (yeah, looking at you, Mountbatten!) denied her rightful title until the last.
Seriously, Netflix, this is oozing more romance than some of your latest offerings...!
Her granddaughter, Aaliya Suntana Babi is a celebrated Paleontologist known as "Dinosaur Princess".
Further reading -
Unbeknownst to all of us Jesus Christ had, apparently, already made a quick stop-over in the form of a shady AF character named James Fisher.
Who managed to convince people the Son of God had descended into a crop of cabbages and HE WAS TO EAT THEM ALL TO ACQUIRE THE SPIRIT. Stir-fry?
Oddly, he managed to practice polygamy (along with the usual bigamy), having 3 sisters as his wives - WITH THE FULL BLESSING OF THE PARENTS - and broke up the marriage of the 4th sister - again, WITH THE FULL BLESSING OF THEIR PARENTS.
The whole hot mess only came to light when Fisher was taken to Court for NOT ACTUALLY BEING THE MESSIAH because a child died.
It is valuable to see the methods used by this bloke to winkle money, women, power out of others and into his own control.
There are many well-researched papers on this person, I'm not re-inventing the wheel by repeating it all here; just holding it up, dusting it off and reminding people that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Further reading/Sources -
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Fisherite Descendants of Wickipin, WA
James Cowley Morgan (Cowley) Fisher
When hoping to reopen the closed Morningstar Mine at Rushworth on 27th November 1908 some blokes got a nasty shock when decomposing matter was brought up with the mine cage; subsequent investigations discovered the very decayed bodies of a man and a woman in the water-logged mine shaft.
The woman's head was missing and never recovered despite bailing of the water from the mine and thorough searches for evidence. A scrap of newspaper sporting a bloody fingerprint, dated 28th August suggested this was the date the murders took place. Both bodies were badly broken and smashed up; so much so that the medical examiner was unable to locate any reproductive organs or much of the pelvis of the suspected female body, but owing to measurements they determined it was indeed a female.
Numerous people stated swaggies and others often camped at the site of the mine, one witness claiming he'd heard yelling at night some time earlier.
Missing friends and relatives were reported to the police but they were all safely located alive, leaving the police and coroner no answers as to the names of the couple or who had murdered them.
Critchley Parker, aged only 31, trekked into the Tasmanian wilderness in an effort to find suitable land for future Jewish settlements far away from the bloodshed of Europe.
He was not Jewish himself but he was infatuated with a (married) Jewish journalist named Caroline Isaacson, and was determined to help find a permanent peaceful refuge for those fleeing the violent horrors of WW2.
During his fateful trek near Port Davey he discovered a small pond with swans, called poynduk in the local Ninene language. Critchley hoped to name the settlement Poynduk but this was not to be.
Critchley had had TB which had left his lungs and overall health in a weakened state; the weather turned suddenly and he was caught in bucketing rain for weeks that triggered pleurisy. He had planned to light a signal fire to alert the fisherman to come pick him up but he ran out of matches, ran out of food, ran out of time.
But he never ran out of plans for the future settlement of Poynduk; he wrote in his copious notes that he wished it to be based on the "principals of racial tolerance and international brotherhood", to have universities open to students of all colours, medical facilities, schools, hydro-electric power plants.
Critchley planned for the Tasmanian Games to be hosted at Poynduk each year; the games would celebrate not just sports but poetry, plays, weaving, music and pottery.
Alas, with his early death in the wilderness Critchley's plans for Poynduk were dashed for good.
Further reading -
“Poynduk”: the Extravagant, Impossible (and Understandable) Dreams of Critchley Parker
Almost a century ago a young man displayed worrying mental health symptoms - paranoia, believing wireless messages were being sent to his mind to control him, to hurt his family, that people were telling lies about him and his family, that his enemies had a radio system that advertised him everywhere he went...(I'd like to know what Professor Graeme Yorston made of him).
After tramping all over the world, fighting in WW1, Norman List returned to his family home in Richmond, Victoria, where these symptoms were on full display.
This all came out after the horrific shooting spree he orchestrated at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens; in just 4 minutes four people were dead.
Their names were
This absolute legend worked to bring criminals to justice but also to help find and/or recover those lost in the bush.
Sidenote - the movie One Night The Moon 2001 is based on him not being allowed to set foot onto a white fella's farm to help look for a missing child.
Tracker Riley spent long, arduous hours combing the bush for evidence when tracking criminals, and in the case of Mad Mossy (Narromine Murders 1939) he spent more than 12 months tracking, tracing and gathering evidence as to the multiple murders.
Reaching the rank of Sergeant in NSW police in 1941 was a first for any Indigenous person, in 1943 he was awarded the King's Police and Fire Services Medal for Distinguished Conduct.
Tracker Riley and his family lived at the Talbragar Reserve at Dubbo.
The movie Blacktracker 1996 is based on Tracker Alec Riley's life.
Further reading -
Soldiering about, stirring insurrection, Baron Joseph De Nosek found himself in Australia after fighting in the Crimean War.
The little bit of insurrection saw him lose his hereditary estates in Poland, so he turned his hand to gold mining, then in 1869 Baron De Nosek became the President of The Victorian Miners Protection League before settling on the career of a licensed victualler (aka publican) at Campbell's Creek, Victoria.
Further reading -
Baron De Nosek buried at Campbell's Creek Cemetery, Victoria.
Edward Rollins, born in British Guiana, was a popular and successful Australian middleweight boxer known as Starlight.
During his career he fought for the title of Australian Middleweight Championship four times, he toured Australia, New Zealand and the UK, where he became friends with the King.
He married Kate Pratt and together they had one daughter; their great-granddaughter is singer Colleen Hewett.
Further reading in Starlight's own words -
The life of "Starlight" (E.W. Rolins ) : ex-middle weight champion of Australasia.
Jorgen Jorgensen was talented in many ways; sailor, spy, seditionist and silly bugger.
He was present at the foundation of Hobart, witnessed the Battle of Copenhagen, arrested the Danish Governor of Iceland then declared himself the Protector of Iceland - which lasted barely 2 months before he was voted off the island and back to England.
He managed to get employed by the British Intelligence Service where he translated documents and wandered about as a spy during the Napoleonic Wars, but then ran into a little trouble where he was accused of theft and voted back to an island , Tasmania.
The Convict King is immortalised in stone relief on the beautiful Ross Bridge with his crown.
Further reading -
Jørgen Jørgensen: The Convict King
Despite police searches, no one was ever found or arrested for this murder.
Someone trying it out? A rehearsal, perhaps, before the intended target?
Mad Mossy was a highly intelligent individual with a talent for getting out of arrests...by acting insane.
Born in Narromine in approx. 1878, his grandfather was John Morse/Moss, a convict sent over from UK for stealing a pig, his father James Moss is considered "Australian Royalty" , his siblings were all hard-working, well-respected members of the area.
But not Andrew.
He was well known to the local police before he first appeared in court, charged with forgery at age 17, for which he got a solid 12 months hard labour. After that he managed to "put on the mad act" (as he later admitted) and got himself sent to various lunatic asylums; Callan Park, Parramatta, Gladesville, Orange Asylum, whenever he was caught he avoided gaol with the usual "mad act". He was also charged with child r*pe in 1926 but got 7 years in Gladesville Asylum, being let out in early 1933.
He was declared insane 14 times, declared sane 12 times and he escaped from asylums twice.
He roamed far and wide; he didn't always stick to his home area sometimes turning up in Bourke, Wentworth, Broken Hill, Sydney, etc. Also, it was during the Great Depression with many people on the move looking for work, so, although he was found guilty of 3 murders, he claimed many more and the police were unable to locate another 15 travelling companions who had been last seen in his company.
Sentenced to death, it was later commuted to a life sentence as there was some query as to his mental health.
Shortly after arriving at Long Bay Gaol Mad Mossy became the unofficial chess champion, beating prisoners and warders alike, when he wasn't finishing crosswords.
He popped his clogs at age 80 in Long Bay in 1958.
Further details;
NARROMINE MURDER Accused's Remarkable "Confession"
January 4, 1808 was not a great day for Lieutenant John Putland husband of Mary, son-in-law of Governor Bligh, who died on this day of tuberculosis at Government House, aged just 27, and was buried in the grounds of Government House.
Until he wasn't.
Constable Thomas Ryan was a well-liked and very respected member of the White Hills area of Bendigo; he'd been in the police force for almost 30 years, having been similar back in Ireland from whence he came.
He was very familiar with the area, the mine shafts, river, creeks, water holes, yet the night of 6th January 1886 he vanished entirely.
Monster massive searches took place; he was held in high regard so many volunteered to help look for him.
Nothing was ever found, although there were several suspects none were arrested for lack of evidence.
Somewhere under White Hills Constable Thomas Ryan slumbers.
His wife, Johanna Ryan, passed barely 3 years later, never knowing what happened.
Further reading -
On 17th May 1927 the body of a deceased man, estimated to be aged 30, was discovered in a bathing box on the Ocean Beach of Sorrento, Victoria.
It was determined he had died from starvation and exposure approx. a week earlier.
Despite having tattoos - a figure of a lady, an American flag and the name 'T. McKenna', he was buried as an unknown.
Strong possibility he was a sailor lost overboard from a ship but no reports seem to have been made as such.
Coincidently there was a Thomas McKenna buried in Sorrento but there does not appear to be any link with the family.
1786 - Barron Field, who claimed to be the first poet of Australia *ahem* and was for a number of years an actual judge in New South Wales...
