Ahh, back in the old days...
Source; https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/234793345?searchTerm=sydney%20%20king
Ahh, back in the old days...
Hmm.
Seems that a "missing wife" is more than just a missing woman.
Yeah, yeah, WE all know that but it seems the penny has just dropped for some law people in Australia; if Teacher's Pet has taught us anything it's that WE SHOULDN'T JUST RELY ON THE HUSBAND.
Just a small, slight consideration that hasn't jumped up and slapped a whole gender in the face, apparently.
I digress.
Pottering amidst the glories of archived news at Trove, I've often come across "missing wife" or "missing wife and children" headlines and sometimes I go looking to see if the wife and/or kids turned up in the births/deaths/marriages.
Most times, there's a further trace of them.
But sometimes there's not a speck.
One of the "missing wife and children" was one of those that never, ever showed a sign of life: hubby didn't report the disappearance for at least 4 weeks, and no follow-up news reports.
Likewise with searching "Missing girls" in the Sydney area during the early days of The Great Depression; I was following a hunch regarding a certain serial killer I'd been researching and, worryingly, I was unable to trace a good number of the reported "missing girls" - any number over zero is too fucking many.
But few police or news follow-ups, while casual trawling through the NSW Birth/Deaths/Marriages found gaps.
How many family trees have sudden stops on people's lives..."born 1922 disappeared 1945" ...
And the odd thing I've noticed is -
when a bloke goes missing in the news archives he usually turns up again, whereas women don't.
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
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...