Prince Alfred is almost welcomed by the German Community of Toowoomba

Prince Alfred was the second son of Queen Victoria and her German husband Prince Albert.  In 1868, as part of a world tour, the Prince made a much anticipated visit to the Colony of Queensland.  Committees had been formed to plan the celebrations.

The Less Than Amiable Prince Alfred

As well as holding the titles of Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster, Alfred was also (courtesy of his father) the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and as such, his visit caused much excitement amongst the German community in Queensland.

In Toowoomba, home to a large number of German settlers, the royal visit would not be quite what the German Queenslanders expected.

The Brisbane Courier reported:

A meeting of the German residents of Brisbane was held last evening, at the Town Hall, to arrange the part to be taken by them in the reception of H.R.H. the Prince on his visit to the colony.

After some discussion, it was unanimously resolved that a torchlight procession should be held in honour of the Prince on his arrival in the colony. It was anticipated that upwards of 200 or 300 Germans would take part in the procession. It was also resolved that the Prince should be serenaded on the same evening. [1]

The German residents of Toowoomba were also keen to provide a suitable welcome to the prince.  They were not pleased that the government had not planned an official reception in their town.

Gentlemen seated in front of the German Club in Toowoomba

Toowoomba and Drayton and the residents of the neighbourhood are quite as loyal to the Crown as the inhabitants of any other part of Australia. Amongst us there are many Germans, whose feelings towards the Prince may be warmer, because in the natural course of events, he will cease to be an Englishman, and become the reigning Duke of a German principality.[2]

A meeting was duly called.

The German population of Toowoomba met last night, and agreed to get up a grand demonstration during the visit to the Downs of the Duke of Edinburgh.  The residents in the outside districts are very enthusiastic with respect to the visit of the Prince.

Woman driving a German Wagon in Laidley

The Germans of Gotha Coburg are organising a demonstration, and have erected an arch near the Railway Station. It is hoped that the Prince will alight there, as the programme allows of a delay of twenty minutes before starting for Jondaryan. [3]

The prince’s train stopped briefly on his journey further west to Jondaryan.  His Royal Highness did not even bother to leave his carriage.

 The Prince arrived from Ipswich at a quarter to 7 last night; about two thousand persons were present. As soon as His Royal Highness entered the station he was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. The Prince smiled at this demonstration of the popular feeling—the first of the kind that he has witnessed in Australia. His Royal Highness did not leave his carriage, and no addresses were presented. The train staid twenty minutes, after which it proceeded to Jondaryan.  On leaving the station hearty cheers were given for the Prince.

After the departure of His Royal Highness a large public meeting was held, at which great dissatisfaction was expressed at the proceedings of the Government with respect to the Prince's visit. It was arranged last night that the Prince, on his return from Jondaryan to-day, should stay for an hour at Toowoomba, and receive an address from the Germans, under the triumphal arch.[4]

The Serious Men of the Lutheran Church Committee, Toowoomba

The return visit was not much better.

His Royal Highness arrived at a quarter to 10 o'clock this morning, and alighted amidst great cheering. Mr. James Taylor's carriage was in attendance. The Prince entered, and drove from the station up Ruthven-street and back to the station, when he took his seat in the railway carriage, and the train started at once. The whole visit only lasted twenty minutes. On the Prince leaving, he was again cheered heartily. About five hundred persons were present. [5]

Unfortunately, the German reception procession, which included a dozen costumed girls, was still making its way to the station.

German Wedding Party

About five minutes after the train had started, the Germans arrived in procession, headed with the national banner and twelve young girls dressed in white, with blue ribbons, each with a basket of flowers, intended to have been strewn in the Prince's path.

Their whole arrangements were very creditable. The German address was a poetical one, and was very good. Their disappointment, at finding that the Royal visitor had departed, was very great.

The Germans have agreed to send their address to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, to meet him on his arrival in Sydney.[6]

The Germans were in no doubt just who was to blame for the insult, and it was not the Prince, but those who were in charge of his schedule.  Amazingly the normally steady-minded Teutonic settlers of the Darling Downs were so incensed that they organised a trial in absentia and a medieval-style immolation of the guilty parties, namely the Premier and the Colonial Secretary, who also happened to be wealthy pastoralists – no friends of the farmers.

About three thousand persons of all classes attended the burning in effigy of Messrs. Mackenzie[7] and Palmer[8]. A mock trial took place at the School of Arts, after which the effigies were carried in procession through the streets. Unanimity of action was very general, the Germans being very bitter in their expressions.

The proceedings were closed by singing "Old John Brown."[9] The Prince was most enthusiastically cheered, whilst loud groans and hisses fell to the share of the Ministry. [10]

The whole affair reveals the undercurrent of feeling by the establishment in Queensland, that the Germans, despite their reputation as hard working settlers, were not considered as true British citizens, which in reality most of them had become through the process of “naturalisation”. 

© K. C. Sbeghen, 2012.

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[1] The Brisbane Courier 17.1.1868

[2] The Brisbane Courier 28.2.1868

[3] The Queenslander 29.2.1868

[4] The Queenslander 29.2.1868

[5] The Queenslander 29.2.1868

[6] The Queenslander 29.2.1868

[7] Robert Ramsay Mackenzie (1811–1873), Premier of Queensland.

[8] Arthur Hunter Palmer (1819-1898), Colonial Secretary.

[9] Presumably the American Civil War song celebrating the Abolitionist John Brown.  Did they regard themselves as being considered as non-British inferior citizens? No better than slaves? Was the singing of this rousing anthem, an affirmation of their rightful status as loyal Queenslanders?

[10] The Brisbane Courier 29.2.1868 

Sonnenstich - the Sun's Deadly Assault

New immigrants to Australia often misjudged the power of the Antipodean sun particularly those who laboured in the outdoors. Many of the new arrivals were Germans, recruited to work as shepherds in the bush.  Unaware of the dangers of a Queensland summer, they continued to wear heavy dark clothing more suited to the temperate climes of their homelands in Northern Europe. Not surprisingly cases of sun-stroke or heat-stroke were quite common and sometimes resulted in sudden death.

Advertisement for Indian Topees

In a guide to the Australian colonies an English Mineralogical Surveyor included these frightening observations:

 Immigrants arriving in the heyday of life, may expect to die ten years sooner than they would in England.

A few cases of coup de soleil, or sunstroke, occur every year during the hot weather, and sometimes a person dies from the bite of a venomous serpent.[1]

In 1857, the North Australian reported the gruesome discovery by a shepherd, of the blackened body of a fellow German immigrant.

Crohamhurst Station owned by Henry Cockburn

A magisterial inquiry took place yesterday, at the Police Office, touching the death of a German, named John Seitz, who died from the effects of a sun-stroke at the Three mile Creek, on the 15th instant.

It appeared, from the evidence of Mr. H M Cockburn, that the deceased was his hired servant and on being informed by one of his shepherds that the deceased was lying dead in the bush, he proceeded there accompanied by Dr. Challinor and a constable, and saw the body on the ground: there were no remarks of violence upon it, but his face was black.

Henry Montague Cockburn

Dr. Challinor stated that he had examined the body externally, and from the congested state of the head and face, was of opinion that the deceased died in convulsions most probably occasioned by a sunstroke.[2]

German immigrants, especially those recently arrived, seemed especially susceptible to the Queensland summer heat.

DEATH BY SUN STROKE -The weather has been excessively hot during the past week, and several cases of coup de soleil have occurred; one of these proved fatal. On Wednesday, we learn that the thermometer reached 105[3] in the shade.

We subjoin the particulars of the fatal case of sun stroke, as taken in evidence before the Coroner, (K. Cannan, Esq.):-

Dr. Kearsey Cannan, the Brisbane Coroner

William Gericke deposed: I am a farmer; the deceased William Klemm, has been in my employ about five months. Shortly before four o'clock yesterday afternoon I found the deceased lying under a bush quite insensible. About half an hour before, I saw him (the deceased) hoeing and apparently quite well.

He was rather an ailing ma
n, and did not enjoy the best of health. He had on a brown felt hat, - a hat I think quite unsuitable to the climate. I sent immediately for Dr. Bell. The deceased was a sober man, and had no drink to my knowledge yesterday.

-John Adsett deposed; I am a labourer, and have known the deceased about five months. About five o'clock yesterday afternoon, I found the deceased in the corn, lying helpless on his side, breathing very hard. I bathed him with water and vinegar till Dr. Bell came.

-Hugh Bell deposed: I am a legally qualified medical practitioner;  I saw the deceased between half-past four and five o'clock;  he was then nearly lifeless;  I considered that the heart was gorged with blood. I endeavoured to get some blood to flow, and to get some stimulants into the stomach, without succeeding. I think the deceased died from a sun-stroke. The jury returned a verdict of died from the effects of a sun-stroke.[4]

The Brisbane Coroner Doctor Kearsey Cannan, alarmed at the number of sunstroke deaths he was attending, wrote of his concerns in a letter to the Moreton Bay Courier. He first quoted from an account by the renowned General Sir Charles Napier of his personal experience of sunstroke whilst serving with the Army in India.

The subject cannot be better introduced than by quoting the late gallant General Sir Charles Napier's interesting and characteristic account of his personal seizure, when serving in Sindh.

"...  I was tumbled over by the heat with apoplexy; forty-three others were struck, all Europeans, and all died within three hours, except myself!  I do not drink!  that is the secret. The sun had no ally in the liquor amongst my brains.

General Sir Charles Napier leading a charge in India

Unable to walk, I flung myself on a table, and luckily one of my staff came in. He called the doctors; two or three were with me in a twinkling; wet towels rolled round my head, feet in hot water; bleeding, and two men rubbing me. I was so drowsy as to be angry that they would not let me sleep. Had they done so, it would have been hard to wake me."[5]

Doctor Cannan drew attention to the main causes of the deadly effects of sunstroke: - excessive exposure to the rays and heat of the sun, the consumption of alcoholic spirits such as rum, a heavy diet, and unsuitable attire.

Sir Charles here gave expression to a physiological fact. The sun is the primary cause; the spirit ration and the abuse of ardent spirits constitute tho chief accessories. Most experienced surgeons believe that, with temperance in diet, avoidance of so much direct solar exposure as may be compatible with the nature of the service, attention to tent covering and ventilation, and to head dress and body clothing, British soldiers may be made to march well under the hottest sun of India.[6]

Station hands sporting various styles of headwear

Finally Dr. Cannan the Coroner detailed  his latest case of sunstroke he had investigated, and provided some studied  advice to colonists.

On Saturday last I was required to hold an inquest on the body of a man who had been struck to death on the previous day, from exposure to the sun. He belonged to the road party working near Woogaroo.[7]

Such, frequently, is the suddenness and fatal character of the seizure, leading so often to the speedy death of men previously in health and in the midst of active employment, that this circumstance induces me to believe that the following remarks on the means of prevention of such a fearful malady will not be considered ill-timed.

Of all the means of prevention of Heat Apoplexy, the avoidance of spirituous liquors, and of excess in the use of animal diet, must take the lead.

The next most important matter is the quality and arrangement of the dress and on this subject there can be no difference or question. The head-dress should be light, of slowly conducting materials, and constructed so as to command ventilation.[8]

European gentlemen in Ceylon, wearing protective solar topee

He used the example of the trooper who accompanied him to point out the unsuitability of the clothing of those employed outdoors.  He notes that the unfortunate victim he examined was wearing the worst possible headwear - a tight black hat – a sure focus of solar energy.

I was accompanied by a trooper on Saturday last, whose dress I will now compare, or rather contrast, with that above recommended. He was cased in a close-fitting suit of blue cloth; head-dress, a cap of same material, barely covering the top of the head, leaving the back part totally uncovered - a peak in front sufficiently large to shade one eye at a time.

On my warning him that by exposing his head to the sun in such a manner he was courting the fate of the unfortunate man whose body we were about to view, he replied that such were the regulations, and he must obey! Comment on such a regulation is unnecessary. Publicity alone will surely put an end to such barbarity.

However, with the assistance of some green leaves placed in the cap, and damping the inside at a shady water-hole, to allay the intolerable heat, my companion - after six hours exposure to the direct solar rays-did arrive safely back again. I may here also mention that the man who had been struck to death wore a black felt hat, fitting close to the head.[9]

I am, &c.

K. CANNAN, Coroner.

Stores were quick to import proper protective headwear from India – the most efficacious thought to be the “Solar Topee”.  

Solar Topee or Pith Helmet

There was also the home-grown variety, the cabbage tree hat platted from the fronds of the cabbage palm.

Cabbage tree hat

© K. C. Sbeghen, 2012.

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[1] The Moreton Bay Courier Saturday 24 December 1853

[2] North Australian, Saturday March 17 1857

[3] 41°C

[4] The Moreton Bay Courier Saturday 2 January 1858

[5] The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17 January 1860

[6] The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17 January 1860

[7] Now Goodna

[8] The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17 January 1860

[9] The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17 January 1860

The Lammershagen Incident

Typhus arrives in Moreton Bay

Idealised view of  a German emigrant ship

In the labour-starved colony of Queensland of the 1870s, each boatload of immigrants was keenly awaited. The recruited workers and their families were in an essential commodity imported into the colony as an investment by many employers, who had paid for their passage.  The fact that they should arrive in poor condition and in diminished numbers, was not well received by those who had invested in bringing them from Northern Europe.

Cheery scene below decks

In early January 1873, a German emigrant ship arrived in Moreton Bay after a voyage lasting three months.  The Lammershagen had sailed directly from Hamburg with some 380 souls on board. 

Rather than transferring the weary passengers to a steamer to carry them up-river to Brisbane Town, other procedures were put into action.

After a visit from the medical officer from Brisbane, the boat was immediately put into quarantine and towed to Peel Island.

THE German immigrant ship Lammershagen, which arrived from Hamburg on Tuesday, has, we regret to say, been placed in quarantine, owing to the fact of there being typhus fever on board. At the present time there are several cases amongst the passengers, one of which is looked upon as hopeless. During the passage, eight deaths occurred; but these were from various causes, typhus fever having, we understand, only broken out during the last two or three weeks.[1]

The scene below decks on a crowded emigrant ship

This last statement was not quite correct.  It would later become known that the first case had occurred less than one month into the voyage. This confusion of information would continue as the story of the Lammershagen emerged over the following weeks.  The tales of the conditions on board and the conduct of the ship’s doctor varied wildly and culminated in a Government enquiry.

It emerged that the Lammershagen was not only overcrowded, unhygienic, and poorly ventilated but severely under-provisioned. – ideal conditions for an outbreak of typhus, commonly known as “ship’s fever”.

Moreton Bay and Stradbroke Island

The steamer Kate, on her arrival from Ipswich on the 8th, was despatched to the Bay with every requisite obtainable for making the passengers as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. The intention is to tow the vessel to Peel Island, when the immigrants will be landed, and provided with tents; a temporary wooden hospital being erected for the use of the patients, who will be separated as far as possible from the remainder of the passengers.[2]

Because the number of quarantine cases up to this time had greatly declined, the quarantine station at Dunwich on Stradbroke Island had been appropriated as a Benevolent Asylum.  The facilities on nearby Peel Island were woefully inadequate to receive the 350 odd passengers from the Lammershagen.  Some of the spare sails had to be taken ashore to provide further shelter.

Peel Island (in Moreton Bay) was selected, and off that the ship was moored, the passengers being landed and "housed" - if the term be permissible - under tents, or whatever other shelter they could get, the season, moreover, being exceptionally wet. The latest reports from Peel Island are of a favourable character, but there is no knowing how long the unfortunate "suspects" may stay where they are - the victims of discomfort, and ignorant, probably, of the regulations which compel their detention. 

If report does not egregiously err, the new arrivals by this vessel have had anything but a cheerful introduction to their new home. No doubt the Government have done the best they could under the circumstances, but, to say the least of it, it was unfortunate that the first experience of Queensland gained by these people should be to "camp out" on an island in drenching rain, huddled together like sheep in an ovile[3].[4]

Peel Island, the QuarantineStation was in the north-western corner

While the immigrants remained in quarantine, possible reasons for the Typhus outbreak were discussed in the press.  Typhus, spread by lice, was known to appear in crowded, unsanitary, and poorly ventilated conditions - it was common in the crammed English prisons in the 18^th century.  Typhoid fever, a different ailment, is contracted from contaminated water. A correspondent to the Brisbane Courier pointed out these facts.

Typhoid fever, developed as it has been in this ship, is not what is sometimes called, "a visitation of GOD". There is no room for any such impious imputation. If it is a visitation at all, it is a visitation from some festering impurities generated by defective ventilation, or over-crowded and unclean quarters. It is an effect which we have no doubt can be clearly traced to an efficient cause, and there will be no excuse if those to whom that cause can be traced are not held responsible for its existence. The legal pains and penalties which it may be possible to inflict are slight in comparison with the injury inflicted, but the blame should be impartially adjudged, and those who deserve it should be made, as far as possible, to feel their culpability.[5]

There was clearly a failure of the shipping company to ensure the passengers had sufficient space and ventilation and provisions. During the voyage it was responsibility of the ship’s medical officer to maintain proper standards of hygiene during the voyage. One correspondent to the Courier Mail blamed the Scandinavians amongst the passengers.

The majority of the immigrants are Scandinavians, hailing from Norway and Sweden and it was amongst them that the sickness first made its appearance on board.

Tho Scandinavians, it is also stated, came on board very scantily clothed, and the blankets supplied by the contractor at Hamburgh for their use were miserable rags. The races of Northern Europe are not noted for their cleanliness of living, and it was no doubt impossible to compel such a number of half clad people as these appeared to be, to preserve those habits of personal cleanliness which are strictly necessary to the carrying out of proper sanitary regulations on board a crowded immigrant ship.[6]

Later it became known that the sister ship of the Lammershagen, the Alardus, had experienced a similar epidemic and only made it as far as Melbourne. Finally the colonial authorities sent a complaint to London requesting that the Hamburg shipping company involved be advised to send no further emigrants to Queensland.

Mr. Palmer has telegraphed to Mr. Daintree, the Agent-General in London, complaining of the condition of the German immigrants per "Lammershagen," on their arrival at Brisbane. Mr. Palmer also comments on the state of the immigrants of the "Alardus," which has had to put into Melbourne on account of the mortality and sickness on board. He gravely censures those connected with the shipment of the immigrants by both vessels, and instructs the Agent-General not to allow in future German emigrants to Queensland to be forwarded by the same medium.[7] 

Emigrants awaiting Embarkation in Hamburg

As the Lammershagen immigrants were slowly released in small groups from quarantine, accounts of their experiences both while on Peel Island and on the voyage were reported in the colonial press.  A correspondent for the Queenslander had heard nothing at all negative from Peel Island.

The Lammershagen people are nearly all cleared out now. A batch, consisting of six married couples, eleven single girls, nine single men, nine children and two infants will be sent up to Brisbane tomorrow or Tuesday, and then there will only be nineteen adults left. There have been no signs of fever among them for some time past, and all the people at the station are in good health. Dr. Schmidt seems to have performed his arduous duties in a most satisfactory manner, and all the passengers speak in high terms of his skill, attention, and judicious management.[8]

Soon other reports of Dr. Schmidt’s behaviour emerged in which many of the passengers did not “speak in high terms” of the supposedly heroic Doctor.  Charles Campen, an influential member of the Brisbane German community took up their case with the Colonial Secretary.  As a result an official enquiry was held. In the meantime Dr. Schmidt had been permitted to leave the colony.

The first witness examined was Charles Campen, who deposed that he forwarded two letters of complaint, one to the Immigration Agent, dated April 21, 1873, and tho other to the Colonial secretary, dated April 28, in reference to the treatment of immigrants by the Lammershagen whilst in quarantine; the first complaint made in the letter against the doctor was for having exposed a woman for two hours in the sun under a tree or something erected like a gallows on Peel Island, Wilhelm Frederick and his wife, the persons mentioned in the letter, were in attendance to substantiate the charge, but unfortunately most of the other persons were scattered over the colony.[9]

Medieval "Pranger" or Pillory, Bonn

This last point was important as most of the immigrants had since proceeded to the Wide Bay area and few were available to testify.  It was later alleged that Dr. Schmidt had released the people in small batches from quarantine so that they could not organise a group complaint against him.

The incident of the “gallows tree” was the result of a letter received by Dr. Schmidt, allegedly written by Emelie Roeder, the wife of Wilhelm Frederick.  The writer accused the doctor of having a more than working relationship with the matron. A correspondent who was a passenger aboard the Lammershagen explained the “Pranger” ritual.

He took it upon himself to erect on Peel Island a kind of gallows, threatening to hang everybody who would not obey his orders. He made use of the latter tree for inflicting a peculiar and degrading punishment, called in Germany the "Pranger," which is considered in Germany the most disgraceful punishment to any person, particularly to a woman, inasmuch as a person of that sex must be of the worst and lowest character to be thus punished.[10]

Despite the evidence presented, the Enquiry completely exonerated Dr. Schmidt, dismissing the charges as “frivolous in the extreme”.[11] Despite claims of a whitewash by the Immigration Board, no further action was taken. Evidently the Board did not wish to discourage further immigrants by giving credence to the complaints of the Lammershagen passengers.

Perhaps the most credible account of the doctor's behaviour was given after the enquiry finished, by a passenger in a letter to the Queenslander.  The standard of English used suggests the correspondent may have had some editorial help from the German immigrant’s advocate, Mr. Campen.

As a passenger by that vessel, and a constable on board, I had sufficient opportunity to see what was going on, and it is a fact that this late surgeon-superintendent of the Lammershagen, Dr. Schmidt, made himself extremely unpopular with all the immigrants on board, so much so that a regular mutiny was very nearly breaking out against him.

This unpopularity of his arose chiefly from his utter want of proper feeling in the treatment and management of young children, the truth of which may easily be understood from the fact that amongst seventeen children born on board the larger portion died. The following facts, however, which I am capable of substantiating, will show what the doctor's conduct really was:—

1. Dr. S. has been guilty of improper behaviour with the matron, and has repeatedly sung indecent street songs in the presence of the passengers.

2. He has beaten several women—vis., Auguste Moderow, Anna Moderow, Paulina Boehm, and Anna Olsen.

3. He has habitually used insulting language towards the passengers, such as calling them a "gang of thieves," "tag-rag," &c.

4. He took it upon himself to erect on Peel Island a kind of gallows, threatening to hang everybody who would not obey his orders.

I may add here that in the beginning of February a number of immigrants, then just arrived at the depot, drew up a petition, signed, and left it in the Immigration-office for Mr. Gray, saying that they had complaints against the doctor, and that they demanded enquiry. Nothing, however, has been since heard of that petition.

Had Mr. Gray taken any notice of it at the time it was lodged with him, that is, when the complaining as well as the accused parties were still to be brought face to face, it is highly probable that the results of such an enquiry would have been quite different from those obtained from the enquiry which took place last week after the doctor and the principal complainants were out of reach.[12]

Town Hall Queen St. Brisbane ca. 1868

Finally in June 1873, the German and Scandinavian residents were called to a meeting.

ON Thursday, May 29, a meeting of our German and Scandinavian fellow-colonists was held in the Town Hall, and largely attended. Mr. H. Ruthning opened the proceedings by reviewing the action taken by the local authorities, in the case of the Lammershagen, and pointed out that unless the colony was sure every precaution was taken to give to the German and Scandinavian immigrants on their passage out suitable ships, with sufficient room and good ventilation, the Germans and Scandinavians should be the first to demand a stoppage of continental emigration.[13]

Postscripts

A report published in 1876, described the ovens made by the Lammershagen passengers while on Peel Island.

The immigrants by the Lammershagen did manage to excavate little caves in the face of the cliff, which they converted into little ovens and baked excellent bread therein, but those have all fallen into decay now.[14]

Cabins constructed for leprosy patients on Peel Island

In the early 20th century the quarantine station was converted into a Lazarette to treat leprosy patients.














n 1882, the Lammershagen met her end when she was wrecked on a rocky point on the coast of Wales.  A contemporary painting recorded the event.[15]

The Wreck of the Lammershagen, 1882

Five years after the Lammershagen incident, Charles Campen met his end after getting into severe financial difficulties.

IT was currently reported in town yesterday that Charles Gerhard Campen, a man well-known in the community, had committed suicide by drowning. There is a considerable amount of mystery surrounding the affair, but we learn on good authority that serious pecuniary difficulties gave rise to Mr. Campen's forwarding to a prominent citizen a statement of his monetary affairs with an intimation that he intended to commit suicide to avoid exposure. The following letter was addressed to the Police Magistrate:-

"If I went home [meaning Germany] all would have been well; it is too late now. I dare not wait any longer because I feel my reason is going to give way. Mr. Macpherson has my last statement showing how I got into difficulties. There is no need of a post-mortem examination. I die of my own free will. The Lord have mercy on my poor children.”[16]

His body was found four days later floating in the Brisbane River under the Albert Bridge at Indooroopilly.

Peel Island Cemetery ca. 2000

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[1] The Brisbane Courier 10 January 1873

[2] The Queenslander 11 January 1873

[3] Enclosure for sheep.

[4] The Sydney Morning Herald 25 February 1873

[5] The Brisbane Courier 13 February 1873

[6] The Brisbane Courier 22 January 1873

[7] Rockhampton Bulletin 24 April 1873

[8] The Queenslander 15 March 1873

[9] The Brisbane Courier 14 May 1873

[10] The Queenslander 17 May 1873

[11] The Brisbane Courier 14 May 1873

[12] The Queenslander 17 May 1873

[13] The Queenslander 7 June 1873

[14] Ludlow, Peter, Peel Island – Paradise or Prison?, 1987.

[15] Collection MS, P.W.J. Chadwick, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

[16] The Brisbane Courier Friday 15 February 1878

© K. C. Sbeghen, 2012.