West Australian 9 February 1925 & The Daily News 9 February 1925
Western Mail Perth – 19 February 1925 – The burnt out remains of Milligan and Kemp’s butcher’s shop.He was told that she was all right and upon this assurance, he called for a cigarette, which he calmly lit and smoked it.
Dr. Matthews, of Kalgoorlie. was telephoned for soon after the disaster, and motored down with all haste. He inspected the work that had been done by the Matron and ordered the victims to be removed to the Kalgoorlie hospital. Mr Seagram’s motor truck was commissioned and the unfortunate sufferers were taken to hospital. It has been ascertained that after the cylinder swept through the crowd watching the fire, it struck the footpath on the opposite side of the road to the butcher’s shop, tore through a galvanised iron fence, worked its way across a heap of loose bricks and then travelled end over end until it finally came to rest nearly 150 yards from where it had been placed in the shop.
Western Mail Perth – 19 February 1925 – The cylinder at its final resting place 150 yards away.
Mr Sheedy was struck on the shin by a flying piece of brick or cement. Mr A. Wheeler, who had his leg shattered, had just joined the pipeline staff of the Goldfields Water Supply Department. On the Saturday night preceding the disaster, he paid a visit to Kalgoorlie, where he was introduced at an ‘At Home’ given by the South African and Imperial Veterans Association in the local Soldiers’ Institute. The other two men who were injured were well known throughout the Coolgardie fields, one earning the sobriquet of ‘Lucky Joe’.
No cause has been ascribed to the fire. The books of the shop appear to have been saved, from the strongroom. The owners of the shop cannot account tor the outbreak and have been seriously affected by the tragedy. On Sunday Mr. Joe Purdy and Mr Wheeler succumbed to their injuries.Mr Mulligan, one of the partners in the butcher’s shop, is so grief-stricken that he is seriously ill, and is causing his friends and family some concern.
FIRE CHIEF VISITS SCENE – The Chief Superintendent of Fire Brigades, Mr Lambourne, visited the scene of the disaster, motoring put from Kalgoorlie and took notes concerning the fire, the inadequacy of the water, and details concerning the, explosion.
Geraldton Guardian 28 February 1925
THE COOLGARDIE FIRE – INQUEST ON VICTIMS.
The Coroner, Mr J. E. Geary, in the Coolgardie Courthouse on Monday, held the inquest concerning the deaths of Ernest A. Wheeler, Edith Annie Wheeler, and Joseph Purdy, which were caused by an explosion at the fire which destroyed Mulligan and Kemp’s butcher’s shop in Bayley-street in the early morning of Sunday, the 8th inst.
The jury is of the opinion that had there been a sufficient supply of water at the fire on the 8th inst., the explosion would not have occurred.
The jury found that Edith Annie Wheeler met her death on February 8, 1925, on the road between Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, through shock caused by being struck by a propelled cylinder that had been overheated in a fire at Mulligan and Kemp’s butchering business at Coolgardie on the 8th inst., which caused the cylinder to burst; and that Joseph Purdy and Ernest Alfred Wheeler met their deaths at the Government Hospital, Kalgoorlie, on February 8, 1925, from a similar cause. The jury added the following rider: —
THE VICTIMS
Joseph John PURDY – 43yrs, Father: Samuel PURDY, Mother: Catherine HICKEY, Born: Clunes, Victoria, he is buried in the Coolgardie Cemetery with his mother.
Coolgardie Cemetery – Photo Australia Cemeteries Index
Ernest Arthur WHEELER – 30yrs, buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery, Former footman at Buckingham Palace.
Edith Annie WHEELER – 27yrs, buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery with her husband.
Western Argus 17 February 1925, page 17
A large number of Coolgardie residents went to Kalgoorlie yesterday and attended the ‘funeral of Mr and Mrs Wheeler. seats were placed on the Water Supply Department’s motor truck, and a body of pine line employees travelled on that, whilst four motor car loads also went along to pay their sorrowful respects to the memory of the two new citizens who had spent such a short time in the State. The pipeline men were pallbearers, and in conjunction with the South African and Imperial Veterans Association, provided a handsome floral tribute. In connection with the funeral of these two deceased, who were without funds, the cost is being divided between the S.A. and Imperial Veterans’ Association and the citizens of Coolgardie.
Moya Sharp
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Incredible work 👏 🙌 👌 by yourself, providing such wonderful reproductions of outback Western Australian history.
I only found this site this morning even though I have been trying to discover my family tree history here in Australia and abroad.
My family tree interest dates way back to my early teens.
My grandfather was an Anzac, a 6th Light Horseman from Cootamundra NSW.
I stumbled upon it due to my interest in my family name = Burbank.
If you have more information about my family from or around WA I would be very interested.
Kind regards Bob Burbank