WARNING:- Graphic content of grave remains that may upset some people.
In 1995 Forsyth-Plutonic Gold Mining held the mining lease of an area that included burials at Horseman’s Gully near Darlot in the Murchison. Under mining law, it is prohibited to mine within 100 yards of a know burial site. This posed a problem for the mining company as the graves at Horseman’s Gully were in the middle of the area to be mined. They agreed to pay for the exhumation of the eight men buried there and relocation and reinterment at the nearby Darlot Cemetery.
Horseman’s Gully was never a gazetted cemetery and all the burials took place between March and July of 1895 some 124 yrs ago.
The remains were relocated exactly 100yrs from the last burial.
Ken and Sherril Ball, from Kalgoorlie Monumental Works, were contracted to arrange the relocation and they have kindly shared with me the photographs that were taken by them at each stage of this delicate operation. Every effort was taken to ensure that the remains were handled with care and respect.
First, the topsoil was removed to uncover the lid of the coffins. This was then removed and the skeletons were carefully placed in body bags and then into new wooden coffins. They were then taken to the Darlot Cemetery and re-interred. A plaque and memorial were erected for each person.
BARKER W d. 29 May 1895 age abt 25, a prospector, his grave was originally marked with four forks and four rails and was in line with Hilder’s Grave.
Memorial Plaque for W Barker
BEATTIE Charles d. 4 Jun 1895 age 39, Yilgarn death cert 1129/1895, a miner, born 1856, died from consumption, from New South Wales.
Memorial Plaque for Charles Beattie
BISHOP George d. 27 Jul 1895 age 36, Tom Hester and Jerry Donovan made the coffin out of meat and jam boxes nailed onto three mulga saplings. The funeral started from Swampers Gully. Bishop was a miner and a Government Well Contractor. He was supposedly working with a man named Frank Fagan when he died of Typhoid Fever. He was born c 1859 in South Australia.
Memorial Plaque for George Bishop
CARSON Samuel d. 14 May 1895 age abt 45, buried southeast of the Cue Road about 130 yards west of Hilder’s Grave. His cause of death is unknown.
Memorial Plaque for Samuel Carson
ELVER Robert d. 27 Jul 1895, age 31, Murchison death cert 1172/1895, born c1864, from Queensland. He died in his tent. The informant was Charles F Wyvill (brother-in-law), a miner from Lake Darlot. His brother Sydney was one of the 13 mourners at the funeral. The coffin was made of meat boxes and he was buried in a white cement grave with a mound 2 feet high. Elver was a miner who went to the Mt Black rush and died of supposed Typhoid Fever. He had first caught a cold which developed into a fever and he was ailing for a few weeks. He was the son of Sidney Elver Snr and Mary nee Mellish. His brother Sidney Elver was to die also shortly after on the 15 Aug 1895 at Black Range.
Mrs. Jean Cattanach of Wishart Queensland wrote: “It was the families understanding that Sidney Elver Snr had lost money in a bank crash of the time and his two sons Robert and Sydney and brother in law Charles Wyvill decided to go to Western Australia in the hope they would find enough gold to replace the money lost. But it was not to be and the lives of Robert and Sydney were lost instead.
Memorial Plaque for Robert Elver
HENDERSON Daniel d 24 Mar 1895 aged abt 50, the informant of his death was Patrick McNamara, a miner from Lake Darlot. Henderson was a miner who had been at every gold rush in Western Australia and died supposedly of Typhoid Fever. He was born c 1845. He was one of the pioneers of New Guinea, where his party was set upon by natives, the deceased receiving a spear wound in the face, leaving a conspicuous mark which he carried to the grave.
Memorial Plaque for Daniel Henderson
HILDER James d. 2 May 1895 age abt 28 yrs, Thomas Kidd and two other men made a coffin out of whiskey cases, a load of whiskey having just arrived. Charles Medlicott read the funeral service. A crude fence was erected around the grave consisting of four forks and rails but this disappeared over time. Hilder was a well know and much-respected prospector and miner who died of ‘Darlot’ fever. It spoke well of the high esteem for which he was held when diggers rolled up ‘en masse’ to his funeral. He was born c 1867 in New South Wales. His father had a hotel in Mittagong, 50 miles from Sydney.
Memorial Plaque for James Hilder
New coffin for James Hilder
WILLIAMS Hugh d. 31 May 1895 Murchison death cert 1172/1895, Buried 9 yards from W Barkers Grave, Died of fever. He was a delicate chap with a hacking cough, which, “on this occasion, broke his heart and he dropped dead” William’s death took place one night around the campfire, while Tom the Liar, Micky MacIntyre, and several other romancers were relating their experiences.
Great was the gloom that night as they covered his body with blankets in the moonlight, and set to prepare for internment. Work was suspended on the adjacent claims while the committee appointed to build the coffin, hunted around for candle boxes, gin cases, and carpenters’ tools. When the casket was completed it had some unusual inscriptions
“This side Up” and “Keep Away from Boilers”!
The next problem was to procure some religious work to read at the burial service – Gold was easier to find!
After an extensive search, an old Whittaker’s Almanac was found, some thought it would do alright, but after careful consideration, it was rejected as the camp scholar claimed it had no reference to funerals. Eventually, the necessary book was found at Reid’s camp. Poor Williams was eventually buried.
Ref Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette – 17/8/1895.
Memorial Plaque for Hugh Williams
1 unnamed grave.
Horseman’s Gully – How it got its name:
Provisions were very scarce at the opening of Darlot field, and famine prices for a time prevailed. Many had nothing but flour and tea, and little of that. It was seriously proposed by the first bunch of arrivals that the stores of the incoming parties be levied on, a handsome price, of course, to be paid for the goods taken, but the buyers not to be guided by what was asked. As usual, the first few traders brought loads of grog and little else, but the arrival of a camel team with general stores relieved the tension. Prior to this, the price of a 50 lb. bag of flour was £5, tea 7s 6d. for l0 ozs and tobacco, 25s a lb. These lines were generally looked on as the only absolute necessities.
The first arrivals at Darlot after the prospectors, were, of course, the horsemen, who pitched their camps along the long gully which carried the best gold, and which was then to be known as ‘Horseman’s Gully’. Within six weeks the population of the camp was between three and four thousand, and every day saw scores of fresh arrivals. They came on horseback, by camel team, and with the wagons. Several parties arrived drawing their outfit in light hand-carts, to which they were yoked like horses. Two or three pushed barrows, and many carried their swags. Bicycles were very few, though a bicycle express mail service was soon inaugurated, letters and papers being brought from and to Coolgardie at 2s 6d. each. The bike men reaped a golden harvest those days.
The following photograph shows the work in its various stages. As you will see the men have been laid in their coffins with their arms crossed. Ken ball told me that if you look at the photographs closely you can still see their buttons and belt buckles.
Photographs of graves courtesy of Ken and Sherril Ball
References: Lonely Graves by Kevin and Yvonne Coate
Moya Sharp
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