The fire crackled. Water bubbled to the boil. Bacon and eggs waffled through the weatherboard house on the corner of Villeneuve and Downey Streets in Alexandra.
Modern Day Villeneuve Street, Alexandra
‘Dad, your breakfast is ready,’ hollered Lily. ‘Come, sit down, and eat it whilst it’s hot!’
‘I’m comin’’, William said. ‘It smells delish. Can you take some money to the post office to send to your mother?’
‘Today, yes I can.’
She placed the money in her apron pocket.
At seven 7 o’clock, he grabbed his coat and hat. He stuffed his dinner in his coat pocket and picked up his billy.
‘Bye, Lily,’ he called out.
‘Bye, dad,’ she said, as she came running to the door. She kissed him bye.
Outside, the smell of smoke drifted up his nostrils. On the other side of the Ultima Thule Creek, the quartz crusher loomed over the town. Its mechanical arms heaved up and down.
Something caught his eye.
Blooming Heck! That pesky goat has gotten out again, he thought. I don’t want to get a fine. It’s such a ridiculous law. Registering goats, blah. All they want is my money. Where am I supposed to get collars with my name and address on them for all my goats! Bugger! I wanted to be early today.
He chased the goat back behind the fence.
*
The town was surrounded by rolling hills. The pastures were starting to turn from a burnt brown to green from the recent moist autumn weather. Bathurst Burr, the noxious weed, sprung up in the fields. He headed towards the goldfields and Luckie No. 2 mine on the outskirts of town. Mullocks and crushed quartz scattered the ground.
At fifteen minutes to nine o’clock, Sergeant Irvine had brought laths to the Luckie No. 2 mine to make the mantelpiece.
‘I can find better than that,’ said William.
‘Not unless we pull the heap to pieces’, said Sergeant Irvine.
‘There are lathes more suited to our wants at the old Reward mine.’
I can get a set of frames for the mantelpiece, too. William thought, and left without replying. I’ll go there later.
At half-past nine o’clock, Denis O’Sullivan and William were in the manager’s hut. O’Sullivan was the manager of the Consolidated Mining Company and William’s manager. William had repaired ladders in the Luckie No. 2 mine. Now, they were making the mantelpiece for the chimney in the hut. William had made a drawer for the desk.
‘That is a very good job you have made of it, Bill, all it wants now is a knob,’ said O’Sullivan.
William departed the office without saying a word.
Off he walked past the blacksmith’s shop to the Reward mine. A pulley was rigged over the shaft. He went in the entrance. His foot stood on some ‘fragile saplings’ and when he reached down they gave way. He tumbled down headfirst. He plunged about 180 feet down the mine shaft. He landed face down. His hat dropped on his back. One boot flew off. The fall crushed the back of his skull spattering the brains on his trousers. His right thumb broke. His bruised body laid in the depths of the shaft.
*
There was a knock on the door of his house.
Who could that be? Lily thought.
‘Good morning, Miss Empey,’ Mr. O’Sullivan said. ‘Is your father inside?’
‘No,’ she said.
‘Oh! I thought he had called here.’
The squeaking of the gate signaled his departure.
*
After dinner, frantic knocking at the door startled Lily.
‘Hello again, Miss Empey,’ Mr. O’Sullivan sputtered. ‘Your father’s coat is at the blacksmith’s shop. He hasn’t touched his dinner. Have you seen him?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘That’s not like him. There must be something wrong. I’ll fetch my brother Rich.’
*
Almost all the working men of the town searched for William, without luck. After midnight, the search was called off. The next morning, Mr. Collins volunteered to climb down the ladder of the old Reward mine. There at the bottom laid William in a pool of water. He retrieved his body to the surface. Sergeant Irving determined that the crushing of the skull caused his death. They transported his body to the Shamrock Hotel where a magisterial enquiry was held later that day.
Lily testified at the enquiry. As soon as they could, she and Rich left, and walked home in silence. The tears flowed down her cheeks.
I can’t believe that was the way our father died, she thought. What were they thinking? Dad was quite sober when he left for the mine. Mr. O'Sullivan, who had known dad for many years, testified that he was a 'man of sober habits', a 'good and skillful miner', and 'of an even temperament'. Even, Sergeant Irvine, who had known him for ten years, testified he was a 'sober' and 'industrious' man. He was not given to drinking. He was in good health. He never exhibited the slightest signs of an intention to make away with himself. Thank goodness! His death was ruled accidental.
Now, we can bury him in peace.
What is going to happen to me? Us? Does this mean I will have to leave Alexandra? I love living here in the country. I miss Dad.
Bibliography
Agriculture Victoria, ‘Bathurst Burr’, Accessed 16 August 2018.
Lloyd, Brian, Alexandra and District: Incorporating The Red Gate by Gerald Noble, 2010, BPA Print Group, Burwood, Victoria.
Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria.
State Library Victoria, SLV, ‘Township of Alexandra, Parish of Alexandra, County of Anglesey’, Accessed 11 August 2018.
The Age.
The Alexandra and Yea Standard.
The Argus.
The Ballarat Star.
The Gippsland Times.
The Herald.
The Kilmore Free Press.
Notes
No death certificate was found registered for William Empey:
‘A Brave Miner’, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, 6 May 1887, p. 2, Accessed 16 August 2018.
'Advertising’, The Age, 10 January 1887, p. 1, Accessed 16 August 2018.
Agriculture Victoria, ‘Bathurst Burr’, Accessed 16 August 2018.
‘Alexandra & Yea Standard: Friday 25 March 1887‘, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, 25 March 1887, p. 2, Accessed 10 August 2018.
‘Ballarat Notes’, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, 8 April 1887, p. 2, Accessed 16 August 2018.
Birth Certificate of Lilly Emma Empey, born 10 October 1867, Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 23237/1867.
Birth Certificate of Richard Arthur Empey, born [11] September 1869, Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 10/1870.
Brian Lloyd, Alexandra and District: Incorporating The Red Gate by Gerald Noble, 2010, pp. 51-74, BPA Print Group, Burwood, Victoria.
‘Correspondence’, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, 9 January 1931, p. 2, Accessed 16 August 2018.
‘Country News’, The Argus, 25 March 1887, p. 7, Accessed 16 August 2018,
‘Fatal Fall Down a Shaft’, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, 25 March 1887, p. 2, Accessed 12 August 2018.
‘Magisterial Enquiry’, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, 1 April 1887, p. 2, Accessed 12 August 2018.
‘Melbourne’, The Ballarat Star, 3 May 1887, p. 2, Accessed 16 August 2018.
‘Shipping Intelligence: Hobson’s Bay’, The Argus, 24 March 1887, p. 6, Accessed 10 August 2018.
State Library Victoria, SLV, ‘Township of Alexandra, Parish of Alexandra, County of Anglesey’, Accessed 11 August 2018.
‘The Kilmore Free Press’, The Kilmore Free Press, 31 March 1887, p. 2, Accessed 16 August 2018.
‘The Last Moment’, The Herald, 22 March 1887, p. 3, Accessed 10 August 2018.
‘The Month’, The Gippsland Times, 23 March 1887, p. 3, Accessed 10 August 2018.
‘The Weather’, The Age, 24 March 1887, p. 6, Accessed 10 August 2018.
William Empey to Jennifer Empey, discussion, [date unknown, possibly 1978].
William Empey to Jennifer Empey, letter, 3 September 1987, original held in recipient’s possession.
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