Title : Stories from graves uncovered in mining town brought to life after 150 years
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Stories from graves uncovered in mining town brought to life after 150 years
A sailor who took his own life, a mother who died in childbirth, and a solicitor struck by lightning are among 16 people who were buried in an unmarked cemetery in the historic goldmining town of Ravenswood, however nearly 150 years after their deaths, their stories have come alive.
The bodies were discovered in September last year when mining company Carpentaria Gold started preparations for expansion of their Ravenswood mine 130 kilometres south-west of Townsville.
"There were maps and a few newspaper articles from the 1870s but [the original cemetery] had never been gazetted so it had never been acknowledged as such," said Carpentaria Gold's Rebecca McLellan.
The mining company engaged historians Margaret Cook, Narelle Hancock and Ray Holyoak to determine the location and size of the lost cemetery using maps, newspaper articles, and an old artwork from the era.
Suspicions were confirmed with the discovery of graves at Buchanan's Gully just behind the Ravenswood State School oval.
Using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), the remains of nine adults and seven children were unearthed.
The miner then set about trying to determine the identities of those people using DNA testing and further research.
Solicitor bags bushranger, only to be 'cooked alive'
Solicitor John Wickey Stable was a bit of a hero when he arrived in Ravenswood in 1870.
While working as a solicitor in Gympie, a wanted bushranger surrendered to him, and Mr Stable used the reward money to invest in a silver mine in the north Queensland goldmining town.
On Christmas Eve 1870, Mr Stable was making his way home from a gathering when an electrical storm developed over Ravenswood.
Mr Stable sought refuge from the tempest in the hut of mining warden TR Hacket, only to be killed when a bolt of lightning struck and splintered a tree outside.
Also in the hut at the time was Warden Hackett's servant, Mary Clarke, who was knocked unconscious for 15 minutes and suffered ill health for several weeks until her eventual death from the lightning strike.
"The autopsy report showed that he [Mr Stable] had over 100 entry holes into his body from the lightning, his organs were cooked, the poor guy," said Mr Holyoak.
"He is one of the ones that they have 99 per cent confirmed with the DNA testing, was up at the cemetery."
Modern medicine would have prevented deaths
Historians researching the identities of the people interred at the first cemetery have been able to find information and obituaries that appear to match the remains.
Many died from conditions that could easily be treated using modern medicine.
The oldest among the dead was 57-year-old cook Charles Jervis, who succumbed to acute pneumonia, while the youngest was Mary Fitzemeyer, a premature baby who died of debility three days after she was born.
Then there was Thomas Marryatt, a sailor who took his own life at the age of 35.
James Mason died at age two after 48 hours of convulsions, while 27-year-old Edward Jones died of chronic dysentery.
"There wasn't the proper diagnostics then," said Mr Holyoak.
"It was a real outpost at the time, people were here for one reason — the gold."
Reinterment a comfort for relatives
Ten months after they were unearthed, the bodies of those exhumed from the lost cemetery have been laid to rest at the current Ravenswood cemetery.
A commemorative wall with the names of people who died in Ravenswood at the time has also been erected.
Ms McLellan said Ravenswood attracts many visitors who come seeking family history, and the research into the lost cemetery has illustrated another page of the town's history.
"The fact that they are now in a recognised burial place and their lives will be acknowledged in the service — and ongoing through the memorial — is great," she said.
Mr Holyoak said the discovery of the graves and research into the identities of the people is of great importance to the relatives of those interred there.
"There were people looking for certain relatives and going 'Well I know they died out at Ravenswood but there was nothing in the burial register to show that they were there'," Mr Holyoak said.
"Now rather than just a cow paddock … people will be able to go back and see a name and a date of death and to have them recorded rather than just having them lying unrecorded.
"It is better to do it respectfully than to just go through with a bulldozer and have it destroyed."
Mining company expansion plans
Carpentaria Gold plans to expand its Ravenswood mine while transitioning from underground to open pit mining.
In order to facilitate the expansion, the school will be relocated in September and two of the towns' historical chimney stacks will be demolished, along with the old school pool.
Carpentaria Gold's David Kelly said the company is keen to preserve the mining heritage of Ravenswood while supporting the heritage efforts of the town.
"We were keen that the operations not disturb the people we understood were buried in the informal and ungazetted grave area, so we thought it was more important that we find a place for them to rest permanently that was appropriately respectful and dignified," he said.
Mr Kelly said the mine expansion would preserve 280 permanent jobs and create an additional 150 jobs during the construction phase.
He said "most" of the company's employees came from the region and "a number" lived in Ravenswood.
Fay Martin's family have lived in Ravenswood for generations, the two houses where she grew up will be the closest to the expanded mine.
Ms Martin said it was not the noise and dust from the expanded mine that will bother her so much as the loss of history.
"I just think the price is a bit high," Ms Martin said.
"[Mining history] is the town, and that is what people come to see, that is what Ravenswood is known for."
Ms Martin said she has "copped a bit of flack" from town residents for speaking out about the expansion.
She said the town was built on mining and it keeps the town alive, however she is concerned about the loss of the history that attracts tourists.
"I know it is jobs and I am pleased that locals have got jobs and it keeps them in town, and they all tell me it is progress, but I just can't see any."
Deaths recorded in Ravenswood 1870-1872
- John Wickey Stable, 35, Solicitor, struck by lightning on Christmas Eve after seeking shelter from a storm in a nearby house, 24/12/1870
- James Cusack, 32, Publican, gastric fever, 11/01/1871
- William Thomas Graham, 2, brain fever, 11/01/1871
- Henry John Cawkwell Harrison, 45, exhaustion after remittal fever, 23/01/1871
- Connor Dwyer, 35, Miner, diseased liver, 23/01/1871
- Mary Anne Sot, 36, inflammation of the stomach, 09/04/1871
- Mary Fitzemeyer, 3 days, debility after premature birth, 27/04/1871
- Thomas Marryatt, 35, Sailor, committed suicide, 13/05/1871
- James Dann, 28, Sailor, died of asthma, 14/05/1871
- Mary Seymour, 8 days old, died after 12 hours of convulsions, 08/06/1871
- Catherine Jane Smollett, 3 months old, died from a general debility, 28/05/1871
- Andrew Robert Trotter, 3 months old, died after four days of fever, 18/06/1871
- Charles Jervis, 57, Cook, acute pneumonia, 15/07/1871
- Elizabeth Ann Walker, 35, died after 10 hours in childbirth, 19/07/1871
- John Adams, 34, Miner, killed by accident, 20/07/1871
- Elizabeth Clarke, 35, Domestic Servant, died after four weeks of acute gastritis, 15/08/1871
- James Manson, 2, died after two days of convulsions, 18/09/1871
- William Henry Peters, 4 months old, died of a fever, 26/10/1871
- John Pritchard, 40, Miner, died after one week of fever, 02/12/1871
- Thomas Benjamin Chad, 12 months, died from convulsions over 12 hours, 22/03/1872
- Edward Jones, 27, chronic dysentery, 14/04/1872
- Thomas Jones, 40, Miner, inflammation of the bowels, 24/06/1872
- Hock Johnson, 32, Publican, consumption, 26/01/1872
- Ole Olsen, 31, Miner and Carter, natural causes, 05/02/1872
- George Chapman, 40, Chemist, paralysis of the lungs 8/02/1872
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