The extraordinary will of William Mitchner - 1918

The William Mitchner shelter, at the Warwick Cemetery. The granite hewn cross of Winifred Mary Daveney in the foreground. Photograph Simon Hamlet July 2017.

The landscape of the Warwick Cemetery is dominated by a brick shelter, built from the bequest of a Mr William Mitchner.  The cemetery signage offers little information on the man. A lack of information is just the taunt a 'Trover' like myself needs to go looking. This post seeks to provide some information about William Mitchner and his bequest, with details mostly derived from the National Library of Australia's newspaper archive, Trove.  A later post will provide some information on the drama that arose as a consequence of the will.

Prior to his death Mitchner leaves little evidence of himself in the public record, however the extraordinary nature of his bequest appears in the newspapers for several decades after that event.  Of the 125 results in Trove for “William Mitchner” only six refer to him as a living person. These early articles provide us with the following scraps of information: - He was the mortgagee of the Plough Inn, Palmerin Street, Warwick when it was destroyed by fire in 1881[1]. He was the mortgager of the Royal Hotel at Clifton for some time [2]. He challenged the evaluation of his land for rates purposes [3, 4].

Later articles reflecting on the impact of his bequest provide the following details of his life. Mitchner was born in Lewin, Prussia (now Poland), in 1841 [5]. He came to Queensland in 1864 [5] though he did not make it to Allora until 1872, where he worked as fireman / engineer at the Allora flour mill, before taking over a shop [6]. He became a naturalised British subject in 1866 [5], and Queensland was still a colony of Britain at this time. “He never married, but devoted his life to patient toil and religious observance” [5].

A bust of William Mitchner at the Warwick General Cemetery.  Photograph Simon Hamlet July 2017.

In 1918 there is a flurry of amazement in the papers at the nature and generosity of his bequest, with some newspaper articles listing the will in full.  Totalling over £35,000 the estate’s worth was roughly equivalent to $3,000,000 in today’s money [7]. The will specified a number of beneficiaries, summarised below based on the report in the Darling Downs Gazette of 15 June 1918 [8].

1. General Hospital, Toowoomba - 50 shares and £100.
2. Warwick General Hospital - 40 shares of Warwick Farmers Milling Co.
3. £1,500 General Cemetery Warwick. For erection and maintenance of a shelter, vault, bust and belfry. With a request that a bell be tolled on the approach of all funerals.
4. £800 for the same purpose.
5. Request that he be buried where he dies if in either Allora or Warwick, but if he dies elsewhere that he be buried in Warwick.
6. £200 to be invested for 50 years and the proceeds to benefit both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches in Warwick, with the principal being divided after 50 years.
7. £100 to be invested for 50 years and the proceeds to benefit both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches in Allora, with the principal being divided after 50 years.
8. £750 for the land, building and furnishing of a stone church at Hendon, complete with bell and organ.
9. The balance of the estate to be placed in the trust of the German Consul of Brisbane, when appointed, and the following disbursements made:
1. £600 to the Tautz family,
2. £1,000 to be invested in trust for an Elizabeth Conrad, then at her death £500 to be invested as she sees fit and £500 for the erection of a steeple and bell in the church at Lewin (Germany), together with busts of both himself and Elizabeth.
3. £7,000 for the construction of a school in Lewin with provision for the purchase of 15 acres of land for the purpose.  For more detailed instruction see the Trove article.
4. £2,500 to be invested and the income be entrusted to the Roman Catholic priest at Lewin for the provision of children during the winter months.
5. £2,000 to be invested and the income be entrusted to the Roman Catholic priest at Lewin for the provision of comforts and clothing for the students of the school.
6. £1,000 to be invested and the income be entrusted to Mayor and councillors of Lewin for the provision of soup kitchen in the months of December, January and February for the poor and needy.
7. £300 to be invested and the income be entrusted to the Roman Catholic parish priest at Lewin for the running of the church, with the principal being available for permanent improvements after 50 years.
8. As in (g) for the Roman Catholic parish priest at Reinerz.
9. As in (h) for the Roman Catholic parish priest at Dresden, Saxony.
10. £50 provision for a new tombstone of a relative in Lewin.
11. A series of town improvements which would come up for public sale after 50 years with equal one third distribution between the educational institution he founded, his living relatives in Lewin and “all Christian Lodges and Societies in  Lewin”.  Improvements are:
1. £1,450 on a farm near the school, including farmhouse and machinery.
2. £6,850 on a flour mill near the school and railway, fully equiped.
3. £2,750 for the building and fitting of a hotel in Lewin.

We can perhaps read between the lines that for William Mitchner his early life in Lewin was hard, especially in the winter months.  His provision of education, support and employment for the townspeople shows a very practical understanding of the struggles of the people.

We may also be curious about his provision for a married woman, Elizabeth Conrad, for whom no blood linkage is demonstrated.  One commentator says “Perhaps she was the reason why William Mitchner did not call to himself a mate to help him in his solitary life in Queensland” [5].

Mitchner’s estate is blog worthy on its own merit, but events that transpire because of it are also intriguing.  This will be the content of my next post.

References

[1] The Recent Fire in Palmerin-street. (1881, September 3). Warwick Argus (Qld. : 1879 - 1901), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75661440

[2] Supreme Court. (1904, May 13). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174308936

[3] Warwick municipal Assessment. (1883, May 12). Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld. : 1867 - 1919), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82088074

[4] ALLORA. (1886, May 22). Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld. : 1867 - 1919), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84382310

[5] Thirteen Australian Judges Sat On A German Farmer's Nest Egg! (1927, July 24). Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), p. 13. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203939012

[6] Queensland Government (2016) Warwick General Cemetery https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=602152  

[7] Relative worth calculator  http://www.thomblake.com.au/secondary/hisdata/query.php accessed July 19, 2017

[8] LATE WILLIAM MITCHNER. (1918, June 15). Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 - 1922), p. 5. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183238474

The Ghost Gate Owl

Along the somewhat degraded and aptly named “Ghost Gate Road” that connects Glengallan and Goomburra, there is a lovely piece of sculpture produced by the artist David Blomfield. Funded by the Allora Action Association the sculpture was installed in 2005. It is located in a logical place (as you will see), and yet it is sufficiently off the beaten track it seems appropriate to bring it to the attention of my readers.

Photograph by Simon Hamlet (June 2017), converted to black and white to give a 'moonlight' effect.  Heart shape of the owl's face suggests that the sculpture was modelled on a barn owl.

The ghost gate story is discussed by ‘Beachcombers’ in the Sunday Mail magazine of 1941 [1], and by John Christopher in the children’s section of The Telegraph (Brisbane) of 1939 [2]. Both writers were running article series on the ghosts of Queensland at the time.  The extracts below are from the article in the Sunday Mail.

Article header from the Telegraph (1939)

Article header from the Sunday Mail (1941)

One evening many years ago a little rouseabout named Daniel Hartigan left Goomburra to ride the 12 odd miles to Glengallan. A certain amount of disquiet always descended upon the other hands when Daniel went off to Glengallan. He would return roaring drunk and challenge any or all of the men to fight him. So after a yarn in the kitchen all hands turned in and barricaded the doors and windows, leaving it for Daniel to fight himself or talk himself to sleep in a shed whensoever he should happen along.

Shortly after midnight the drumming of hooves in the home paddock announced that someone was coming as if the devil rode behind him. Peering from the hut the men saw that it was Daniel Hartigan. Johnny Boake, the only man game to face Hartigan when the latter was drunk, went out to see him, for he was clearly distressed.

He explained to Boake that he had seen something at the boundary gate that had left him a shivering wreck. Thinking that Hartigan's mind had at length failed under the strain of too much bluestone rum, Johnny Boake got him to bed.

Next morning Hartigan was brooding and silent. A day or two later he explained to Boake that after drinking a prodigious quantity of colonial rum he set off for home. His mount carried him, to the accompaniment of many warlike songs, to the boundary gate which stood between Goomburra and Glengallan.

Daniel was endeavouring to dismount when the shadowy something pushed past him and simultaneously the gate swung open. In a flash Daniel became cold sober, with every hair on his head tingling and every nerve tense.

However, he had no time for a few seconds to think about apparitions or gates which swung open of their own accord. For his horse had bolted back along the Glengallan track and Daniel was half out of the saddle. Only superb horsemanship got him back into the saddle and permitted him to regain control of his mount.

He turned it and edged his way back along the track towards the gate. With horror he saw that the gate had closed again, and as his horse approached it the animal was shivering with dread.

Calling all his reserves of courage to his aid the frightened bushman dismounted and walked his shrinking horse the last 20 yards. Pushing open the gate he leapt into the saddle and the horse bounded away at full gallop for home. As he went Hartigan saw out of the corner of his eye the shadowy something fluttering in and out among the trees which stood close to the lonely gate.

The cause of temperance received a sinner to its fold. Until he left the station, because he found the ridicule of his mates intolerable, Hartigan drank nothing stronger than tea, we are told!

That was by no means the end of the Ghost at Goomburra Gates. Opinions of the departed rouseabout underwent a sudden change when other night riders reported having seen a something and the gate swinging open as they approached. To add to the hair raising experience, the gate would open on occasions when not a breath of wind stirred the leaves of the ghostly trees nearby. It was all very mystifying, and the nocturnal riders found other ways of returning to Goomburra except by the main gate.

Not a soul on the Downs but believed that Goomburra gate was haunted when the story got about that the Reverend Henry Davidson had seen the gate swing wide open and an indistinct form flitting through the trees. Afterwards the clergy man denied this supernatural experience, but he only complicated matters, for a man who rode with him on the night in question repeated that they had both seen the gate open and the ghost go flitting away!

Curiously, a Warwick Daily News article from 1940 will tell the same story but with the famous Rev. Benjamin Glennie as the frightened clergyman. [3]

Then came the experience of William Robey, a fencer on Goomburra jogging quietly along in the twilight he had almost reached the gate, a shadowy something detached itself from the top rail and approached him. Thoroughly startled, his horse reared franticly and then bolted. Despite his fine horsemanship Robey was thrown heavily when his horse struck a tree.

For some time Robey lay unconscious and when he regained his senses the moon had risen. Struggling to a sitting position he saw a phantom figure leaning on the top rail and watching him.

With his scalp twitching the bushman edged back into the shadows and stared with horror at the gate. As the moon rose higher he saw more clearly. Suddenly the figure rose and floated towards him. He saw that it was disembodied. There was just a ghastly head and arms waving slowly in the moonlight.

He heard the gate creak and open as if gently pushed by an invisible hand. The spectre passed over the trembling man who suddenly [....] laughed and fainted immediately. It is not wise for men with [...] to laugh uproariously.

But it was cause for laughter. The Goomburra Gate was laid for. [...] It was a great white owl [...] perched habitually on the top bar of the gate. The gate was so finely sprung that a latch was unnecessary. It would open at the slightest touch, but would always close again instantly. This was considered a safe barrier between Glengallan and Goomburra, because the presence of boundary riders reduced the chance of stock drifting from one run to the other, even if a strong wind blew the gate open. When a nocturnal horseman approached the owl flew away, and the slight push he gave to the top rail in doing so caused the gate to swing open!

References

[1] The SWINGING GATE (1941, February 23). Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954), p. 5 (Supplement to The Sunday Mail). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98260961

[2] Some Celebrated Queensland Spooks (1939, December 16). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 10 (LATE WEEK). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184754947

[3] Unveiled To-morrow (1940, June 8). Warwick Daily News (Qld. : 1919 -1954), p. 4. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190423381