In memoriam of the late Rev. Wm. Hill - A poem by Zachariah Sutcliffe 1869

Portrait of the Rev William Hill.
Photograph by Charles Wherret
Source: National Portrait Gallery

This poem is part of a theme in this blog examining the poems of Zachariah Sutcliffe. An index of blog articles related to Sutcliffe can be found here.

Sutcliffe published this work as a stand alone poem, a copy of which is pasted into a scrapbook in the State of Library of Victoria’s (SLV) Sutcliffe Archive, along with the following newspaper clipping which appears to be from the Mount Alexander Mail of 31 July, 1871.

Mr Z. Sutcliffe has left with us a copy of his new book of poetic effusions. Some of the pieces are very creditably written, more particularly one on the death of the Rev. Wm. Hill.

This indicates that the poem was subsequently printed as part of a collection, probably one of the editions of “A Few Simple Lines”.

The SLV does provide an electronic version of the stand alone poem ... available here.

The poem consists of ten quatrains with an ABCB rhyming pattern. It is undated but probably dates to the year in which the murder took place, 1869. Unless Sutcliffe knew Hill personally it probably postdates the publication of some of the tributes. The line “he who hath carried glad tidings of peace, To swarthy sons of the Orient strand” would be linked to Hill’s missionary work in India, details of which were not present in the first flush of reportage.

A post about the murder of Rev. Wm Hill can be found here. It is too long a digression to act as an introduction to a poem.

IN MEMORY OF THE LATE REV. WM. HILL, Who was killed by a Convict (RITSON) while administering the solaces of the Gospel to him, at Pentridge Stockade, on 13th May, 1869.

Hark! what means that loud cry, swelling high on the breeze, 

Resounding the length and the breadth of our land? 

'Tis the voice of a nation, in loud indignation, 

Denouncing a cruel and murderous hand.

A brother has fallen, the beloved lies low, 

A ministering Abel is brutally slain;

And the wails of a people, as tolls from the steeple 

Fall on the ear of a blood-guilty Cain.

Yes, he who hath carried glad tidings of peace 

To swarthy sons of the Orient strand; 

And hath echoed the chime in Australia's clime, 

And won for himself a name in our land;

A name that doth shine fair, illustrious, and perfect, 

And bright among Austral's noblest and best; 

Yet, in criminal's cell, there, bleeding he fell; 

His blood dyed the hand he had labored to bless.

Behold in the horizon a beautiful star 

Shedding its light calm and tranquilly bright, 

When an envious cloud doth its lustre enshroud, 

And shadows are left in the trail of its flight.

Then be hushed every cry, the star has not fallen, 

But hid for a season the brighter to shine; 

When the shadows shall flee, then wondering we'll see 

In the deep rolling cloud a finger divine.

Then fare-thee-well! brother, we cannot deplore thee; 

Thy life was a life of labour and love; 

When death did its duty, its clothing was beauty, 

A herald of glory to take thee above.

There the crown of the martyr shall circle thy brow 

And sweetly the song of victory sing; 

The palm shall be thine, -- Oh! how bright wilt thou shine, 

Whose last moments were spent in serving thy King.

Yet we cannot but think of thy once happy home, 

Of the orphans now so doubly bereft, 

Their light and their guide both winged from their side, 

And they lonely and weeping are left.

True, we cannot restore their dear parents again, 

Or stem the sad tears of their natural grief; 

But the destitute's cry we can surely supply, 

And honor the dead by giving relief.

ZACHARIAH SUTCLIFFE.

[Undated]

The poems of Zachariah Sutcliffe an index.

This post is a stub. 

Zachariah Sutcliffe has a large number of poems which I hope to catalogue in this blog. I have made this post 'live' in order make the links in the index work. Definitely a work in progress!

Introduction 

blah blah

Stand alone poems

A Fatal Accident on the Bay

A Requiem in the memory of Charles Dickens

The Wreck of the Loch Ard [1878]

In memoriam of the Late Rev. Wm. Hill [1869]

List of Publications with associated poems

A few Simple Lines [the small blue edition] - 1883

A few simple lines [the Morpeth edition] - Date

In memory of the lady who offered one thousand guineas

In memory of Albert the good

Lines addressed to H.K. an Australian

To a would be critic

Thoughts of the blind

To Mr J.D.

A mother to her boy in heaven

Lines in memory of my mother

The dying mother to her child

The dying child to its mother

The mother's lament o'er lost son

The last gaze on my mother

An epitaph for my mother's tombstone

Let my name not be forgotten 

The Christians farewell

My home

On leaving Sydney

On leaving Morpeth

Farewell to the kind inhabitants of Sydney, NSW

Not my will, but they will be done

To the stranger

When all others have foresaken me thou has not

Home: or, my father's footsteps

Moonlight

Lines addressed to Z. Sutcliffe from E.T.

To Miss Sarah A.

To Miss Ellen T.

To Miss Maria L.

I cannot forgive her

Advice to my friends

Just two years ago

A word

I'm proud of my country

Saturday night at the Eastern Market Melbourne

To horseskin an' Simon

A hint to lovers

A word to idlers

Composed while lying on the Maitland racecourse

Beware of the lions

On meeting my friend

Dunn, the bushranger

Australian rambler

Let us fight the good fight

To my child

God save those wicked men

A hint to the selfish

The bushrangers

It is not thy will that one should perish, but that all should live

Look beyond the clouds

Tell me what is love?

Oh for a day

Lines addressed to myself

Prayer

To H.N. of Morpeth

An old man's lament

To those men that are looking for work, and praying they find none

Killed by the Rescue - boating death in Hobson Bay - 1878 - Poems of Zachariah Sutcliffe

Green, Allan C (1900). RESCUE [in front of a steamship].
http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/28653

This post forms part of a larger series devoted to the poetry of Zachariah Sutcliffe. Here a link to the Sutcliffe Index.

The Poem

The poem draws its inspiration from factual events and can be found as a stand-alone printing in the State Library of Victoria's archive of Sutcliffe's poetry [1].

The poem consists of seven quatrains, within an inconsistent and sometimes forced rhyming pattern.

The loose document has no printing date and I have not been able to find a copy of this poem in any newspaper - this would have provided an upper writing date. I assume it to be soon after the story broke in the newspapers.

Fatal Accident
On the Bay March 14th, 1878.

The night was dark, a drizzling rain
A boat seen go from the pier;
The Son with a parcel in his hand
To give it to his parents dear.

YUILLE and SEGGIE pulled the boat,
The latter for his hire,
The former with his parcel went
To please his own desire.

Each are pulling their very best,
To reach the ship WHAMPOA;
Joy filled their manful breasts
I know, I feel, I'm sure

SEGGIE'S hopes were honest ones,
YUILLE'S likewise were;
But little did they think of death,
Or its terrors were so near.

Yes, death was sitting on their backs,
Ready their lives to take,
And nought ne'er on this earth,
Can e'er this monster shake.

He came on a Steamer's float
And in a flash struck the boat,
Leaving Widows and Children all alone,
Until he comes to carry them home.

Oh death? thou comest in thine own way
Riding on foam, dipping in spray,
Tapping the heads of men in a boat
Nought left behind but bodies afloat.

ZACHARIAH SUTCLIFFE. 

The Story

The following paragraphs are the account from the Argus, Friday 15 March 1878, page 5. The Argus [2] names the boatman as Saggae, Sydney's Evening News of the same date [3] favours the spelling 'Teggie' and a later edition of the Argus [4] favours 'Seggie' which is the form used by Sutcliffe. 'Seggie' is the most common in numerous later reports.

There is irony in the fact that incident was the fault of the Steam-tug name the 'Rescue', and I have tried to capture that in the post title.

FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT.

A sad boat accident happened in Hobson's Bay last night, resulting in the death of two persons. It appears that the steamer Rescue was returning from Dromana with a con-tingent of the grocers' picnic party, and when near the Nelson buoy a crashing noise was heard, and it became known that one of the paddles had come into collision with some object. A passenger who was looking over the side at the time stated that he saw a dark object and the body of a man float post. The steamer was stopped and a search made. After tacking about, the dead body of a well known waterman named Robert Saggee was found entangled in a boat a sail. The face of the deceased was much bruised and dis figured, and it was supposed that he had been struck by the paddle of the steamer and killed instantaneously. It was evident that the steamer had come in collision with some boat, and it was feared that a number of other persons had perished. Some of the passengers on board the Rescue said they saw ladies in the water, but this was only imagination. It was subsequently ascertained, however, that Mr. Wm. Yuille, son of Mr. W. C. Yuille, commission agent, of Bourke street west, had been on the boat, and consequently that he must have been drowned. Inquiries made at a late hour elicited that Saggee and Mr Yuille, jun., left Sandridge pier in a rowing boat, at about 8 p.m., for the Whampoa, which was lying in the bay on the eve of departure for England. Mr Yuille, sen., and his wife were on board that vessel, and their son, who had seen them embark during the day, was now returning with a parcel for his mother. That there were no other persons in the boat is affirmed by two watermen named Monk and Tempest, who saw them leave the pier. Mr Yuille was assisting Saggee by pulling an oar, and both the occupants had thus their backs to the Rescue when the collision occurred. The steamer carried the usual lights, but the boat had none, and therefore could not havr been seen, as the night was very dark, and a thick rain was falling. The police boat was out search-ing for the body of Yuille until about mid-night, but was not successful, nor could any trace of the boat be found. Intelligence of the melancholy event soon reached the Whampoa, and on Mr. and Mrs. Yuille hear-ing of their bereavement they at once decided to abandon their intended voyage and re-turn to shore with their luggage. The body of Saggee was conveyed to the Sandridge morgue, where Mr. Candler will hold an inquest on the remains.

As far as I can tell the body was never recovered and given the lack of notices Yuille's funeral would have been a private ceremony. 

References

[1] Sutcliffe, Z. (1859). Poems, 1859-1885 [manuscript]. State Library of Victoria Archive - RecordID 9916395893607636

[2] FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT. (1878, March 15). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved December 9, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5925032

[3] Boat Accident in Hobson's Bay. (1878, March 15). Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), p. 3. Retrieved November 29, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107939518

[4] THE FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT. (1878, March 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 8. Retrieved December 9, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5925261