Biography

Deceased died in his tent about 200 yards below James Balzano's camp at Lake Darlot. The informant of his death was Charles F Wyvill, miner, Lake Darlot. Deceased's brother was one of the 13 mourners at the funeral. The coffin was made of meat boxes. Elver was buried in a white cement grave (the mound 2 feet high, all of broken cement) about 13 yards from Samuel Carson and about 12 yards north of George Bishop. Deceased went to the Mt Black gold rush and caught a cold which developed into a fever. He was ailing for a few weeks before he died. Deceased's brother, Sidney Elver, and their brother-in-law, Charles Wyvill, were travelling from Lake Darlot to Cue on their way home to Queensland, having just buried Robert Elver at Lake Darlot. Sidney Elver became too ill to travel any further, died and was buried near their campsite. Mrs Jean Cattanach, of Wishart in Queensland, wrote: "It was the family's understanding that Great-Grandfather Elver lost money in the bank crash of the time (believed to have been the 1893 Depression) and his two younger sons, Robert and Sidney, with their good friend and brother-in-law, Charles Wyvill, decided to travel to western Australia in the hope they would find enough gold to replace the money lost. But it was not to be and the big tragedy was that the two Elver boys lost their lives."