Outback Graves Markers

Maurice ARMSTRONG (more)

Cause of Death:

The child's father was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1872. Her mother was born in Melbourne the same year. Alfred and Mary met in a Perth Hospital when Alfred had typhoid and Mary was a nurse. They were married 7 July 1898 at Bummers Creek, Mount Margaret, Western Australia. Maurice was the first of their eight children. Following Maurice's death, the couple moved back to Victoria where the next two children were born. They were: Alfred Cecil born 1900 and Neville Francis born 1903. The little family then moved back to Dunedin, where the next five children were born. They were: Erena Alice born 1906 (died 2002); Clive Charles born 1909; Mary Mavis born 1910; Isabell born and died at 16 days old, 1913; Ailsa Valeria born 1915. Mary died 27 August 1929 at Dunedin. Alfred, who has been listed as being a storekeeper and a commercial traveller, died 12 August 1943 at Dunedin.

Hugh Sidney BAILEY (more)

Cause of Death: Typhoid Fever

The deceased was the youngest of nine children born to John Burn Bailey, born Surrey, England, and his wife, Ann, who was born in Bedfordshire in 1817. The couple married on 6 July 1847 in Luton, Bedfordshire. Siblings of the deceased were: Agnes Jane born 1850; Walter John born 1851; Eleanor Matilda born 1852; Edith Elizabeth born 1854; Blanche Isabel born 1855; Alice Maude born 1858; Mary Caroline born 1860; Ernest Edgar born 1861. Hugh's father died in 1895 and his mother in 1898, both in Middlesex, England.

Harry BAKER (more)

Cause of Death: Drowned in a well

Some time in September 1901, the deceased drowned when he fell down King's Well, near Mt Morgans. He is buried at the soak near King's Well. He had been in Morgans for a few weeks and was noticed to be acting in an eccentric manner. He started to ride to- Laverton, but returned, saying that he had lost his bicycle in the bush. Subsequently, he reached Laverton, where he left some property. Nothing was then heard of him for several weeks. Circumstances of a somewhat peculiar nature were that there was no food in the stomach and that the deceased's boots and trousers were off and floating in the water. Two teamsters camped at King's Well on or about 18 October 1901 and on hauling up the bucket, brought up a pair of man's trousers. There was an awful stench coming from the well and then they saw a man's body floating in the well. The Mt Morgan's police were informed. On bringing the body up, after the usual examinations, they thought of the burial part. There is a creek running near this well and a soak was dug in the creek but it was dry at this particular time. The police, either from laziness or some other reason, placed the body in the soak with the assistance of two so-called prospectors. At the inquest held on 31 October 1901 at Mt Morgans, the jury returned a verdict that in their opinion the body found in King's Well was that of a man known as Harry Baker, late of Menzies, that death was caused by failure of the heart's action and that there was nothing definite to prove whether he fell down the well accidentally or committed suicide. The deceased had been working as a late night watchman at Menzies.

William Ralph BURNETT (more)

Cause of Death: Typhoid Fever

William ISAACS (more)

Cause of Death: Acute tuberculosis

Also known as William KING.

John Richard LENNON (more)

Cause of Death: Enterocolitis

The little child had spent 3 months in New South Wales before coming to Western Australia.

Benjamin Waongathauoo MASON (more)

Cause of Death: Unknown

Ben Mason is a West Australian who went to the United Aborigines' Mission School at Mount Margaret, near Kalgoorlie, till he was 16. He worked on a sheep station for three years and then in a factory at Perth for 18 months. While in Perth, he worked for the Western Australian Wire Netting Company and joined night classes at the Technical College to study English and Mechanics. He felt a desire to be a preacher and from the Church of Christ Pastor of Perth, he heard of the AIM Bible Training Institute in Singleton. He applied, was accepted, and spent three years training there from 1954. The College is a Bible Training Institute for native people and is fully staffed by the Inland Mission. Students are taught ordinary subjects, as many of them left school early. He then undertook further studies under Australian Evangelist, John G Ridley. From there, Ben travelled with fellow student, David Kirk, a Queenslander, going from station to station in New South Wales, working as an evangelist and Bible teacher throughout Australia during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Ben also attended the Australian Institute of Evangelism at Wollongong for a year. In 1958, he was the main speaker at the Easter Convention in Brookton, WA. According to Thomas Street, a UAM missionary from Gnowangerup, it was Mason’s ministry that challenged him to start a Bible college in WA. Street was also inspired by the comments of some Aboriginal people who said, ‘If he [Mason] can preach like that with Bible training, why could not some of us do the same?’ Street left the Brookton Convention, motivated and determined to make moves towards establishing a Bible Institute. In the meantime, Mason continued with his evangelistic and teaching ministry. At the beginning of 1966, he and his wife Bernice, whom he married in 1964 and who also came from the Goldfields region of WA, took over the church ministry that Cedric and Margaret Jacobs had pioneered in Perth. In 1968, the Masons resigned from their work in Perth to enable Bernice to attend the UAM Bible Training Institute in Gnowangerup. Mason worked in various jobs in Gnowangerup to support his family and continued his evangelistic and teaching ministry throughout the state. In 1966–67, the young leaders were busy in their respective ministries. In Perth, Ben and Bernice Mason were pastoring the fellowship and developing the ministry that Cedric and Margaret Jacobs had begun.

In 1978, Ben Mason was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) "For service to Aboriginals". In 1986, he ministered in Alice Springs, returning to Adelaide in 1988. He organised the annual Central Australian Aboriginal Christian Convention in Alice Springs. From this time until he died, Mason continued preaching on a semi-retired basis, travelling to various parts of Australia and even attending a conference in England. He spent the last years of his life with his children and grandchildren, knowing in his heart his homecoming was near, encouraging them to serve the Lord.

In 2004, Ben and Bernice's daughter, Andrea, was the first Aboriginal woman to lead an Australian political party in a federal election when she stood as Family First’s No.1 candidate for a South Australian senate seat. In 1988, Andrea Mason graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Aboriginal Affairs and Public Administration from the then-South Australian Institute of Technology. She spent two years in Canberra at the Australian Institute of Sport on a netball scholarship. She later returned to study and completed her Bachelor of Law in 2002 at the University of Adelaide. She was Telstra Australia's Business Woman of the Year in 2016. In 2017 she was NT's Australian of the Year and Alice Springs' Centralian Citizen of the Year. She is a Commissioner in the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disabilities. In 2017, she was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University of Adelaide for her outstanding contribution to Aboriginal, Australian and international communities through her commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice. In August 2018, she was awarded an Order of Australia for Service to the Aboriginal Community of the Northern Territory.

Sarah MEREDITH (more)

Cause of Death: Bronchopneumonia (3 days), chronic chest disease (years), bronchitis, exacerbated by severe obstructive jaundice (1 year)

For reasons unknown, Granny Sarah is buried outside the fence of the Mt Margaret Cemetery.

Martin MULLINS (more)

Cause of Death: Multiple Hepatic Abscesses

William MUNSHANK (more)

Cause of Death: Exhaustion

William STIRLING (more)

Cause of Death: Bright's Disease, Heart Failure

The deceased left an estate valued at £45 for his widow via her attorney, Philip Mark Gliddon.

Margaret SUMMERS (more)

Cause of Death: Multiple Neuritis, Cardiac Failure

Alfred Edwin TRENTER (more)

Cause of Death: Multiple Nephritis, Heart Failure

The deceased had been suffering for two months, but not seriously until the last fortnight. Without a doubt, he was the most popular man in Mt, Margaret. He was president of the local progress committee and connected with and took a leading part in all other local public bodies.

John WADE (more)

Cause of Death: Run over by a Tractor-Trailer

This lad was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Wade, of the United Aborigines' Mission at Warburton Ranges, 403 miles east of Laverton. The boy was seriously injured 200 miles from Laverton whilst travelling on the Mission tractor and trailer en route to the Warburton. He was returning after a holiday to rejoin his parents at the Mission. In response to a call for the ambulance sent out by the portable wireless transmitter operated by pedal and carried on this vehicle, Dr. Starke set out on the long trip over exceptionally rough bush tracks to render assistance. The 200 mile trip occupied 26 hours' travelling and the return journey with the injured boy was covered in 25 hours. He was operated on at Laverton Hospital and good hopes were held for his recovery. The boy was jolted from the vehicle by a bump and fell to the ground and one wheel passed diagonally over his body. His injuries included a fractured ankle, fractured thigh, probable fracture of the knee, internal injuries and extensive bruises and lacerations. Later, it was thought the boy to be suffering from multiple leg fractures and shock, but not internal injuries as previously believed. A very bright lad of high spirits, he showed remarkable fortitude but, unfortunately, his injuries were so severe that the constant attention and skilled medical service rendered were of no avail and he passed away in the early hours of August 25. This was the culmination of nearly five weeks of untiring effort in a dogged fight for the boy's life by the medical officer, Dr. M. Starke, and nursing staff of Laverton District Hospital. It was found very difficult to make arrangements to get the boy's parents to Laverton. However on Monday morning a motor, truck left for the Warburton Range. The next day the truck was overtaken 70 miles out by Constable Anderson, who told the driver not to proceed as the boy had died. The boy was buried at the Morgans Mission Cemetery in which only mission natives had previously been buried. He had a younger sister named Carol.