Outback Graves Markers

Thomas HILL

Burial Location:Coolgardie Pioneer Cemetery  (details...)
Occupation: Labourer
Place of Death: Outhouse at Coolgardie
Date of Death: 12 May 1894
Age:69 years
Cause of Death:Suicide by gunshot
OGM Ref#: 2018
Headstone:None

Inscription

THOMAS HILL
1825-1894
A TRUE GOLDFIELDS PIONEER
BORN PORTSEA, ENGLAND
THEN TO AUSTRALIA
HUSBAND TO ELIZABETH
FATHER OF THOMAS, ANNIE, WILLIAM,
EMMA, GEORGE & FREGERICK
DIED COOLGARDIE 1894
THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ERECTED
BY HIS DESCENDANTS

HILL Thomas 2

HILL Thomas 2

HILL Thomas parents

HILL Thomas parents

HILL Thomas

HILL Thomas

HILL William Charles

HILL William Charles

Biography

Alias Thomas HALL

As a teenager, Tom went with his family from England to Canada, then on to Australia in the mid 1850s.

At the Inquest held 12 May 1894 at the Club Hotel, Coolgardie - Police Gazette 23 May 1894 page 97 - it was reported that he had sold his team for £70 two days before his suicide and was believed to have been robbed because only £5 was found on his body. His two sons were expected to arrive the following day and his not caring to face them with his loss, probably led to him committing this deed in an outhouse near the business centre of the town. The inquest heard that Mr Hill (known as Mr Hall) apparently came to the colony on the Bullarra in February. He had lately returned from Kurnalpi and stated to a Mr. Bigmore that he had put £35 in the West Australian Bank, and asked him to tell his sons, who he was expecting on the field.

Dr Macdonald gave evidence, having found the body lying on the left side, with a wound close to the left ear and penetrating the skull. The parts surrounding the wound were much blackened and no doubt was caused by a weapon discharged close to the ear. The man was quite dead and death must have been instantaneous.

The jury found : "We are of opinion that the deceased met his death by a bullet wound inflicted by his own hand and no other way."

Parents:Elizabeth (nee NEWTON) and Thomas HILL
Spouse:Elizabeth MELLISH, convict, transported to Van Diemans Land in 22 April 18851, married convict William Whiting, 1852, 3 children between 1852-1858.
Marriage Details:No known record of marriage to Thomas Hill.
Children:Thomas Henry, born 3 May 1860, Vic.; Annie Elizabeth born 18 May 1862, NSW; William Charles, born 8 September 1864, Vic.; Emma Sophia born 10 September 1866, Vic.; George born and died 1868; Frederick born and died 1870
Birth Details:1825, Portsea, Hampshire, England
Death Certificate:434/1894
Comments:The deceased emigrated to Canada in the 1840s and then to Australia in the 1850s.Thomas Hill's parents were born in Hampshire, England, his mother in 1790 and his father in 1793. They were married 14 June 1815 in Hampshire and produced 4 sons and a daughter, of which Thomas was the eldest son, second born.His parents died in Ontario, Canada, his father aged 73 in 1866 and his mother aged 82 years. They are both buried in Avonbank Cemetery, Downie Township, Ontario.The deceased's wife was born in Litton Cheney, Dorset, England, in 1832. Her first brush with the law came at the age of 11 years, then at 15 years she was charged with fraud. She was convicted on 9 April 1847 and transported to Van Dieman's Land on 22 April 1851. There, she married William Whiting in 1852 and was granted a Ticket of Leave 98 August 1854. ON 9 April 1860, her 10 year sentence was complete and she was made free by servitude. William Whiting died in 1861. Her first son to Thomas Hill was born 3 May 1860 but no reference to a marriage to Thomas Hill has been identified. She died in 1872 in Victoria, aged 40 years.Thomas Hill's son, Thomas Henry, married Marguerite Thyrza Melrose Carter in Perth in 1902, had 2 children born in WA; his son, William Charles Hill, married Kate Toohey at Menzies in 1898 and their children were also born in WA. He died at Bandya Station, Laverton, 20 November 1940. There is a possibility that descendants of Thomas Hill are still in WA.