The first Salvation Army meeting in Australia – Adelaide

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On this day …….. 5th September 1880

The Salvation Army began on 2 July 1865 when William Booth preached the first of nine sermons in a tattered tent on an unused Quaker cemetery in London. Initially running under the name of the East London Christian Mission, Booth and his wife held meetings every evening and on Sundays, to offer repentance, Salvation and Christian ethics to the poorest and most needy, including alcoholics, criminals and prostitutes. Booth and his followers practised what they preached, performing self-sacrificing Christian and social work, such as opening “Food for the Millions” shops (soup kitchens), not caring if they were scoffed at or derided for their Christian ministry work. In 1878, the organisation became known as the Salvation Army. They adopted a uniform and adapted Christian words to popular tunes sung in the public bars. The first Salvation Army meeting in Australia was conducted from the back of a greengrocer’s truck in Adelaide Botanic Park on 5 September 1880. It was initiated by Edward Saunders and John Gore, two men with no theological training, but who both had a heart for their fellow man’s physical and spiritual condition. Saunders and Gore had been converted by the Salvation Army in London. With the words “If there’s a man here who hasn’t had a square meal today, let him come home to tea with me”, the men began a ministry that was soon to expand throughout Australia.

 

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Bunyip Sighting – Mildura

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On this day …….. 5th September 1949

A strange creature reportedly seen in the Murray River, Mildura on this day in 1949, may have been a trained seal or sea-lion. One escaped from a travelling menagerie in Wangaratta about two years earlier, and was believed to have slipped into a river.

 

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Illegal Operation Death

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ON THIS DAY…… 4th September 1934

On the 4th of September 1934, Florence Lillian Thrower, of Orrong crescent, Caulfield, was charged with the murder of Ivy Winifred Rose McDonnell at Mooroopna on the 1st of July. The prosecution alleged that

Mrs. McDonnell died as a result of an illegal operation.

 

 

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Market Garden Murder

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ON THIS DAY ………… 4th September 1932

With almost half his head shot off and a wound in his leg, Giovanni Carretti, 36 year old Italian market gardener, of Werribee, was found murdered, outside his hut on the  4th September 1932.  Carretti occupied a six acre irrigation holding, 4 miles from Werribee and lived alone in a two-roomed hut. He was last seen alive on the 3rd. The dead man was found by his friends, lying in a pool of blood 10 feet from the building.

 

 

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Fathers Day Murder

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ON THIS DAY ………… 4th September 2005

On this day in 2005, Robert Farquharson was returning his children to their mother after a Father’s Day access visit, his white 1989 VN Commodore vehicle veered across the Princes Highway between Winchelsea and Geelong, crashed through a fence and came to rest in a farm dam where it filled with water and submerged. His three children, Jai (10), Tyler (7) and Bailey (2), were unable to free themselves and drowned. Farquharson managed to escape and alerted another driver who took him to nearby Winchelsea. Police divers recovered the boys’ bodies about 2 am the next day. They were still inside the vehicle and unrestrained by seatbelts.  After a three-month investigation, police prepared murder charges against Farquharson and went to his Winchelsea home on 14 December 2005. He was not there at the time but presented himself at the Geelong police station in the presence of his lawyer. He was arrested and charged with three counts of murder. He had previously requested and undertook a lie detector test, the results of which are inadmissible in court. He later appeared in the Geelong Magistrates Court, where he was remanded in custody and ordered to appear before the court on 7 April 2006. Gambino told the court that she did not believe Farquharson intended to kill their children deliberately, saying “I believe with all my heart that this was just an accident and that he would not have hurt a hair on their heads. I don’t believe this is murder.”  Police alleged that Farquharson was in control of the vehicle in the moments before it crashed into the dam and that he earlier told a friend, Greg King, that he had intended to kill his children to get back at his wife. He was later granted bail and released from custody to appear at his trial which was scheduled to begin in August 2007.

 

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Steve Irwin killed by a stingray

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On this day …….. 4th September 2006

Stephen Robert “Steve” Irwin was born on 22 February 1962 in Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria. He moved to Queensland when he was still a child, where his parents developed and ran the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park. For his sixth birthday, young Steve received his greatest wish – his very own 3.6m long scrub python for a pet. Steve grew up learning how to catch and care for crocodiles. He used his skills to assist the Queensland Government’s East Coast Crocodile Management program, which involved, among other ventures, catching North Queensland crocodiles. In 1991, Irwin took over the running of the reptile park, which was later renamed “Australia Zoo”. As a passionate environmentalist, Irwin became known for the television program “The Crocodile Hunter”, an unconventional wildlife documentary series which he hosted with his wife Terri Irwin. Irwin’s outgoing personality, energetic vitality and outrageous antics in the series made him an international celebrity. He also starred in Animal Planet documentaries, including The Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and New Breed Vets. Australia lost one of its most popular icons and ambassadors in the early afternoon of 4 September 2006. Steve Irwin was filming an underwater documentary off the Great Barrier Reef, when he was fatally pierced in the heart by a stingray barb. He is survived by his wife Terri, daughter Bindi, born in 1998 and son Robert (Bob), born in 2004. The family intends to continue Steve’s remarkable legacy of caring for a variety of wildlife, and raising environmental awareness across the world.

 

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Man haunted by ghost – Melbourne

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On this day …….. 4th September 1905

John Beckett, who was charged at the Melbourne City Court on this day in 1905 with insulting behaviour, implored a constable to lock him up. He said that seven years ago he murdered a man named Small in Tasmania by striking him with a stick, and had been haunted by his ghost ever since. He said he had been tried in Launceston for the offence. Beckett was remanded for medical observation.

 

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Mont Park Escapee – Melbourne

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On this day …….. 4th September 1936

An inmate from the Mont Park Mental Home escaped and made his way northward to the foot of the ranges. He was seen at Arthur’s Creek and Strathewen the following day, where he called at the home of Mrs Brain. After wards he left in the direction of the heavily timbered country at the head of Arthur’s Creek. Residents need not be alarmed if the man is still at large when this item appears for he is described by the asylum authorities as perfectly harmless. His description is-aged about 45 years, 5 ft. 3 ins. tall, dark appearance, dark beard, and wearing a blue coat and white asylum trousers. Constable Brough, of Whitlesea, and others. have. been searching for the man, who appears to have taken refuge in he densely wooded country.

 

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Second time escaping – Ararat

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On this day …….. 4th September 1868

Oliver Dragoon was committed to Ararat lunatic asylum, Western Victoria, on the 10th of February 1868. Dragoon managed to escaped from the Ararat Lunatic Asylum on the 4th of September 1868. He was arrested in Piggoreet on the 11th of September and was taken into Ballarat by Constable Magrath, and lodged in the Western lockup, before being returned to Ararat. This is the second time Dragoon has escape from the asylum, on the first occasion he succeeded in evading all search for several months. Dragoon died in the asylum. On the 2nd of June 1871, Dragoone escapes again and course on the 27th of June.

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Henry Lawson goes out in style – Sydney

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On this day …….. 4th September 1922

The ‘people’s poet’, Henry Lawson, was given a State Funeral at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, on 4 September, 1922. Thousands watched the funeral leave for Waverley Cemetery. As the coffin was born from the Cathedral, an incident marking the popularity of the deceased attracted the attention of many members of the congregation. A typical countryman, tall, sinewy, and brown, stood like a gaunt statue as the coffin was borne towards the northern door. For a moment he wavered, and then burst into tears that flowed down his rugged cheeks – ‘the grief that must have way’.

 

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infant Inquest

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ON THIS DAY…… 3rd September 1897
At an inquest on the body of a newly born female child, found in the public reserve at Fitzroy, a verdict of wilful murder against some person unknown was returned.

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Sister Killer

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ON THIS DAY…… 3rd September 1890

A Magisterial enquiry has been held concerning the death of the little girl named Veronica O’Neill on this day in 1890, after being severely beaten with a stick about the head and body by her elder sister Eleanor, aged nine and a half years. The latter at the enquiry detailed the circumstance, and said she had always hated the deceased, because she always got everything that came into the house and was always getting witness into trouble. The Magistrate ordered her to be charged with the wilful murder of her sister.

 

 

 

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