NO NEED TO CROSS THE TRACKS!!
This is a live high-speed railway line.
DO NOT CROSS THE TRACKS!!
Between Peterborough and Broken Hill there is an old Australian National (AN) sign saying Dead Man’s Hill. Nearby there is a white wooden cross on the hill.
Why are these things here? Well, the CO has turned up 2 very interesting stories.
Story 1 – Swagman
A swagman was found dead near the railway line and the fettlers buried him on this hill.
Like the Government Gazettes, sometimes the Public Trustee Intestate Records held by State records reveal the lonely burial and just like their counterpart, they rarely give the detail needed to find the grave site!
The unknown male buried six miles northwest of Yunta is reported in such a way. Usually these entries are supported by parallel entries in other records.
Public Trustee Intestate Records GRG 33/1 I 3578
Found 28 May 1906 skeleton wearing a truss; buried on spot; possessions - £0/6/11, 1 watch & chain, 1 pocket knife, 1 pair spectacles, 1 single barrel gun with timber parts rotted away, old black pipe, all clothes scattered & rotten; no inquest; reported by Mannahill Police.
Incidentally, this event has no Death Certificate as only a Burial Order was issued. Technically the magistrate should have arranged to forward proceedings on to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, but clearly in this case this never eventuated. Searchers can find a number of notices in Government Gazettes reminding readers of the need to procure Death certificates indicating that this was a common problem. To date the author has located 219 unregistered deaths in South Australia which are recorded in other official records.
Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1912), Friday 25 May 1906, page 1
ANOTHER BUSH TRAGEDY
M.C. Campbell, of Mannahill, has reported to the Acting Commissioner of Police (Mr. G. L. Reed) that the remains of a man had been found in the Teetulpa Ranges. The clothes had rotted away, and the skeleton appeared to have been Iying on the spot for about 10 years. Beside the skeleton were a watch and chain, a pocket, knife, a pipe, and the remains of a purse with 6/11 in silver and copper. The coins were black with exposure. A billycan, a pannikin, a flask of powder, and a single barrelled muzzle-loading gun and a pair of spectacles were found a few yards away. From a minute examination of the skeleton the constable concluded that the man had been a cripple. Inquiries in the district elicited no knowledge of the corpse. No inquest was held.
Story 2 – Railway fettler/ganger
From a worker who was stationed in the Peterborough division from the early 60s to the early 80s the story about the cross on Deadman's Hill is as follows:
A fettler died while working on the track at Deadman's Hill in the middle of summer around the turn of last century (early 1900s). As they did not have means to transport or keep the body in those days and he apparently had no relatives he was given a christen burial on the hill.
The South Australian Railways and later Australian National painted the cross every year.
In recent years a retired train driver from Pt Pirie took it on himself to go to the site and restore the cross.