John DumphyPrint Page

The headstone over the grave, commemorates John Dumphy who died in a mining accident in 1865. 

An accident, says the Advertiser, occurred on Wednesday morning in the Hustler's Reef Company's claim which was attended with fatal consequences, the result, being the instantaneous death of a miner named John Dumphy. He went to work with his mate in the morning, into a drive situated at the bottom of the shaft, at the 332 feet level, and had hardly entered it when he heard a crumbling of the stone above, and remarked to his mate, saying they had better leave the place. He had scarcely spoken when the mate leapt from the drive to the level, and in leaping heard a crack from the roof and a fall from it. The mate called, but Dumphy was buried beneath several tons of a polished looking slate, which was greasy to touch. Several miners were near, and the body was soon extricated, but the man was dead. His skull had been frightfully fractured, and his left arm broken, so that his death must have been instantaneous upon the fall of stone. It appears that this slate slipped from a mass which ran obliquely upwards, by two legs meeting at a point like the letter V turned upside down, and constituted a break in the roof.

An inquest was held yesterday upon the body, and a verdict of " accidental death" returned, at the same time exonerating all parties concerned in the mine from negligence or blame of any kind. This is the first serious accident, it is said that has occured in this claim. 
Mount Alexander Mail (Vic), 21 October 1865.

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