#corpsesofmelbourne

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Last week I made it to Box Hill Cemetery. Which for some strange reason closes at 5:00pm, and in classic Grey style, I was there at 4:50 after getting on a train that somehow at 4pm was peak hour packed, with a bike. Well, I guess, lesson learned, and thanks lilydale commuters for not throwing me into the gap.

I only got these few photos as I didn’t want to be caught behind automatic closing gates with a bike, although I admit the fences were low enough that I could climb out, even with a bike. So I left, pledging to return another day. It’s very accessible as it’s only a few hundred meters away from laburnum train station, so I have no excuse not to return.   I also made a brief visit to Melbourne General Cemetery (no photos I’m afraid, as I was running very late, to a very important date). Melbourne General feels like my home cemetery, I have some of my earliest, in the grounds, personal cemetary memories there and I relate to it strongly as an inner city melbournite. It also seems like it somehow has the most written lore associated with it. Take wikipedia’s list of notable burials at the site, it’s longer than the one for Rookwood Necropolis in sydney, which as a cemetary is 6 times larger and has 1 million interments.  I do not know if there are actually more notable interments at one or the other, but the easily accessible resources favour Melbourne General Cemetery. While all interments are expensive, Melbourne General seems as if it would be one of the most expensive options. I say “seems as if” because the cemetery trust that governs it is doing an excellent job at obfuscating the prices. To the point that their guide on comparing prices is mostly just trying to convince you to buy funerary services directly through them, in advance. BUT YES ANYWAY, the POINT is I’m unlikely to call it home after I die so it feels weird to have such a strong attachment to it. Along with that, it’s historical significance makes it feel almost pointless to write about in any great detail as people far more skilled and numerous than I have most likely written almost every story there is to tell. So Melbourne General seems like a place that’s really just for me to enjoy alone. I won’t be interred there, I will likely write very little about it as compared to smaller, less visited cemeteries. Although my memories, it’s proximity to me and events, like historic tours do offer unique opportunities to the novice corpse writer. 

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Old Williamstown Morgue - Closure

I do admit that when I first drafted this and wrote that the morgue was bad even for 1925 standards, I was doing a bit of inference from the tone of writing about the place. However, when I was searching old newspapers for stories about its closure I admit I was a little shocked about the animosity. Today it is suspected to be Victoria’s first morgue and respected as a heritage location, the past was not so friendly. 

I scrolled the newspaper archives for all mentions of the morgue from 1900 to 1925. 1925 is the final mention of the morgue in the archives which span until the 1950s. 1900 was an arbitrary date picked as I could find no mention of the closure or state of the morgue prior to 1920 and I felt anything prior to 1900 was effectively ancient news. So the question is, why did the morgue close?

I assumed, as I have so far seen about the move from Gem Pier to Ann Street, that the closure of the morgue would be centred around public outcry. The outcry that did occur came from the coroner, E.W. Jackson, who may of been representing the families of the area in his comments to the media or just his own disgust at the squalid conditions. 

From The Herald, Wednesday 28th of September 1921

“MORGUE AT WILLIAMSTOWN SAID TO BE DIRTY

At the close of an inquiry at Newport today into the death of Sydney Kershaw, Mr E. W. Jackson, the Acting Coroner, referred to the condition of the Ann street morgue, Williamstown. When a body was taken there a few days ago the place was flooded and in an exceedingly dirty condition.It was deplorable that relatives were forced to visit such a place in order to identify a body. He would request Sergeant Harris to draw the attention of the proper authorities to its condition.”

From The Age, Thursday 29th of September 1921

“WILLIAMSTOWN MORGUE - ACTING CORONER'S COMMENT.

At the conclusion of an inquest at Newport yesterday, Mr. E. W. Jackson, acting Coroner, made strong comments regarding the condition of the Ann-street morgue, Williamstown. He said that when he visited the place a few days previously to view a body, he found the floor three-parts flooded with water and the room in a very dirty condition. It was deplorable, he said, that relatives of deceased persons should be compelled to visit such a place,and he hoped the police would bring the matter under the notice of the proper authorities.” 

From The Herald, Thursday 8th of March 1923

“MORGUE INSANITARY

Renovation Required at Williamstown 

The Williamstown morgue was built more than 50 years ago. It is a stone building situated at the shore end of Ann street and is a relic of the old convict days. Yesterday at the end of an inquiry into the drowning of Albert Edward Woolley, a schoolboy. Mr E. W. Jackson. J.P Deputy Coroner for the district, alluded to the disgraceful condition of the morgue. He had had occasion to view the body of the boy. He considered the morgue an utterly unfit place in which people should have to identify bodies.There was no proper provision for the medical man engaged upon a post-mortem examination. One towel and one sheet, Mr Jackson remarked,wore both very dirty, and the sheet probably had covered several bodies. A few foot away was a pile of discarded clothing which had been the garments of dead people brought to the morgue.He thought the Government should at once spend money upon the morgue for general renovation. He hoped that the attention of the Crown law authorities would be drawn to the matter.”

From The Age, Monday 20th April 1925

“Williamstown Morgue Condemned.

Dilapidated, rat infested and generally insanitary, the Williamstown morgue has now been closed definitely, and will be removed. Built of bluestone in the late "fifties," it stands at the foot of Ann-street, close to the piers, and only a few paces off Nelson-place, the "hub" of the district in earlier years. Considerable re-venue was earned in its immediate vicinity by rat catchers during the bubonic plague epidemic, and even now terriers find ample sport there.”

From the Argus, Tuesday 21st of April 1925

“ MORGUE CONDEMNED.

Condemned as decrepit, rat-infested, and other-wise insanitary, the Williamstown morgue has now been stripped of its rough furniture, and will be pulled down. Constructed of bluestone more than 70 years ago, it occupies a site in Ann street. near the shipping, and almost abutting on Nelson place, the principal business thorough-fare. The removal of the ancient pile will be generally welcomed. The present intention of the authorities is not to replace it, but to use the Melbourne morgue.”

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Another quickie, on another bike ride to williamstown I found the remains of the quarantine cemetery. The first cemetery of the victorian colony. I definitely have more to find out about the story of this place and williamstown burial grounds in general. A trip to the williamstown cemetery is definitely on my todo list.

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Old Williamstown Morgue - Sidenote - Who is E. W. Jackson?

My last post on the morgue touched on the mysterious E.W. Jackson. The man speaking out in favour of closing the morgue.

The original machine transcribed copies of the news articles about the closure all refer to 3 Mr. Jacksons, “E. W.”, “E. R.” and “E. TV.”. I thought it was a strange coincidence, so I checked back over the original digital scans and noticed that it was a typo of “E. W.” (which I logged into Trove to correct). I could find no mention of Mr. Jackson, except as E. W. and normally with no more detail than his name. Once he started showing up the next challenge was to find his name. 

His chapel was involved in the funeral for someone who died in a major train catastrophe in Wodonga in 1943 as the decedent was transported to Williamson. I would hope to infer from that he wasn’t absolutely elderly in 1921, but the chapel could of been named in memorial, so I do not know.

There are no census records that mention individuals until 50 years before 1925 and even then the records are patchy, so I gave up on that line of inquiry.

The name “Jackson” is super common and when it comes to investigating births, deaths and marriages each of those records could potentially span 100 years on either side of 1925. That is all assuming that he was even born, married or died in Victoria and if we extend the scope further than that... well I get close to 100 records for people named Jackson who were born in, Victoria in 1890 alone. Then, even assuming that I found someone with the right name, in the right time period, I have no way of knowing if that’s just coincidence.

I found a potential mention of a family member, an R. Jackson who resided on Ferguson Street, Williamstown in 1963. I think it’s plausible he is related as the chapel own or named for our Mr. Jackson was also located in Ferguson Street. That said in this directory there were 29 mentions of “Jackson” as a street or as a person.

There are lots of mentions for E. W. Jackson chapel, a lot of them are funeral records for world war II. Interestingly, some of the records mention the deceased were interred at fawkner cemetery, and it was approximately the right time period, so I wondered, if any of the bodies had be transported by the mortuary train (all good stories and places are connected by trains) but the train service ended in 1939 and most of the records I found were from the 40s.

So if anyone has an ancestor who was a coroner and perhaps funeral home owner in the early 20th century in williamstown. First your granpa was a badass, and second please please please contact me.

So, I took a break from this, visited a cemetery, and when I got back I started looking absentmindedly through my tabs of people whose funerals were at “E. W. Jackson Chapel” and I found his name! Ernest W. Jackson. The source was a funeral notice for George Finch. From here it’s easier to find more and to verify that against what we know and expand our understanding of Mr. Jackson. 

Since then, I have been collecting more stories Mr. Jackson and this was the start of a lifetime of community work.  To be continued.