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Remembrance Day: Tragic story of WWI veteran Albert Burke who died alone in the bush Albert Burke may have served his country and fought on the Western Front but when he returned home, he was forced onto a mission and later died in the bush — alone. He was one of 850 Indigenous men who fought in WWI thinking their loyalty would be rewarded with better treatment. Instead, they returned to the same oppression. There was no freedom for Burke upon return from the war, except for a brief few years when he was granted an exemption from Queensland's Aboriginal Protection Act, but this was revoked. He was then sent to Woorabinda, a mission in central Queensland known as a punishment place in the 1930s. Records show Burke worked as a gardener for the school's headmaster from then until his death in 1954. Refused a lift so he walked 50km Burke was returning by train to the nearby town of Duaringa, a 60-kilometre drive from the mission. He phoned the mission's superintendent to ask if the local truck driver who transported goods between the town and Woorabinda would be able to give him a lift back. The answer was 'no'. "Then that old fella, he decided to walk, right there to Charley's Creek, and he must have felt crook or something and went and had a spell and sat on a log," Mr Munns said. "He must have got sick, and people were saying they saw him — an old Aboriginal fella sitting on a log just through the fence." That is where Burke's body was found, by an old woman mustering cattle, 10 kilometres from Duaringa. No one could identify his remains but he must have been wearing his military medals because these were sent to Canberra for identification and came back as Al Burke. "The man fought for his country, and they left him to die in the bush, that's what my dad said," Mr Munns said. "He was swearing like hell when he found out: 'My old brother fought for this bloody country and they let him die in the bloody paddock like a bloody animal'. "Poor old fella." Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-09/armistice-day-tragic-story...

The Benwell Hotel certainly is(was) in Newcastle.

Yes - if anybody can help with any info on this intriguing comment we'd be very grateful! We haven't been able to find a date for his death (under either name) so we can't check newspapers at the moment.

I tried all the people with distinctive names, and struck out. Very surprising not to even turn up one death notice.

You mean crime didn't just start last week?

I have found a 'possible' in The Times, one William Hall. I will provide a transcription here and apologise for the size of my comment. I write from Australia and wonder if someone more local might be able to follow up the clues in the article to see if this is 'our man'.
Transcription:
[The Times (London, England), Tuesday, Aug 30, 1932; pg. 12; Issue 46225.].

Man Killed By Fall From A Roof: Slip When Defying Police


William Hall, lately living at Newcastle-on-Tyne, was killed by a fall from the roof of a house at Newcastle early yesterday. It was stated that the police were about to arrest him and another man for alleged attempted burglary at a near-by hotel. The other man was arrested.

At Newcastle police court yesterday, JAMES BISCOFF WHITEHEAD, 28, of Back Scotswood Road, unemployed, labourer, was remanded for a week on a charge of attempting to break into Benwell Hotel in Adelaide Terrace with intent to commit a felony.

Inspector Russell said he surrounded the building with the aid of persons living near by. Hall, the dead man, who had a jemmy, knocked off a chimney stack and threw slates and masonry on to the crowd below. In attempting to knock off another chimney pot he fell into the backyard and met his death through a fractured skull. The witness added that Whitehead jumped into the back lane and was arrested.

[Many thanks to Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums for uploading these extraordinary photographs, and to the State Library of Western Australia for their research seminars and online resources].

Nice series of photos...

Wonderful!

Great pictures of wonderful buildings. I always wanted to have a sticky-beak inside.
History lesson - cinematreasures.org/theaters/11400

My grandmother took me to see Fantasia there one afternoon.

wow nice pic!