Tag: Sarah Davis (1856-1919)
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Sergeant Basil Lowingham Henderson DCM (1891 – 1967)
Born and raised in the South Australian country, an early volunteer for the first world war, Basil Henderson appears to fit the classic, bronzed, Australian stereotype. Long silences in his army records speak volumes about his character and fitness for service. Waves of diarrhea, diphtheria, and venereal disease, plagued other soldiers. He fought in rocky,…
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Basil goes missing again
“Oh God, not again, who is it this time?” Sarah looked at the envelope, the only typewritten letters she ever received were from the army. She walked outside the general store, put her basket down and sat down on the top step, staring at the envelope as if willing it to disappear. The townspeople kept…
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Solemn Grandure
On the ninth of February, 1859, a man known only as a “Special Reporter” described the scene of a recent bush fire, perhaps this was how the Davis family may have felt. He wrote1: “Having left Echunga after sunset, I had at least one advantage of travelling in the dark. The innumerable burning logs and…
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Fire
In 1859, John and Rosa Davis had been married for nine years1. had four young children2, and lived in Macclesfield, South Australia, a colony less than thirty years old3. In February of that year, a bushfire ravaged the area and several lives were lost. There are no less than ten contemporary newspaper accounts. The damage…
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Basil goes missing
Sarah looked up from the pot she was stirring, to see the face of her best friend in the doorway. “Sarah Henderson, if you don’t sit with me and take tea, you will feint with exhaustion, and then what use will you be when they bring Basil home? You have black rings around your eyes.”…