South Australian Government Gazette
Colonial Secretary’s Office,
For Information of the public, his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governer
has directed the publication of the following extracts of a letter from the
Government Resident,
By his Excellency’s command CHAS STURT, Colonial Secretary
“It was on the afternoon of the 11th September, that I first
heard from a native of some things having been washed ashore. I immediately
went down,
with some others, to the beach, and found two or three casks, together
with different articles of slops, to the South of the Bay, which left no doubt
of the wreck
of some vessel. Early the next morning everybody was on the move, in
different directions, about two miles and a half to the South was found the
boat, thrown in
amongst the rocks, and it is on the reefs off this part of the coast,
about two miles from the shore, that Mr Reid thinks she must have struck;
nothing more in this
direction was found. In the afternoon, one of the party, that had gone
towards the north, came in to report that the body of a female had been thrown
up on the beach
in that direction. I went to the spot, and saw the unfortunate woman
lying on her back, she was in her night dress with a sheet wrapped around her
as if she had rushed from her bed on to the deck; the body had sustained
no further injury than was caused by the birds; she was a married woman; two
rings,
taken from her finger,
together with her description, and the initials of her name, cut from
the night dress, are herewith transmitted. The body was brought in and buried
the next day.
Near her and along the beach, towards the north, were a great number of
boxes, bags of flour, and other things thrown up. In one of the boxes has been
found
an agreement, signed by eight of them, and R Giles, Manager of the South
Australian Company. Mr Reid, the agent, is taking every care of the things, by
airing
and drying them, and I have directed the police to patrol daily to the
north and south of the Bay, in case any more bodies should be washed ashore.
I forward various papers, handed to me by the agent, which may assist in
discovering
the friends of the sufferers, some of whom appear to have been emigrants
lately arrived.”
Description of the body of a female, found on the beach, about five
miles from
Age about
thirty four years
Height Five
feet four inches
Make and form Stout
Head Oval
Face Oval
Eyes Light
Blue
Eyebrows Very
light brown
Nose Medium
Mouth Medium
Neck Short
Hair Light
brown
Shoulders Rather
broad
Arms Medium length, Hands Medium
size, Feet Medium size
Remarks – Stout and rather good looking, one plain gold wedding ring, nearly
new, one fancy hair ring with the name of “Margaret
Thomas”
upon it, on fourth finger left
hand; the attached piece of linen was cut from her night dress and is marked
with the letters OxR, in sewing.
Chas. W Kelham, Clerk to Government resident
The papers forwarded by the Government Resident can be seen on
application at the Office of the Colonial Secretary