Sunny Corner Tragedy

The Sunny Corner Tragedy occurred on 7 July 1863 at Sunny Corner, on the banks of the Yarrowee River. A landslide of rock and earth on the escarpment near Raglan Street, crushed the the house of William Duncan and his family. Duncan's wife, Jane (26), and his three children, Peter (7), Robert (5) and William (2), were killed.

Details

The newspaper reported on the tragedy:

SHOCKING ACCIDENT AT THE WHITE FLAT. FOUR LIVES LOST. Amid the pitiless wind and ruin storm which raged during the dark hours of Tuesday morning, there occurred an accident and loss of life under, circumstances of a nature more appalling than any which have presented themselves in Ballarat for a considerable length of time. For the last four months a man named William Duncan, native of Linlithgow, N.B., has resided with his wife and family (consisting of three little boys, aged respectively seven, five and two years), in a weather-board building, erected on a piece of low-lying land, jutting into the Yarrowee Creek, at White Flat, and designated " Sunny Corner." The cottage was placed close to the water, and immediately under the high green bank on the western side. This bank, along the summit of which the Sebastopol road passes near the Horse and Jockey Hotel, consists of a friable yet tenacious soil, and in most place retains large boulders of honeycombed bluestone-the former having a tendency to slip away in large masses, and the latter to roll down the steep side of the hill, frequently doing much injury to the humble dwellings and gardens placed beneath. The occupant of the dwelling under notice had, it seems, frequently had petty annoyances from such sources, and been warned against their recurrence, but we suppose was not able to devise means for changing his residence or improving his position. Duncan, with his wife and family, had retired to rest as usual on Monday night-which was a very severe one, with constant rain and storm. About two o'clock on Tuesday scorning his wife awoke. He got up to light a candle, as she thought she was about to be taken in labor, being near her confinement. The candle had been lighted about ten minutes when all at once and without any previous notice, the gable end and sides of the house, were crushed, in by a large mass of earth which had slipped from the side of the hill and pressed down upon Duncan, his wife, and children, as they lay in bed. His wife spoke for a few minutes after the accident happened, but the children were never heard to speak or cry. They were sleeping in a separate bed on the opposite side of the room, and it is believed the end of the room crushed them. The earth continued slipping down until Duncan was covered up as far as the shoulders. According to his statement, he was continually calling for help, but the noise of the rain and storm and the running of the creek prevented him from being heard.

It was a boy that first heard his cries, between seven and eight o'clock in the morning. He brought two men to Duncan's assistance. Other men then came and got Duncan out. They carried him to the Horse and Jockey Hotel, and soon afterwards conveyed him to the hospital, where the coroner took his deposition for the information of the jury that would have to investigate the cause of the death of the wife and children. Such is the substance of the statement of the sole survivor of this lamentable affair. It seems further, from the observation of the police and others who hastened to his assistance that his wife had been lying alongside of him with her arm around his neck, but that during the night he must have endeavored to extricate himself from the superincumbent mass of earth and stones, as when he was disinterred his head, shoulders, and arms were then visible, and his wife's arm alone lying upon his breast.

After Duncan was got out by the police, which was effected in the midst of bitterly cold wind and driving rain, they proceeded to get out the dead. They were found covered up with about three feet of soil, including several small boulders, and one weighing at least from 3 to 4 cwt. The bodies on being got out were found crushed down to the floor of the cottage, with the broken stretchers upon which they lay. They were immediately tied up in their bedding and taken to the hotel. Sergeant Larner and Constable Crossdale proceeded to recover what property was worthy of preservation, but were unable to discover two watches said to have been there. Duncan is a poor man, has been nine years' in the colony, and previously lived at Miners' Rest and Geelong. The affair, as might be expected, caused great interest all Tuesday. An inquest will be held on the bodies this morning at eleven o'clock, at the Horse and Jockey Hotel.-Ballarat Star, 8th July.