The Back Country Honors its Dead

THE GRAVE OF A PIONEER

Walter B (S) Williams –  the Prospector of Mt Ida

The Headstone erected by the Mt Ida People

Wandering about the goldfields of this State, away from the beaten paths, it may be, one sometimes unexpectedly happens across a lonely grave. Sometimes, but very rarely, it’s merely a mound of earth, unattended, and perhaps forgotten, for of these graves there must be many. But more often the little spot bares eloquent tribute to the homely sympathy of some who can find time to turn aside from the bustle of life with its many duties towards the living, to give a little attention to these resting places of the dead. And so we find them, some with their substantial railings or heavy overlogs, the masculine mind that would for ever protect them from intrusion.

But here and there we observe the promptings of the sister, mother or wife, in the ornamentations bestowed, perhaps a neatly laid border of quartz, possibly a shrub, or a well meant attempt at a flower bed. But there they sleep. They are mostly the graves of our pioneers, the men who thirsted, and struggled, and starved, and died for Western Australia and their bodies might rot in eternal oblivion but the age of chivalry is not dead, and that those who follow after find a delight in tending their last resting places and keeping their memory evergreen.

Some twelve miles from Menzies, on the Menzies – Mt Ida road, lies the grave of Walter B. Williams, the prospector and discoverer of Mt Ida, which is 67 miles from Menzies. This youth, who was only 27 years of age at the time of his death, set out prospecting with two companions In the year I895, and reached the locality known as Mt. Ida. Here the party prospected and discovered gold on what is now known as the Forrest Belle, the Wild Rose, and the Rio Tinto, which lie about a mile north west of the Ida township. For the latter property, a sum of £25,000 was once refused. The two mates returned with their teams to Menzies and Williams was to follow later on by bicycle. He failed to reach his destination however, and his dead body was subsequently discovered on the spot where his grave now stands. How he met his fate must remain a mystery, though it is generally attributed to thirst, as the inscription upon his headstone indicates. This theory is much disputed however, as there was water a few miles away on both sides, and some contend that he must have suffered from sunstroke.

Inquiries were not so exhaustive in those days, and but little is known of the facts of the case. Williams was buried where he lay, but it was afterwards found that his grave had been disturbed by wild dogs. Later on the residents of Mt Ida did honor to the discoverer of their field, making provision for his proper interment on the same spot, and the erection of a neat and substantial fence, with a headstone that tells its own story.

Walter Williams Grave in the Lonely Mulga

One may marvel at the allurement which takes the pioneer from the city to the wilderness in search of gold, and at the stoicism with which life is laid down in opening up our new country, but one of the most admirable of the traits of our Australian goldfields population, is that sentiment which figuratively keeps evergreen the graves of our pioneers.

WILLIAMS Walter B died 1895 aged 27yrs, 3 miles on the Mt Ida side of Ghost Rocks – buried where he was found 16 miles from Menzies. A plaques was erected by the Mt Ida’s Prospectors Association in 1939 and a railing was placed around the grave and a handsome headstone erected.

At the time of this tragedy Williams was a partner in a prospecting syndicate called ‘Glimmer of Hope’, the names of the other members of the party were Charles Prangle WANSBROUGH and Caleb William MASSINGHAM (Walter William’s Cousin). They had pegged a claim at Mt Ida, and being the first to find gold there, they were granted a reward claim. Owing to a lack of proper facilities for treating ore, they were forced to temporarily abandon their claim. So Walter Williams decided to make a trip back to his home in Victoria and so started off for Menzies, a distance of 67 miles on a bicycle. The weather was very hot and water scarce.

It was reported in Menzies on the 29th Oct 1895 that the body of a young man had been found dead on the road to Mt Ida by two prospectors by the names of Wilson and Daley. These two men had previously been passed on the road by the cyclist who at the time was full of vigor and health. When they reached a point 40 miles from Menzies they came upon his abandoned machine and saw his tracks where he had started to walk.  Some miles later then found his boots and saw that he was eventually started to crawl on his hands and knees. A little further on, 16 miles from Menzies, they came across his dead body.

Sequel: In 1988, Martin Gole and Rob Hill of the CSIRO Division of Exploration, were working in the Siberia/Ora Banda/ Menzies/ Mt Ida area, looking at an extensive (35 by 130km) very thick (600-800m) lava flow of a type called Komatiite. Such rocks are the host of Nickel deposits. At the base of the lava flow is the grave of Walter Williams. They used a photo of the grave on the front page of a Geological guide book and have called the lava flow ‘The Walter Williams Ultramafic Unit’ after this intrepid prospector. The name was approved by the Australian Stratigraphic Nomenclature Committee.

Ref: John Pritchard and Western Australian Lonely Graves by Yvonne and Kevin Coate.