Torrens Creek Poisoning Tragedy

Late in January 1928, two families who lived in the same house in Torrens Creek, western Queensland, became suddenly ill.  The sickness aroused the suspicion of the local police, who made arrangements for all those living in the house to travel to Hughenden to attend the hospital there.

Two people died on the 56-mile train journey - a railway fettler named Thomas White, and his three year-old daughter Florence Isabel White. Shortly after reaching the Hughenden hospital, nine year-old Dorothy Olive Windley died. Initially, it was suspected that the victims had consumed water contaminated by sheep dip.

A few days later, eleven year-old Florence Isobel Windley became the fourth victim.  Post-mortem examinations found that the victims stomachs contained arsenic. 

On the 24th February, Albert Roy Windley, the father of two of the victims - Dorothy and Florence - gave evidence in front of the Police Magistrate (Mr W.J. Wilson) at Torrens Creek.  Albert Windley said that,

on the morning of January 22, he obtained some arsenic and caustic soda, and boiled it in a kerosene tin of water. The mixture was for the purpose of killing white ants. The balance of the arsenic, in a tea tin, had been placed on the top of a cupboard in the kitchen. There were three 100-gallon tanks connected with the house. He made tea from the water in the No. 1 tank but it was bitter to the taste. (1)

Somehow, the poison used to kill white ants had found its way into the drinking water of the household, however the deaths were found to be accidental.  An accidental tragedy.

(1) Brisbane Courier, 25 February 1928, p. 13.

Belgian Gardens School & the 1919 Influenza epidemic

As the Belgian Gardens State School celebrates its 125^th anniversary, it’s a great time to discuss an aspect of its history that is now almost forgotten.  The school, which was originally called the Townsville North State School, was requisitioned in 1919 during the Influenza epidemic for use as an isolation hospital.  Tents supplied by the army were erected in the school grounds.  Over a period of ten weeks, a total of 195 patients were hospitalised at the school and remarkably, considering the death rate, only six people died.

Dr Walter Blake Nisbet practised medicine in Townsville for 30 years, including during the 1919 Influenza epidemic.  He estimated that somewhere between 6,000 to 7,000 of  Townsville’s citizens (or 25%) of the population contracted the illness in some form.  Eighteen people died in the epidemic, ten of those in hospital and eight in private homes.  During the epidemic strict rules were imposed on Townsville’s population.  Public meetings were banned, picture theatres and schools were closed and the main city streets were sprayed with disinfectant.

In a letter to the Mayor of Townsville dated 15^th August 1919, Dr Nisbet (who was Medical Officer of Health at the time) praised the efforts of the Matron in charge of the isolation hospital - Hannah Sarah Pengelly.  He wrote:

“The ideal and harmonious working of this hospital, chiefly with a band of young untrained workers, shows what women can do in an emergency.  A large share of praise is also due to the tactful and untiring energies of the Matron – Nurse Pengelly”.

Both Dr Nisbet and Matron Pengelly are buried in the West End Cemetery in Townsville. 



Headstone of Walter Blake Nisbet, died May 1920. Photo: T. Fielding



Headstone of Hannah Sarah Pengelly, died 6 December 1940. Photo: T. Fielding