POISON GULLY ACCIDENT  

THE POISON GULLY ACCIDENT OF 1904

On a wet and windy night on Monday 1st August 1904, a tragic accident occurred which marred the working of the U. D. R. R.
The daily goods service had left Midland 4.25 a.m. worked by G class Locomotive G134 en route to Pickering Brook, about 15 miles distant. It was a routine morning run for the No. 5 train. Driver George Geer, Fireman William "Jack" Lyons and Guard Adam Anderson was the "Sprag". The train consisted of six vacuum trucks, two bogie trucks, one brake coach and the engine. The engine was hauling tender first as was customary to negotiate the Zig Zag.

DRIVER GEORGE GEER        #1
 

Despite the dark and wet conditions it was not possible to use the headlight as the train was traveling tender first. It had rained heavily for two days and there was local flooding. The driver was cautioned to go "steady" around the curve near the signal on the Eastern line but not cautioned on speed. A few miles out of Midland the train approached the wooden bridge crossing Poison Gully. All appeared to be in order but unknown to the crew a torrent of water had washed away the culvert and earth bank, and all that remained across the creek were the sleepers and rails suspended in space. These gave away under the weight of the locomotive which nose dived into the creek below and the empty wagons behind telescoped into each other.

FIREMAN WILLIAN "Jack" LYONS        #2
 

WILLIAN "Jack" LYONS WITH BEST FRIEND DAVE GAUNED c1900        #3
 

Guard Anderson had been busying himself about his ordinary duties at the rear of the coach. when suddenly he was hurled to the far end of his brake coach breaking a leg. With him had gone an iron safe weighing 8cwt. When groped his way out into the dark he was to find the belching engine pointing skyward on the far side of the roaring torrent, that swirled around the piled wreckage of telescoped trucks. Waiting long enough to ascertain that driver George Geer and fireman William Lyons were both beyond human aid, despite his broken leg, he commenced to make his way back to Midland to raise the alarm. He was near Bushmead when found by a party sent out to investigate as the result of a telephone call received by Station Master Keach at Midland at 5.10 a.m. A special engine was ordered out immediately, a messenger was sent for Dr. Fergusson Stewart, and with the ambulance stretcher the doctor and half a dozen assistants set out for the scene of the disaster.

POISON GULLY ACCIDENT SCENE       #4

POISON GULLY ACCIDENT SCENE        #5
 

POISON GULLY ACCIDENT SCENE        #6
 

On arriving at the accident scene they found a washaway had apparently left little more than the suspended rails across Poison Gully, and engine "134" had crashed through when almost across. The body of the driver laying crushed on the left embankment and the body of the fireman was literally  buried under the whole weight of the engine tender. His body was promptly excavated, and with that of his comrade was sent back to Midland, where they were taken charge of by the police, and then the bodies were taken to the Guildford Morgue. Driver George Geer was a married man, and leaves a wife and five little children, living in Midland. Fireman Lyons, also of Midland, was a single man. Guard Anderson is a married man, and is very thankful for his miraculous escape.
As already stated, the train was an "empty". Had she gone across Poison Gully she would have returned an hour or so later heavily laden, and with a score of passengers aboard.

A MORE RECENT VIEW OF AN OLD BRIDGE OVER THE HELEHA RIVER (not the one involved in the accident)       #7
 

The accident was a significant event in West Australian railway history and made a sensational story in the newspapers at the time. It was the first major railway accident in Western Australia. The unfortunate circumstances surrounding the accident highlighted the dangerous working conditions of railway employees. Whilst the tragedy was of State significance, the fund-raising efforts leading to the erection of a memorial was locally driven.
A monument to the memory of those killed in the accident was erected by the people of Mildand. It was a "coming of age" for the town of Midland Junction, where civic pride and community spirit were bound in a common bond with the town's railway identity. The Geer-Lyons Memorial was erected as a testimony to the railway origin  of the town and those that pioneered it. At 3 p.m. on Wednesday November 8th 1905 a crowd of about a hundred people gathered in front of the Public Hall at the junction of Helena and Newcastle Streets for the official unveiling ceremony. The chairman of the Memorial Committee, Mr G. H. Blue spoke on the tragic accident and the fund-raising efforts of his committee. He then asked the Mayor to take charge of the structure for Council and the Municipality, to which he agreed. The memorial drinking fountain was then officially unveiled. It was described in the following terms in the Swan Express;

"The structure which presents an ornate appearance, has three cosigns in the base, the intervening spaces running in beveled tiers of steps. A substratum of freestone with taps projecting and on one side a tablet inscribed 'erected to the memory of Driver G. Geer and Fireman W. Lyons who were killed in Poison Gully accident 1.8.04.  The upper part is cut in the shape of dolphins and it narrows to the apex, the form of a lotus leaves. On top of the structure is placed an electric light globe."

UNVEILING OF THE GEER-LYONS MEMORIAL 8th NOVEMBER 1905
 (Note: CENTREPOINT SHOPPING CENTRE IN NOW WHERE THE PICKET FENCE IS.)      #8

The final structure differed from the initial proposal in that water did not flow from the mouths of the dolphins but from taps in the base. An electric arc lamp was sited on the top of the fountain to light the intersection, making it a functional ornament for the town. An electric lighting system had only recently been introduced into Midland Junction in 1902.
The architectural and social significance of this monument was recognised by the National Trust of W.A. when it classified it in 1988.

References:     Article:     Midland Public Library

                     Images:   1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7       Kalamunda & Districts Historical Society     
                                    4, 8                     Midland Public Library
                                     

Copyright : Gordon Freegard     2008-2020