Week 15 Fire
Last year (Week 28 – Reunion) I told the story of the 1915 fire
at the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane which affected my great grandfather, James
Gleeson, and his family. James was the
licensee of the Regatta at the time of the fire and his family had to make a
dramatic escape.
This is a tale about another mysterious fire which involved
my great uncle, Alfred Whitten.
My mothers Uncle Alf was one of two Methodist Ministers in
his very religious family, the other being his older brother Albert.
Alfred Giles Whitten was born in
1883, the second last of Anthony and Charlotte’s family of thirteen
children. All the Whitten children had
their early schooling at the little school their father built at “Lowestoft”,
the family property, and I Albert and Alfred appear to have received their
theological training at the Central Methodist Mission’s Evangelist’s Training
Home.
 |
| Albert and Alf third and fourth from left in second back row |
By 1909, Alf was a Minister at Coolamon in the Riverina,
and in 1910, he was on the North Coast where he made an impression at a
Methodist rally in Grafton.
From the Raleigh Sun (Bellingen, NSW : 1898 - 1918),
Friday 18 November 1910, page 3:
No
Plays, Dances or Cards.
The
Rev. A. Whitten, speaking of ' Amusements” at a Methodist rally at Grafton,
said he felt sure that God had intended His people to enjoy amusements. Some
recreation and amusement was necessary for the youth of Australia, and they had
no right to shut themselves in with a picket fence of dogma and creed; they
must look out through the palings and see the wide world. There were many
unhealthy amusements, however, and the speaker referred to so-called '
religious ' plays. He believed that the great majority of actors and actresses
were morally corrupt, and until they were cleansed the theatre was a place to
be avoided. He also condemned dancing and cards, on the ground that although when
properly conducted there was no harm in them, the strong-minded people should
deny themselves such pleasures for the sake of their weaker brother and
sisters, who had no sense of moderation.
In
1912, Albert and Alf set off to see the world together. They visited the Holy Land, went to Europe
and England and then to the family in Ireland.
From there they travelled to America where they were enrolled at Drew Theological
Seminary in Madison, New Jersey. Alf
signed up for three months, then left for Canada and home, where the following
year he married Ethel Cock.
In 1917, Alf and Ethel were welcomed to the
Nambucca circuit of the Methodist church, and at some time in the next few
years, Alf bought a disused sawmill at a little place called Warrell Creek and
had it moved to Macksville. He paid 600
pounds for it and insured it with Mercantile Union insurers for 1423 pounds.
This is the building that burnt down, in December
1920.
There appears at first to have been not much
excitement – just a small paragraph in the local paper on 24 December, but by
February the coroner had concluded that the building’s owner had a case to
answer. Evidence had apparently been
given that a tall man wearing a pith helmet had been seen at the scene – a description
which might have fit Alf.
The story was taken up by newspapers
all over the country with headlines like these in the Bathurst Times.
CLERGYMAN COMMITTED FIRE IN A MILL
SENSATION IN THE NORTH MACKSVILLE
And then, on the 18th of March, an anti-climax.
Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1939), Friday 18
March 1921, page 4
THE MACKSVILLE FIRE. REV A.G. WHITTEN EXONERATED
"The Methodist" the official organ of the
'Methodist Church, publishes the following :— 'A week or two ago the daily
newspapers gave wide publicity to the proceedings at a coroner's inquiry into
the origin of a fire at Macksville and to the fact that the Rev. A G. Whitten
was under accusation in respect, to that matter and was committed for trial.
The accusation was a most serious one and has given the greatest pain to Mr
Whitten and to all who have the honour of the Methodist Church at heart. We are
glad now to be able to say that Mr Whitten's solicitors have received an
official communication from the Attorney-General, who states that after a
careful perusal of the depositions he was unable to find any evidence which
would justify any charge being brought against Mr Whitten in connection with
the burning down of the mill at Macksville, and also that the Attorney General
had caused a telegram to be sent to the coroner at Macksville, in that effect.
"You can take it," the solicitor's letter adds, "that any stigma
which may have temporarily attached to you has now been entirely removed."
It is a matter of satisfaction that in regard to this matter, Mr Whitten has
been officially and completely exonerated.”
So, what really happened?
There are some questions.
We know from “Trove” that Rev Whitten had been farewelled from the Nambucca
circuit of the church in April 1919. I
don’t know where he was from then until he turned up in the Rylestone Kandos
district (near Mudgee) in 1921. Was he
really an “ex-Minister” during those two years, and still resident in the
Nambucca area? There is a story in the family
that he had Spanish flu at this time, and there is also an appearance before
the Bankruptcy Registrar by “AG Whitten, grazier of Kempsey.” (July 1921). Maybe
he took time out to try being a farmer, like his brothers.
His daughter Beth was born in 1920 in Waratah, in the Newcastle
area, and then Olwen was born in Kempsey in 1922 when he was still attached to the Rylestone
circuit. Another mystery.
Described as “overworked and ill” he left Rylestone in
1923. It had been a tumultuous few years.
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