• Born: 1854, Paddington, London, Middlesex, England ¹
• Died: 25 Mar 1864, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ²

  Research Notes:

CORONER'S INQUEST

Distresing Occurrence - Two Boys Drowned at Ashfield.

A very distressing casualty occurred at Ashfield on 26th Ultimo, by which two boys, each nine years of age, one named Alfred Arthur Joyce, and the other Edward John Tall, were drowned in the Iron Cove Creek at a place distant about half a mile from the railway terminus. The first named was the son of a widower, who keeeps a public house at Paddington, and he was adopted by Mr James Partridge when very young; the second was the son of Mr John Tall, locksmith Ultimo estate. The deceased are both said to have been intelligent, careful boys. The circumstances of this melancholy misfortune are as follows: - The deceased accompanied a party of six or seven excursionists, who left Sydney for Ashfield at about midday on Friday. On their arrival at Ashfield, the party went to spend the day at Iron Cove Creek, where some of them had been accustomed to go before. The holiday keepers seated themselves by the bank of the creek and at two o'clock, the boys were allowed to go and amuse themselves. As they did not return, their parents becamse anxious for their safety, and at three o'clock search was made throughout the scrub in every direction but it was not until six that any clue to their whereabouts was obtained. At that hour a lady was crossing a bridge in the neighbourhood, when she noticed a straw hat lying on the bank of the creek, which had been worn by Joyce. The cap of the other boy was found in the water close by. A garden rake having beeen obtained from a house near at hand, one of the party succeeded in recovering the body of Joyce. Constable Hawley had been sent for, and he soon after seven o'clock discovered the body of Tall. Both boys had their clothes on, and their bodies were not mutilated in any way. The place where the deceased were drowned was about fifty yards distant from where their parents were. The creek was partly filled with logs of wood, roots of trees &c and the bank of it was exceedingly steep and slippery. Neither of the boys could swim, and if they had been able to do so, the nature of the place was such that they could not get out. Dr Hogg was with the party when the bodies were found, but medical skill was then unavailing. The opinion of the boy's parents is that the deceased were wrestling on the brink of the creek, when they slipped into the deep water and were drowned. The City Coroner held an Inquest respecting the lamentable mishap at the Terminus Inn, Ashfield on 26th Ultimo. The jury stated in their verdict that the deceased were drowned on the 26th March in Iron Cove Creek, Ashfield, but how the boys fell into the creek they had no evidence to determine, and the believed that the occurrence was purely accidental." ³