Tragedies and Suicides – The Dark History of Mt Coot-Tha Part One
There are many stories that surround the peaceful mountain that overlooks the beautiful city of Brisbane. From the stories of hauntings at J. C. Slaughter Falls to the legend of the ghost of a fallen worker at the television towers. It is no surprise that the mountain is so full of stories of hauntings when its history is steeped in the blood of murders, suicides and mysterious deaths. Here is just some of that bloody history.
Attempted Murder
The story begins with the odd case of Patrick Terrence O'Hara, the twenty three year old man who, for reasons unknown, hid in the scrub bushland of Mount Coot-Tha and watched a young lady by the name of Margaret Francis Sinclaire Donald [now there’s a mouthful] on Christmas Day 1925. She was with a friend named David Hughes Cunningham, picking wild flowers near J. C. Slaughter Falls when she felt an odd stinging just above her waistline. As she screamed in pain, she looked around and saw Patrick trying to hide in the scrub with a rifle in his hands. What happened next is a bit sketchy but as Margaret was rushed to hospital by her friend David to be treated for a gunshot wound, young Patrick escaped capture. A few hours later he was found wandering the streets of Toowong looking dazed and confused. A man named Leslie Baxter approached him, seeing that he appeared lost. When they spoke, Patrick confessed that he had just shot a woman. Margaret survived and oddly Patrick could never truly explain either why he was there or why he shot the woman. Indeed, when the case went to trial months later, he pleaded not guilty. This unexplained shooting began what would be a very intense and dark time in the history of the mountain.
Double Suicide Mystery
Thursday the 29th of July 1926 saw another sensation which hit the headlines of the Brisbane Courier the following day. Two employees of Burns, Philip and Company were found dead from suicide on the Thursday, one at Mount Coot-Tha and the other at North Quay. Charles H. Whitehouse had been an exemplary employee of the company for many years. On the previous Friday he had left for work as normal but never came home. When the Police were informed of his not returning home, they discovered that he had never turned up at work that morning. No sign of Charles’ fate could be discovered until the morning of the 29th of July when two council workers passing through the gates of Mount Coot-Tha noticed a body lying in bushes in Anzac Park, opposite Toowong Cemetery. The Mauser pistol was still clutched in his left hand and it was clear that he had died from a single shot to the head. Further inquiries uncovered that the previous Friday he had caught a taxi to Toowong Cemetery in the morning and had been seen by several witnesses walking through the cemetery examining the graves. The motive is not known but the odd coincidence was that just as the Police were dealing with Charles’ body; one of his co-worker’s bodies was found lying on the banks of the Brisbane River in another suicide. This man’s name was Francis Geddes. The day before, he had left for work and not returned home. A young boy walking along North Quay noticed a man lying in an odd position on the river bank with a glass lying beside his body. It seems that Charles’ colleague had drunk poison. The following day the double suicide from the one company made headlines yet no connection or reason could be given for why either man killed themselves.
Murder Suicide
November 17th 1927 now sees the return to the parklands of J. C. Slaughter Falls, close to Simpsons Road. It was on this day that the body of twenty year old Cecilia Josephine Miller was found in some Lantana bushes; shot at close range in the forehead. About one hundred yards away lay Reginald Vaughan who was badly wounded and poisoned. When Reginald was questioned in hospital by Police, he told them that the night before he had gone driving with his girlfriend Cecelia and they had pulled up near the Lantana bushes and gone for a walk. He said that the last thing that he remembered was sitting on the sideboard of the car. According to Reginald he then suddenly felt a cloud come over his mind. The next thing that he remembered was looking down at Cecelia’s body. It was discovered that he had in his possession a pistol and a bottle of Lysol which he had ingested. He could not remember shooting Cecelia or himself or drinking the Lysol and stated that they had never quarrelled with each other. The Police eventually came to the conclusion that Reginald had shot Cecelia, walked a hundred yards away to drink the Lysol and then shot himself. According to people who knew them both, Reginald was held in high esteem in the community and the couple were engaged to be married. Cecelia’s sister, however, believed that she had heard Reginald threaten to kill Cecelia if ever she left him. Before Reginald could go to trial he was committed to the Goodna Mental Asylum. This is only the beginning of the odd and seemingly unexplainable deaths surrounding Mount Coot-Tha and J. C. Slaughter Falls. If nothing else, it reminds us of the darker side of Brisbane’s history. Our examination of the darker side of this particular area will continue in future articles.