Biography

During November of 1900, Henry, who had been engaged as a boundary rider on Cordillo Downs Station, suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. Ah Hang had been camped about 20 miles from the head station at Cordillo Downs and had with him two saddle horses. He was in the habit of obtaining rations from the station once every month, but when he did not appear in the usual way, the alarm was raised and a search was made for him. Mr. W. Coles and a black tracker discovered the dead body of the horse which Ah Hang generally rode. The animal had a broken hind leg. The saddle belonging to it was discovered two miles away in some scrub. The paddock and adjacent country were searched by police and 'black trackers,' but no clue to the whereabouts of the man's body could be found. The weather at the time was hot, and the conclusion arrived at was that he had perished of thirst. Since then, the matter had been almost entirely forgotten until the beginning of August 1905, when an Aboriginal who had been mustering sheep discovered the body of a man and reported to the manager of the station, Mr. Murray. Two black trackers were found who identified him by his clothes. A knife in the trousers pocket bears the initials A. H. on the handle, and M.C. McKeane was confident from this and other evidence, that the remains were those of the ill-fated Chinaman. He is of opinion that Ah Hang was riding when the horse fell and broke its leg. The deceased, no doubt injured by his fall, struggled in the direction of his camp with the saddle and bridle, but succumbed along the way. The horse, the saddle, and human remains were all in a direct line for the camp — the horse at a distance of six miles, the saddle two miles nearer, and the body only one mile from the rude scrub shelter. In October 1896, Henry was charged by Inspector Gary, of the State Children's Department, with having failed to comply with an order made in 1892 for the support of his five children. The bench considered the case to be one of deliberate neglect and sentenced the defendant to two months imprisonment with hard labour. The deceased had relatives at Point Macleay in 1900.

Henry was buried on Cordillo Downs Station.