Biography

Tom O'Donnell died very suddenly under sad circumstances. After battling about the country for years, subsisting on the least quantity that would sustain life, he found a good outcrop on what is now the Mountain Daisy. O'Donnell dollied off sufficient stone to obtain 4 oz. of gold, and hastened to tell the news to his mates. Between them it was agreed to get up early next morning and O'Donnell was to make a damper, while his mates undertook to sharpen the tools. The latter, observing next morning that O'Donnell was not fulfilling his part of the bargain, went to his tent to rouse him. The poor fellow, however, just on the eve of success, had expired during the night. The "old hands" were rallied and the remains were followed to their last resting place by the whole population. They then set to work and, in a few months, with their own hands, constructed a neat fence and cut a memorial tablet out of a portion of the rocks the poor fellow had traversed so frequently.

Witnesses at the burial were John Jennings and William Lamb. The informant of his death was Police Constable Alfred Thomson Hoy (Regimental No 349), of Menzies. The grave of O'Donnell is neatly fenced in and above it, rests the wreaths of foliage and native flowers placed there by comrades and friends. The deceased had lived in Queensland for 7 years before arriving in Western Australia.