Pioneers of Deniliquin, New South Wales

An Extract From

Obituaries And Profiles 4

PHILLIP HAXALL

Boy, 13, Lost in bush at North Deniliquin

On Christmas day in 1870 a little boy, named Haxall, of North Deniliquin, was reported lost for two days in the bush on the north side. He was accustomed to bring home a flock of goats from the common. The goats had returned without the boy. Police and residents then set out in search of the boy. The missing lad was found by one of the scores of townspeople engaged in the search for him about four miles out, near the boundary of the North Deniliquin Common. Henry Lee and one of his sons found the lad dead at the side of a tree. It was believed he had been struck by lightning. It took three days of searching by large numbers of residents before the remains of the poor lad were found. The night of his disappearance from about 7 to 11 p.m. had been stormy and lightning played fiercely. John Burrows had been in the saddle for 30 hours seeking the lad from Thursday night when he was reported missing, but it was about 10 p.m. on the Saturday night that John King and Henry Lee followed a dog barking and howling at some object hidden under some bushes.

It was the daily custom of the lad to bring the flock of goats, on which his father (who had long been a sick invalid), his mother and his sister, and self, mainly depended on for support.

Pastoral Times Newspaper -- 7th January, 1871