Accidental shooting

Another of our relatives made the news for a not so happy occasion! If you have read about my Grand Uncle George Hunter Hole Tiedemann, you may remember his sister Etty and her two boys Rod and Mel. She also had a further two children Basil and Norma. 

It is Basil who made the news this time, for an accidental shooting with a terrible outcome. Basil was 17 years old at the time, and had been boarding with the Harris family in Westminster Road, Gladesville, for several years. His mother, Etty, having died when he was 9 years old.

Basil was firm friends with the little family, Hazel Una Harris 20, her husband William and their 2 year old child.

It seems Basil was in the habit of shooting birds in the backyard, and on the day of May 21st 1938 he was doing just that with his mate Richard Plant. On this occasion his rifle, a .23 calibre described as a pea shooter went off and Plant had a lucky escape with the shot barely missing him.

The following day about 2:30pm on the back verandah of the house he was at it again, this time with Hazel pointing out likely targets. Apparently, Hazel exclaimed there was a Kookaburra and as Basil turned to look the gun went off shooting Hazel through the lungs and heart on her left side. Her husband hearing her scream rushed out to find her dead.

The coroner's report was quite gruesome and gave the verdict of accidental shooting. The family said that Basil was never quite the same after this tragedy, as you would expect I suppose!

While anything like this is sad, I imagine this was especially so for Hazel's parents who had lost their 21 year old son only months before, though I haven't been able to find the reason for his young demise. 

Hazel Una Harris (nee Kemsley) daughter of Frederick and Rose Kemsley, born 26 Feb 1918, married 20 year old milk carter, William Harris in 1936 and dying on 22 May 1938, leaving behind her husband and two year old child.

Her brother Albert Ian Hamilton Kemsley died a few months earlier on 10 Jan 1938.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145516288/hazel-una-harris

Basil Rothwell was born 6 Mar 1921 to Etty Rothwell (nee Tiedemann) and Stanley Gibson Rothwell. Basil married Muriel Rodda. They lost the first 3 of their babies, then adopted a boy, and afterward had 3 biological children. Basil served Australia in WW2 as a Sapper (military construction engineer) in the Royal Australian Engineers. He died 7 Feb 1984 aged 62 and has a memorial plaque in the Garden of Remembrance at Rookwood Cemetery. 

https://billiongraves.com/grave/Basil-Stanley-Rothwell/33824037

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=5668706&isAv=N