ON APRIL 26, 1897, 15-year-old Cootamundra girl Alice Moore was killed by a train while attempting to save her little brother.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Alice's family lived in a railway owned house at Jindalee Crossing on Yass Road, several hundred metres north of the current overhead railway bridge, which wasn't built until after World War I. The crossing was located where Shaftesbury Lane now meets the Olympic Highway and was often referred to as "Moore's Gates".
Alice's father, James Moore, was a fettler who worked for NSW Railways. Alice's mother Rachel (nee Baldwin) was responsible for closing and opening the gates at the crossing near the house as trains passed.
Alice often undertook this task herself or assisted her mother to do so. On April 26, 1897, Alice was in the process of closing the gates at the crossing as a goods train was approaching. The youngest child in the family at that time was Ernie, who was 15 months old. At 2pm, just before the train was due, Ernie had walked unnoticed from the house across the tracks. He was startled by the train and when he saw his sister Alice at the gates on the other side of the track he started to move towards her.
He was only about 12 yards in front of the approaching train when Alice saw him. Realising the danger he was in she rushed across the tracks to try and save him. Alice managed to reach her brother and throw him clear of the danger. In the process of doing so she was struck by the train and instantly killed. The driver of the train had applied the brakes, but it took the train about 70 yards to come to a standstill.
The accident was reported in newspapers Australia-wide.
In the Cootamundra Herald of May 8, 1897, it was reported that Miss Barnes, the daughter of local MLA John Barnes, had organised a subscription to raise money to provide a memorial to Alice.
She wrote to Lady Hampden, the wife of the Governor of NSW, to inform her of what she was doing. A letter written to the Cootamundra Herald from Daisy Welkins encouraged the girls of NSW to donate 3d to their minister or school teacher to be passed on to Lady Hampden so that a suitable memorial to Alice could be erected.
Lady Hampden wrote to the mayor of Cootamundra from Government House in Sydney to inform him that she had contributed the sum of £1-1-0 towards the memorial and asked that her sympathy be passed on to Alice's parents as well as her great admiration for their daughter's courageous act. Alice was buried in the Anglican section of Cootamundra cemetery and a memorial erected on her grave, which was paid for by the donations received.
Alice was a sister of long-term Cootamundra resident, Frank Moore (1894-1990) and was an aunt of Daphne Parnell (nee Moore). Her brave heroic act is still remembered 120 years on.