Just a month short of his 13th birthday, David Campbell junior was fatally injured in an accident while working at the Dinmore Brick and Tile Works near Ipswich in Queensland.
Newspaper report of accident.
As was the case for most youngsters in the 19th Century, work at such a tender age was a normal part of life.
No doubt his father David had a hand in getting the lad a job.
That was revealed when David Campbell gave evidence to an inquiry into his son’s death.
He told those gathered:
I am a miner and reside near Dinmore. The deceased David Campbell was my son. I know Mr Bowley. He arranged with me to give my son employment to work at his Brick Press at Dinmore. My son commenced work on Friday afternoon 25th July last.
I saw the Press before my boy went to work with – Mr Bowley told me what my boy had to do, that he had to put the bricks in the Press – I remember 28th July, my son met with an accident that day. I was not present, but was there before he left the works for the hospital.
I spoke to my son and he was able to speak to me – he died in the hospital the following morning.
My son told me. “My shirt caught the cog wheel and in the moment of excitement my legs were caught – the projecting knee caught me under the knee and carried my leg past that post under the press”
My son was 12 years and eleven months old. There is about an inch between the projecting knee of the Press and the Post.
Young David’s tiny body was caught in a brick-making machine and he was so entangled that the mechanism had to be pulled apart to free him.
He had only been working there four days!
David Campbell was my great-great uncle.
The Queenslander newspaper of 2 Aug 1890 reported the grim details of the accident:
A shocking accident occurred at the Dinmore Brick and Tile Works this afternoon. A boy, 13 years of age, named David Campbell, got caught in the machinery, and was so entangled in it that it took the employees two hours to release him, some of the machinery having to be broken for that purpose. He was brought to the Ipswich Hospital to-night, and was found to be severely injured about the thighs and the lower parts of the body, and is now suffering terrible pain, and but slight hopes are entertained of his recovery.
Ipswich. (1890, August 2). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 – 1939), p. 233. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20284952
David Campbell junior’s death certificate.
Details from certificate:
2240 4827 29th July 1890 at Ipswich Hospital, David Campbell, labourer, male, aged 12 years 11 months, Cause: compound fracture of pelvis and right thigh; shock; fall into brick-making machine (Magisterial Inquiry held 5 Aug 1890) Parents David Campbell, coal miner, and Mary Campbell. Informant David Campbell, Dinmore. Buried 30 Jul 1890 at Ipswich Cemetery. Minister Leo Peter Robertson, Presbyterian. Born West Mains, Bothkennar, Stirlingshire, Scotland. Lived 6 years in Queensland.
Brick press exhibit presented to inquiry
Image of the type of brick press at which David Campbell was working. Read the newspaper report of the inquiry.