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George
David SILVA
R
5 days after
Agnes Ching, 45, and her children Maud, 15, Eddie, 9, Dorrie,
7, Hughie, 5, and Winnie, 1
On 16 November 1911, Charles Ching told Silva he was traveling to
town for supplies and money for Silva's wages. While he was away
Silva murdered the six Chings after the eldest daughter Maud had
rejected his advances. The bodies of Agnes, Maud, Hugh and Winnie
were found in the house. Mother and eldest daughter had been shot
by a revolver and a muzzle-loading rifle, while the boy and baby
had their skulls smashed in. The bodies of Teddy and Dolly Ching
were found a mile and a half away; both had been shot and their
skulls smashed in.
Police and aboriginal trackers inspected the
crime scene, and after the trackers stated that there was no trail
to follow the police homed in on Silva. Silva, fearing a lynch mob
from Mackay, eventually confessed to police.
Tried only for the murder of Maud Ching, Silva was hanged at Boggo
Road Gaol in Brisbane on 10 June 1912 and buried in South Brisbane
Cemetery.
Victims
Agnes Ching, wife of Charles Ching
Maud Ching, 17 daughter of Charles Ching
Teddy Ching, 10 son of Charles Ching
Dolly Ching, 8 daughter of Charles Ching
Hugh Ching, 4 son of Charles Ching
Winnie Ching, 20 months daughter of Charles
Ching
Northern Territory Times and Gazette
December 15, 1911
Long details appear in late exchanges
respecting the recent tragedy at Alligator Creek, N.Q., in which a
whole family named Ching -with the exception of the husband and
father- were done to death, presumably by a man named George David
Silva, who worked on Ching's farm.
The tragedy took place on November 17, during
Ching's temporary absence from home. After his arrest Silva tried
to implicate twoJ neighbours named Dooley Khan and Charles Butler
in the crime, but there is no evidence to support this statement.
Prisoner is supposed to have shot his victims.
A peculiar thing is that the prisoner, after murdering his
victims, locked the door of the house and awaited Ching's return.
He told Ching that the family had gone to visit a neighbour, and
the two had tea together.
After tea Ching went to look for his family,
and on returning anxiously opened a window to gain access to the
house, and discovered the bodies. Silva was still there, and
offered to go and report the murder. He did so, taking with him a
bundle containing the bloodstained clothes he had worn when
perpetrating the crime. These he tried to burn on the way, but
portions were afterwards recovered by the police.
Silva reported the murder and returned with tho
police. Two of the children missing from the house were found shot
in a back paddock. The footprints of the prisoner were found
leading to and away from where the bodies lay. At latest accounts
the prisoner persisted in his story that the Hindoo neighbour and
his mate participated in the crime. It is alleged that the
prisoner wished to marry the eldest daughter, Maud Ching, but that
Mrs. Ching would not hear of it.
By Bruce Mckean - DailyMercury.com.au
November 18, 2011
The Ching family tragedy remains the worst of
its kind in Queensland history and its 100th anniversary falls
this week.
There will be no celebrations, but the
descendents of the survivors will meet to pay their respects to
their slain ancestors and give thanks that the family line has
continued for 100 years.
The Daily Mercury was notified of the tragedy
at nine o'clock on Saturday night, November 17, 1911. A reporter
was sent to the scene where police were already starting an
investigation and Government Medical Officer Dr William Hoare had
driven down by car. Two Justices of the Peace, several neighbours
and Plane Creek Mill chairman Alex Innes were there.
Inside the corrugated iron house, with a dirt
floor, front and back doors and one window on each side, were four
bodies huddled together.
They were Agnes Ching, 45, and her children
Maud, 15, Hughie, 5, and Winnie, 1.
The husband and father of the children was Hong
Kong-born Charlie Ching. It was a Friday and he had gone to Plane
Creek to talk about cane production.
On return he was met by his farm hand of six
months, George David Silva, 28.
He found his house was locked. It was late in
the afternoon so he cooked a meal with his farm hand in the
kitchen house, which was separate to the residence. He thought his
family was visiting neighbours.
After dark he went to several neighbours'
residences and one suggested he get into his locked house to see
if his family was there.
He broke in via a side window, with Silva's
help, and discovered the four bodies.
His wife Agnes and Maud, 15, had been shot with
a revolver and/or muzzle-loaded rifle and the two children had
been battered to death.
The rear room was splattered with blood and
witnesses said it looked like a slaughter house.
For some unknown reason, the four bodies were
dragged into the sitting room, were thrown together, near a
coloured table, and a rug was placed over them.
Mr Ching sent Silva to a neighbour's property
to raise the alarm.
Telephone communications were sparse but
eventually Sarina police were notified. The phone line to Mackay
police was not working.
Another neighbour gave the farm hand a horse
and told him to ride to Mackay to alert police.
A report at the time said: "George Silva had
intentions to tell the police what happened but when questioned he
was not displaying much anxiety to carry out his intention."
As the investigation was in full swing on the
Saturday, there were very grave concerns for the two children who
had attended school on the Friday.
They were last seen walking home from school.
The bodies of the four victims were taken by
cane tram to Sarina for immediate burial.
Two of the Ching children were still missing.
A great tragedy was about to become much worse.
Farmhand arrested after massacre
THE second
of a four-part series on the Ching family massacre, a crime that
horrified Mackay people 100 years ago.
ON THE morning after the bodies of Agnes Ching,
45, and three of her children were found slain in their Alligator
Creek farmhouse, the police investigation got into full swing.
The four bodies were found on a Friday night,
but it was not until about midday on the Sunday that extensive
searching resulted in the discovery of the bodies of Eddie, 9, and
Dolly, 7.
Farmhand George David Silva, 28, was sent on
horseback to Mackay to alert police on the night of the deaths.
Sarina police also tried to contact Mackay, but
the phone line was down, so someone was sent in a horse-drawn
buggy.
On reaching Mackay, Silva went to a private
residence at the corner of Wellington and Victoria streets where
he met a travelling salesman and bought a new pair of drill
trousers.
He told the salesman about the murders and
claimed bushrangers must have done it.
Silva then went to a boarding house and changed
into his new clothes.
He eventually got to the police station.
He arrived at the police station after the
alarm had been raised by the person who came into Mackay in the
horse-drawn buggy.
He was taken back to the farm.
While Silva was away, investigators took
possession of a blood-stained shutter of the girls' bedroom and
also found a muzzle loader, which was broken into pieces, a flask
of gunpowder and a ball shot.
The stock, barrel and ramrod were among the
broken pieces found in the grass between the house and the
kitchen.
A well known local indigenous tracker, Charlie
Deighton, who was in Mackay at the time, went to the farm with
police. He found certain footprints, which were measured and found
to coincide with Silva's.
With the help of two other trackers and police,
they located the bodies of the two missing children.
The bodies of the two children were well away
from the farmhouse, and to this day it remains unknown if they
ever got home or were killed by the wayside.
There were about 25 to 30 students at the
Alligator Creek State School at the time and they were very
distressed by the news.
The head of the Townsville CIB, Det Sgt Thomas
Head, arrived by steamer several days later to oversee the
investigation.
Silva initially told police he spent the Friday
sleeping under a tree near the tram line. However, he could not
find the tree.
He then claimed an Afghan man who was working
on a nearby farm may have killed the family.
The schoolgirl who walked home with the two
Ching children was Grace Carey.
She told police she saw Silva wearing khaki
trousers and a blue shirt meet the two children near the house.
When Silva eventually got to the Mackay police
station the next day he was wearing dark trousers and a white
shirt.
Silva was the main suspect and when he was
taken back to the farm he took Det Sgt Head to a location where a
revolver was found.
Then he took the officer to a dry gully along
the main road to Mackay, about 1.6 kilometres away, where the
remains of charred pieces of clothing were found.
Health Department officials said the clothes
were bloodstained.
A watch stolen from the Ching farmhouse and
belonging to Mrs Agnes Ching was also in the fire.
George Silva was always the prime suspect.
He voluntarily slept in the cells at the Sarina
police station each night, probably fearing for his own safety
from vigilantes, and was arrested on the Wednesday, five days
after the killings.
He later faced trial for murder.
Farmhand faced six murder charges
THE third
of a four-part series on the Ching family massacre, a crime that
horrified Mackay people 100 years ago.
GEORGE David Silva was born at Homebush, just
outside Mackay, of Sri Lankan parents.
Twenty-eight years later, the farmhand would
find himself initially facing six murder charges.
On the Saturday morning eight days after the
killings there was intense public interest and people lined the
streets outside the old courthouse.
Silva was reported to be "a miniature and very
depressed looking specimen of humanity who was marched barefoot
and securely handcuffed into the Police Court".
"He looked undersized to the curious sightseers
who crowded every seat and vantage spot in the court and the
adjoining verandah."
He wore the same clothes he purchased on the
day after the killings.
He was remanded in custody and went to trial in
the Circuit Court (now known as the Supreme Court) in Mackay for
two days in March the following year.
He was charged with just one of the murders
because any conviction would have brought the death penalty.
The courtroom was packed for three days and the
witnesses included Alligator Creek neighbours and residents James
Innes, Dooley Khan and Ballas Allah, Robert Brett, Sam Appoo, Sam
Butler, Charles Ching, James Carey, Dr William Hoare and police
officers Sgt James Sergant and Const Robert Brett
Silva did not testify but the defence lawyers
vigorously attacked the police officers, claiming evidence was not
given freely.
One witness set up a motive, saying Silva had
wanted to marry Maud Ching and had been told by her parents that
he couldn't.
There were allegations at the trial that at
least one other person must have been involved in the murders.
In addition to all the evidence about weapons,
motive, burnt clothing and confessions, the jury heard a watch had
been stolen from the Ching residence and found with Silva's burnt
clothes at the site of a fire in the bush.
However, Silva claimed he stole the watch one
week before the murders.
He also said the blood on his clothes was not
human.
The defence also argued that he hid the
revolver in bushes after Charlie Ching found the bodies because he
feared Mr Ching might shoot himself in despair.
After a jury convicted Silva, he was asked if
he had anything to say.
He said: "There was a lot of false evidence
against me and I was choked by Sgt Head in a stable at Ching's
place and knocked about".
Silva's final words in court were: "Your
Honour, I'll ask you to have the greatest recommendation to mercy
upon my soul. I am innocent."
Justice Lionel Lukin said he agreed with the
jury's verdict and he imposed the death penalty.
George Silva was taken by steamer to Brisbane
where an appeal failed.
He was hanged to death at Boggo Road Jail on
June 10, 1912.
The motive
NEIGHBOUR Peter Antoney testified that Silva
told him he intended marrying Maudie.
Mr Antoney said: "You can't marry. You got no
money. You got no blanket. No decent trousers. How would a girl
like to marry you like that?"
Silva allegedly replied: "I'll have plenty of
money at Christmas. Mr Ching is going to give me a piece of ground
and I will build a house."
The police case was that Silva killed the
family for revenge for not letting him marry Maud.
The reporter
ONE of the three surviving Ching children was
Harry, a well educated bilingual man who was 24 years old in 1911
and was working as a journalist with the Mackay Standard.
He reported on the family tragedy for his
readers, attending the family farm at Alligator Creek.
He covered the court appearances and the
Circuit Court trial. He even went to Brisbane to witness the
execution being carried out.
He then came back to Mackay, left with his
father and another relative for Hong Kong, and became one of the
great newspaper reporters of South-East Asia.
Surviving family members carry on
THE fourth
of a four-part series on the Ching family massacre, a crime that
horrified Mackay people 100 years ago.
THE Ching family massacre 100 years ago will be
remembered today by the descendents of the survivors.
George Silva was hanged in 1912 for the murders
of Agnes Ching, 45, and her children Maud, 15, Eddie, 9, Dorrie,
7, Hughie, 5, and Winnie, 1.
One man's cowardly, brutal and violent attempt
to destroy a whole family failed because several family members
survived.
Charles and Agnes Ching had three older
children, Florence, Henry and Henrietta, who had left home and
were not at Alligator Creek on the day of the massacre.
Florence was married to Charles Kee Wong in
Mackay in December 1905 and was living in Townsville in 1911.
Charlie Ching was devastated by the murders of
his wife and five children so he left Mackay and Australia in 1915
for Hong Kong where he remarried and had one more child.
He lived in his native village of Shataukok, on
the north-east border with China, until his death.
Henry, or Harry as he was more commonly known,
was working as a journalist on the Mackay Standard.
Harry Ching was held in high regard in Mackay.
He was a swimmer, a cricketer, a footballer and
played other sports, and a large group of friends were at the
wharf to wave goodbye when he left.
Harry went with his father to Hong Kong in 1915
where he joined the South China Morning Post in February, 1916, as
a reporter.
Harry Ching then was editor of the South China
Morning Post for 33 years and was editor during the Japanese
occupation.
His report of the liberation of Hong Kong
remains one of journalism's classic reports.
It was reported in 1986 that Harry Ching was
the greatest editor in the newspaper's history.
"His influence over four decades gave the
newspaper the reputation it holds to this day," the Australasian
Post reported.
Henrietta, aged 22, married Ernest Steindl and
she lived all her life in Sarina where she became a bit of an
icon.
Her grandson, Paul Steindl, said: "Henrietta
was a great community person. She loved her lawn bowls.
"She used to go to the old convent school and
help them out with arts and crafts as well.
"She was a photographer and a lot of her photos
were used in books and articles about Sarina."
Another grandson, Lance Steindl said:
"Henrietta looked after the old library in Sarina. It used to be
in an old bomb shelter. She loved that."
A great photograph of Henrietta holds a place
of honour on the Sarina Bowls Club wall where she was president of
the ladies' club from 1955 to 1962.
Henrietta died on February 18, 1974, aged 84,
and her husband Ernest Steindl died on November 24, 1958, aged 71.
They are buried just a short stone's throw from
the mass grave of the Ching family victims.
One of Henrietta's daughters, Beryl, was a war
bride and she married an American at the end of the Second World
War.
Grandson Lance visited the American family
about two years ago.
There are now hundreds of descendants
throughout the world.
About 80 of the Australian descendents will
gather today and they will come from Sydney, Brisbane,
Maryborough, Gladstone, Cooktown, and from throughout our region.
As Paul Steindl said: "We as kids weren't told
a lot about the tragedy. One of the great-grandchildren didn't
even know about it until 2001.
"Lance and I have been discussing what we're
going to do this weekend.
"It is not a celebration. It's going to be a
remembrance and a family reunion."
The mother
MRS Agnes Ching was from Barnstaple in England
where she had two married sisters.
She married Charlie Ching in Townsville 26
years before the murders and they came to Mackay and operated a
small store at the corner of Victoria and Brisbane Streets.
The couple went to Brisbane for a short time
and then lived in Rockhampton for 14 years.
They came back to Mackay in 1905 where Charlie
Ching became a cane farmer at Farleigh.
Charlie Ah Ching had come to Australia in the
1880s during the gold rush in North Queensland.
The family moved to Alligator Creek about 1908.
The three oldest children had left home by 1911
and, obviously, they survived the massacre.
The Steindls
ON THE Steindl side of the descendents, Ernest
and Henrietta have nine grandchildren and they are -
Rod, a sugar research scientist.
Lance, an electrician who worked at Hay Point
for 34 years.
Greg, a boilermaker by trade.
Trevor, a carpenter/machine operator who
operates his own business.
Ricky, a retired engine driver and carpenter.
Malcolm, a QR safety officer.
Janelle, a sales assistant.
Paul, a Mackay Regional councillor.
Darren, a boilermaker.
Today's events
THE descendents will gather at the Sarina
Cemetery at 10.30am for reflection.
There will be a family lunch at the Sarina RSL
club where the family tree may grow a bit bigger.
Later this afternoon there will be a barbecue
at Cr Paul Steindl's residence.