“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”[2] 

Simply put, judging the past by modern standards of behaviour is a nonsense. So, when I say that I judge my great-grandmother, Ann, on her lifelong silence about her sister’s murder, I know that I’m being unreasonable.

I can’t help but contrast the treatment the two other dead girls in our family received against the conscious forgetting of Bridget.

Mary, Bridget’s sister, and Veronica, Bridget’s niece and Ann’s daughter, both died tragically and young. Mary, 15, succumbed to rheumatic fever. [3]  Veronica, 10, was thrown from a horse. [4]

There’s no headstone commemorating Bridget’s short life.  She lies next to Mary and directly opposite Veronica, but unlike them, her grave is unmarked.

Veronica and Mary’s memory was kept alive, cherished even.  “Veronica” pops up as Christian and confirmation name in the two generations that followed my great-aunt.  As for “Mary”, it’s a Christian and second name that literally appears in every generation after Ann’s dead sister. Though, the popularity of the Holy Mother with fervent Catholics might also account for this.

When I went to view Bridget’s murder file at the Queensland State Archives, I requested the Allora General Cemetery Burial Registry on a whim. It was a relief to find that Bridget was buried next to her sister, Mary. [6]

I flicked to the other pages where I knew rellies were buried with an idea to tell my mother that I looked for them. Veronica’s entry in the Burial Registry gave me pause.  Buried in the same grave as Veronica was an “M. Duggan”.[7]

I cross-questioned my mum.  “Who else was in the damn grave with Veronica?”  My only experience of two people in the same grave was when they were a married couple.  Cecilia, my grandmother, is buried in the same grave as her husband.

I searched the Queensland records. I could find no “M. Duggan”, who had died near Hendon in 1926, or any other nearby year.

It was Mum who finally made the connection.  “Sometimes,” she said, “babies who were miscarried were buried in the cemetery.” It was a kindness for mothers done by Catholic priests, she said. They buried near-term babies in consecrated ground.

The final piece of the puzzle came from my aunt, Mum’s younger sister.  She remembered her grandmother, Ann, telling her that she’d lost a baby after her sister died. 

She had cried and cried, my aunt remembered Ann telling her, after she found out about her sister’s death.  She had cried so long that she’d gotten in trouble.  An older female relative had come to visit, reminding Ann that she had children to care for.  She had to get out of bed.  And then she lost her baby.

So, that’s nice.  I’ve misjudged Bridget’s father contribution to his family and now I’ve misjudged the extent of the trauma Bridget’s sister, my great-grandmother, suffered.

#WildBridgie

[1] Grave of Veronica Mary Duggan." Allora Photos, 25 March 2022, BMM, owner of the copyright.

[2] Hartley, L.P. The Go-Between. Hamish Hamilton, 1953.

[3] Death Certificate of Mary Margaret O’Callaghan, 28 October 1905, Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Brisbane, Queensland. Death Certificate.

[4] Death Certificate of Veronica Mary Duggan, 5 June 1926, Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Brisbane, Queensland. Death Certificate.

[5] “The Graves of the women O’Callaghan”, Allora Photos, 25 March 2022, BMM, owner of the copyright.

[6] " Allora General Cemetery - Burial Register - 1894 to 2004." Queensland State Archives, Queensland Government, 1894-2004, https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM3457870.

[7] "Allora General Cemetery - Burial Register - 1894 to 2004." Queensland State Archives, Queensland Government, 1894-2004, https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM3457870. Personal photograph by B Moulder.

[8] "Allora General Cemetery - Burial Register - 1894 to 2004." Queensland State Archives, Queensland Government, 1894-2004, https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM3457870. Personal photograph by B Moulder.