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The sad tale of Thomas Beynon - stories from the records

Thomas Beynon was born 18 May 1864 at Graig y Bedw, in the Parish of Llangynwyd, County of Glamorganshire, Wales. He was the second son of parents Thomas and Sarah Beynon, nee Williams. His mother died in 1874 of tuberculosis; his father remarried in 1881, to Mary. This secord marriage produced a daughter, Margaret.

Prior to immigrating to Australia, Thomas was working as a coalminer, living in Glyncorrwg, Glamorganshire. He decided to immigrate to seek a better life, selecting the goldmines of Australia as his future. He left his family, and his sweetheart Jennet Popham, heading for Gravesend to board the Duke of Buckingham. He left with the hope that Jennet would join him in Australia once he was settled.

Thomas arrived in Maryborough in January 1886, from where he made his way to Gympie. It was while employed at the Crown and Pheonix Mine that Thomas Beynon died after sustaining severe head injuries in a mining accident; while ascending the mine shaft a cage guide sprung out and hit him in the face. He died in Gympie hospital on 12 April 1886. He was buried the following day at the King Street and Tozer Park Road Cemetery.

During his voyage to Queensland onboard the ship Duke of Buckingham, Thomas kept a diary recording the weather and his interactions with and observation of other passengers. The diary was donated to the State Library of Queensland several years ago by descendants of Thomas' family. You can read a digitised copy of the diary online at http://hdl.handle.net/10462/eadarc/7405  and then click on the thumbnail.

You can also find Thomas' death listed in our index to Queensland mining accidents at http://fhr.slq.qld.gov.au/minacc/

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Index to miners involved in Queensland mining accidents (1882-1900)

Queensland mining accidents were published annually in the Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings (later known as Queensland Parliamentary Papers) from 1882 to 1945.

An index to miners involved in Queensland mining accidents from 1882 to 1900 can be searched via the State Library of Queensland’s website at http://fhr.slq.qld.gov.au/minacc 

(An index to mining accidents for the period 1901-1930 is under development.)

Each entry records the date of the accident, the name of the mine where the accident took place and a remarks column which briefly details the accidents. The source column refers to the year,volume and page number in the Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings (e.g.1901/4/464 is 1901, volume 4, page 464). The Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings (Queensland Parliamentary Papers) is available on microfilm (MFL 328.943) at the State Library’s South Bank building on level 3.