Obituaries Australia

Mr. Edward William Butcher, at the age of sixty-seven, breathed his last at the Mission House, Carnarvon, the residence of his daughter Miss Butcher, on the evening of Monday, January 28th, and was buried in the Carnarvon Cemetery on Wednesday, January 30th. He passed away peacefully in the chair, without a struggle, the mainspring of life having quietly snapped through heart failure. A gentleman he was whom to know was to appreciate. The estimation he was held in was demonstrated by the fact that all the business of the town was suspended the afternoon of the funeral; all flags were half-masted. Every man, high or low, united in offering the last respect possible by following to their last resting place the remains of the deceased. The chief mourners were Mr. James Butcher, Mr. Charles Butcher, and Mr. C. D. V. Foes, our respected Resident Magistrate. The pallbearers were Messrs. John Brockman, Geo. Bastón, J. H. Mansfield, and J. P. Pincombe, wearing the regalia of the Masonic Order, of which Order the deceased was a brother. The funeral service was read by Mr. John Brockman, in accordance with a wish long previously expressed by Mr. Butcher. All I can say of the deceased, is that he was a gentleman in the full sense of the term. He had partaken to the full of all the varied vicissitudes occurring in the life of an adventurous speculative Australian, at times riding gaily on top of the wheel of fortune, and sometimes with the wheel rolling over him, but never crashing him, owing to his indomitable spirit. He was a true type of our British pluck. In a few lines of Adam Lindsay Gordon's poetry may be read a true description of his life.

I've had my share of pastime, I've done my share of toil,
And life is short—the longest life's a span;
I care not now to tarry for the corn or for the oil,
Or for the wine that maketh glad the heart of man.
For good undone, and gifts mispent, and resolutions vain.
'Tis somewhat late to trouble, this I know,
I should live the same life over if I had to live again,
And the chances are I'd go where most men go.

Mr. E. W. Butcher was born on the 12th of May, 1827. He was the youngest son of Mr. John Hunt Butcher, of Lowlands, Richmond, Tasmania, and was educated at King's College, England. When a young man he tried his fortune on the Bendigo diggings, with a fair amount of success. He then managed for some time East Loddon station. Afterwards for many years he owned Towangay Station, near Wickliffe, Victoria. He came to West Australia about 1876, took up and stocked Monarie and Berringana stations on the Murchison River. From squatting he turned his attention for some years to pearling in Sharks Bay. He leaves behind to lament his loss his wife, Mrs. Butcher, three sons (Mr. Norton Butcher, Chief Draughtsman, Tasmania, Mr. James and Mr. Charles Butcher, of Boolithana, Carnarvon), and two daughters (Mrs. H. Johnsen and Miss Butcher).