PROSTON

Sometimes it would appear a ghost cannot rest until justice has been down, as was the case with Australia's most famous ghost Fisher's Creek Ghost. Humpie Williamson appeared to the one man who could help him rest, A magistrate, to show him he was a murder victim and indicated where his body had been hidden.

Humpie Williamson (so called because he had a hump on his back) was a postman in the South Burnett region. He was just one of many players in a real-life drama that unfolded over a period of weeks in the 1860s.

It began when a hawker, Peter Mallon, collected six crossed cheques from David Parry-Okedon, manager of Burrandowan Station, and posted them to Brisbane to be credited to his bank account. When the cheques failed to arrive the hawker contacted the police. He also went back to Parry-Okedon, who confirmed that the cheques had been cashed. One had come back to its writer, and by inspecting it closely the two men discovered that the thief had cut out thin strips of paper to remove the ‘Not negotiable' lines and neatly patched up the cheques.

The one returned to Parry-Okedon had been presented at the Boodooma Hotel by an overseer from Strathdee Station. The publican had cashed it for him and recovered the money from Parry-Okedon. The police arrested the overseer and put out a warrant for the arrest of his assumed accomplice, the postman Humpie Williamson, who had carried the cheques and then disappeared.

Search parties scoured the countryside for Humpie but could find no trace of him. They concluded he had bolted into New South Wales to avoid arrest and was hiding there.

David Parry-Okedon, his son William (later a Commissioner of Queensland Police) and another young man were travelling into Gayndah soon after. They camped overnight in a hut beside a waterhole on Cave Creek, not far from the present town of Proston. Parry-Okedon was lying on a bunk inside the hut while the other two prepared their evening meal outside. Suddenly a strange figure appeared in the doorway. It swayed slightly and supported itself by holding on to the door jambs. Its sightless eyes turned to Parry-Okedon and it seemed to him the creature was trying to speak- then it sighed deeply, began to fade and moments later was gone.

Parry-Okedon got up and called to the young men outside but they had seen nothing. Parry-Okedon knew he had and that what he had seen was not of this world but, more than that he had recognised the spectre. It was Humpy Williamson.

A few weeks later a team of men were sent to the same spot to construct a lambing yard. One of them shot a wild duck and waded into the waterhole to retrieve it. As he stooped for the bird he noticed a boot sticking up in the water. He tugged on the boot and a leg appeared. The workmen recovered what was left of a male body. It was so decayed that only one feature could identify it- a large hump on its back. Humpie Williamson had been a victim in the crime, not one of its perpetrators. Murder was added to the charges against the Strathdee overseer but, at his trial, he was acquitted for lack of evidence.

David Parry-Okedon, as well as managing Burrandowan, was a magistrate. He went to his grave believing Humpy Williamson's ghost appeared to him to indicate where his body was hidden and to seek justice.

With thanks to http://www.queenslandhistory.com/ghosts1.htm