BEATTIE, Garnard Clarence
| Service Number: | 6479 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | Australian Army Service Corps |
| Born: | Rockhampton region, Queensland, Australia, 12 December 1890 |
| Home Town: | Rockhampton, Rockhampton, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Stockman |
| Died: | Suicide (self-inflicted pistol wound to head) , Emu Park, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, 14 December 1921, aged 31 years |
| Cemetery: |
South Rockhampton Cemetery Burial reference: - Plot, Church of England, Row 32X, Burial No 5729. |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Jun 1915: | Involvement Driver, 6479, 7th Infantry Brigade Train, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '21' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: SS Melbourne embarkation_ship_number: A36 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Jun 1915: | Embarked Driver, 6479, 7th Infantry Brigade Train, SS Melbourne, Brisbane | |
| 14 Jul 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Driver, 6479, Australian Army Service Corps, Discharged from the A.I.F in Brisbane, Queensland. Reason: - Termination of period for enlistment. |
Help us honour Garnard Clarence Beattie's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Dianne Black
Parents: - John Beattie and Emily Rosa Crate married 13th May 1882 in Queensland, Australia.
Wife: - Florence Sophia Beck married 23rd July 1920
Gympie, Queensland, Australia
Extracted from TROVE, details of death and inquiry.
SUICIDE AT EMU PARK.
Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, Thursday 15th December 1921, Page 8.
Inspector M. Quinn received a report by telephone from Constable Allen, Emu Park, yesterday afternoon, stating that a returned soldier named Garnard Beattie, aged thirty-five years, a married man without a family, who had been residing at Emu Park for the last year and a-half, had been found dead. The deceased left home at 6.30 a.m. on Tuesday apparently in his usual health. At about 1 p.m. yesterday Sanitary Inspector John M'Callum found his body in the Emu Park botanic reserve. There was a bullet wound through the centre of the forehead, and an American automatic pistol was lying alongside the body. The pistol contained three cartridges, namely, a discharged shell and two live ones. The weapon was new, and, it is reported, had been purchased by the deceased in Rockhampton. The report also stated that the deceased had not done any work since he had lived at Emu Park. Constable Allen examined the body, but did not find any marks on it except the bullet hole in the forehead and a hole in the back of the head from which the bullet had emerged. There was no sign either of a struggle. Everything, in fact, pointed to its being a case of suicide. A brother of the deceased, Mr. C. Beattie, selector, residing at Duaringa, who had been staying at the Grosvenor Hotel whilst paying a brief visit to Rockhampton, went down to Emu Park yesterday afternoon. The deceased's mother resides at Duaringa.
MAGISTERIAL INQUIRY.
Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, Saturday 24th December 1921, Page 5.
A magisterial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Garnard Beattie, whose body was found on the 14th instant in the botanic reserve, Emu Park, with a bullet wound through the centre of the forehead, was held at Emu Park on the 19th instant before Mr. P. F. Goodwin, J.P. Florence Sophia Beattie wife of the deceased, stated that on the morning of the 14th instant, the deceased got up and lighted the fire. He afterwards left the house, stating that he was going for a walk. He had brought a small parcel home from Rockhampton on the 12th instant and left it on a shelf in the house. She had no idea what was in it, but on the morning that the deceased left the house she noticed that it had been removed. Finding that her husband did not return for breakfast, she caused a search to be made and about one o'clock she was informed that he had been found dead in the botanic reserve, having committed suicide. Witness had been married a year and a-half. She had lived very happily with her husband. There was no issue of the marriage. Witness had often heard the deceased complain that he suffered from the effects of being gassed at the front, where he had been for four years on active service. He had been attended to by several doctors for his complaint. He used to drink, but she had never seen him the worse of it. He had often passed the remark "Why should I suffer like this?" but he had never threatened to end his life. The only reason witness could assign to the deceased committing suicide was the bad state of his health. William M'Callum, sanitary inspector at Emu Park, in the employ of the Livingstone Shire Council, deposed that he found the body, densely covered with shrubs and leaves, about 150 yards from the main road; Henry Swift Johnson, part manager of the Emu Park Hotel, Emu Park, with his father; Frederick Brown, groom, employed by Mr. Johnson; Thomas Myers, manager of the Imperial Hotel, Emu Park; Benjamin Moorefield, railway station carpenter; and Constable Peter Allen also gave evidence. The inquiry was then adjourned. The inquirv was continued at Rockhampton yesterday afternoon before the Police Magistrate, Mr. W. R H. Ferguson. William Colvin, shop assistant, employed by W. Breckels and Co., stated that on the 10th instant he sold the deceased a revolver and a box of fifty cartridges. Thc deceased gave his address as Duaringa and stated that four of his friends were going over to an island and that they were paying for the revolver and cartridges among them. The inquiry was then closed.