Suicide in 19th-century Australian fiction

To the Editor

Our understanding of suicide is incomplete. A 19th-century Australian fiction gives examples of suicides which are not the result of mental disorder.

A.B. Patterson wrote, ‘Waltzing Matilda’ in 1895 – it is frequently described as our ‘unofficial national anthem’. This is the story of a swagman who kills a sheep which belonged to squatter, and puts it in his bag. The squatter and three policepersons arrive and start questioning him. He throws himself into a billabong and drowns. One version of the song carries the line, ‘“You’ll never take me alive” said he’, another states, ‘Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree’.

The song was written while Paterson was at Dagworth Station in Queensland. The seed was dropped the previous year, when a shearers’ strike turned violent. The squatter and three policepersons pursued a man known as ‘Frenchy’, who rather than be taken into custody, shot himself at the Combo Waterhole on the Diamantina River (O’Keeffe, 2012).

Fergus Hume wrote, ‘The Mystery of a Hansom Cab’ in 1886 – it has been described as one of the hundred best crime novels of all time. A man is murdered in a hansom cab (small horse-drawn vehicle) in central Melbourne. Mark Frettlby is thought to be the murderer and when he behaves uncharacteristically, another character states, ‘Perhaps he is thinking of committing suicide; if so, I for one cannot stop him. It is a horrible thing to do, but it would be acting for the best under the circumstances’ (Hume, 2012: 345).

This speculation was accurate and Frettlby later wrote, ‘I reflected on the awfulness of my position, and had almost determined to commit suicide, but, thank God, I saved myself from that crime’ (Hume, 2012: 393).

However, after months of hiding, another character, Roger Moreland, confesses and is charged with the murder. He was in a state ‘of utter weariness and lassitude’, his suicide was predicted by a doctor (Hume, 2012: 404) and completed (by hanging in his cell) two pages later.

Fiction reflects its time, in material which is credible to the author and sensible to the reader.

From Judas to Dr Harold Shipman, distressing circumstances have triggered suicide. Here, 19th century Australian fiction confirms the fact.