When I first read this my mind completely dismissed the fact that this poor young man was found in his coffin in a storeroom and I immediately saw a strangely pale and quiet person sitting in the station waiting room. Just waiting.
Townsville Daily Bulletin 24 Aug 1929 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60238235
I saw the swirl of the soldiers and travellers moving around him like a scene from a movie, the camera focussing on him, seemingly sleeping, completely unmoving, while people came and went.
Yes, I know that article clearly states that his coffin was stored in a lonely cellar, safe from the public gaze, but that is not the way my brain works.
What a sad end for him. He dies, far from home, in 1915 and then his remains are shoved in a corner, forgotten until a 1929 spring cleaning. I wonder if they ever worked out where he was supposed to be sent?
This young Turk was a student, not a soldier, so I am sure his death was completely unexpected to his family. Did they ever try to find him? Were they still waiting for him out there? What was the eventual fate of this forgotten man’s remains?
______________________
Last year I did a post about a forgotten skeleton, left in an attic for 22 years before surprising a plumber, although that one had been far, far older before he was lost.
Buried words and Bushwa. 
You must be logged in to post a comment.