ALLAN ROOKE
14 February 1939 - 4 May 1942
Based on an account by his sister Marion Rooke Syrett.
Compiled by his first cousin.
Allan Rooke was the first son of Jessie Lello and Benjamin (Pat) Rooke, and named after his youngest Lello uncle (who left Queenstown early to go and live with his aunt Fan).
Young Allan lived with his own family next to his grandparents’ home in Conlan Street, South Queenstown. He had one older sister – Marion, born in 1937.
This was a pleasant enough area of Queenstown, far enough away from the smoke of the mine only to be affected when the wind turned to the north. The Queen River ran near the foot of their gardens beyond a little-used road leading to a tussock area. Here local children gathered to play hide-and-seek, or have bonfires. It was a safe enough place – cars were practically non-existent, and Ernie Cavell's night cart came only late at night to clear the dunnies located along the rear fences beside the road. The only other vehicle to come down the road was the baker's cart.
As for the river, the children were taught early not to go near it, not that they were much interested: the Queen River, even now, is not a pretty water course, and is piled high with big boulders. During the time of Allan’s short life, it was also seriously contaminated and deep with grey sludge. The edges were like quick-sand. Beyond the tussock flats its bank was about six foot high and subject to landslip when the river was running deep.
One autumn day in 1942, Allan’s sister Marion was coming back up to the house from the tussock area where she had been playing with a friend. She remembered only seeing Allan dragging his father’s axe. Being not yet five, she thought little of this, until panic struck the household: Allan had not been seen for some minutes. She did not know where he was.
Their father raced to look for Allan, checking the three outbuildings. These were ranged along the rear fence either side of the high gate between the garden and the road – the chook house to the left, the outside lavatory to the right, and alongside it furthest on the right, the combined drying shed, wash house and wood shed. This had a corrugated iron door out to the road, and was where Pat kept his axes.
Allan was not there. While the gate at the end of the path was too high for Allan to reach on his own, he might have found his way out through the woodshed door. Pat shot out to the road, checking the river bank. He chased around the tussock flats and looked down the river. No Allan.
His sister next remembers seeing her father steering her weeping mother up the path back to the house. The news came later that Allan’s little body had been found by Maurice William Durant, about 250 yards further down the river. The child was identified by George Edward Rayner.
The inquest, after a full inquiry, with Coroner Mr L G Miers officiating, recorded death by accidental drowning. The police were represented by Senior Constable L T Newman who said that a bruise had been found on Allan’s forehead, probably by falling on some hard object. The theory was that he had ventured too close to the high bank, and it had given way. No-one will ever know the truth about his last minutes.
He was fair, blue-eyed, and rosy cheeked, and is still missed by his family. Allan’s grave can be found in Queenstown’s cemetery.