All families have their secrets.
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Most are familial in nature, an unknown sibling here, a mad uncle there, but others, such as the one that Anthony Goodwin's family has been keeping, are grand in scale.
In September of 1893 Herbert (Bertie) Glasson broke into the residency of the City Bank building on Belubula Street late at night, with theft on his mind.
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With a tomahawk that was described as razor sharp and a lit candle to guide his way, Glasson snuck around the home of the bank manager Mr John Phillips, Mr Goodwin's great grandfather.
Mrs Phillips, roused by her infant child, noticed the glow from the candle and roused her husband who retrieved his pistol.
Glasson struck out, killing Mr Phillips, before turning towards the resident nurse Miss Cavanaugh who lived with the family and cared for Mr Goodwin's grandmother Gladys Mary Phillips who was only two at the time.
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"The nurse was holding my grandmother and when Glasson struck he cut off one of my grandmother's fingers and damaged her hand so much that she would always carry a handkerchief around to hide it," Mr Goodwin said.
Miss Cavanagh died from the injuries sustained during the brutal attack and Glasson was later hung for his crimes.
The murder is well-known throughout Carcoar and featured as part of the 2019 Australia Day Festival, Mr Goodwin now wants to produce a lasting memorial to his ancestors, and more fully investigate what occurred in 1893.
"His memory is not recognised anywhere in Carcoar at the moment and it should be," he said.
"He was a well respected member of the community and there is an illuminated address in the historical society records that illustrate that.
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"I want to do something very positive about that and have begun discussions with senior members of the town and will soon do so with Blayney council."
Hailing from Pimpama in Queensland Mr Goodwin is determined to not only reveal the accurate events of what happened, but to unveil to his family just what occurred 128 years ago.
"We knew that there was story of a madman with an axe but our family never talked about it much, so I grew up blissfully unaware of it and was much in love with my grandmother," he said.
Mr Goodwin will be scouring through court records, coroner's reports and every other skerrick of information that he can find to fill the holes in the story.
"There is information in the family, but nobody has put a story together that collates all the facts in one place and make it widely available to the family," he said.
"My version of the story, after review, will be submitted to the Historical Society of Carcoar at the time of the opening of that tangible memorial, or sooner, so that the correct story is available to anyone interested."
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Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
