A tragic story behind the headstone

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While travelling between Beacon and Mukinbudin in Western Australia, we stopped at a tiny graveyard. I’ve written about two of the graves. The third grave at the site has an incredibly tragic history. In May 1907, Sheila Richenda Hall and her two sisters were playing in thick scrub near the homestead when Sheila became separated from the others. A dingo trapper was asked to help search for the girl as the father was away but he did not take the matter too seriously. The mother sent an aboriginal boy to the nearest homestead, Wilgoyne, 18 miles away. Before reaching the homestead, the boy saw some strange aborigines, took fright and returned to Wattoning, saying that there was no-one home. The next day, Sunday, Mrs Hall sent again to Wilgoyne for help but for some reason, the boy didn’t arrive there until 8pm on Monday night. Mrs Maddock was alone at Wilgoyne but her husband returned soon thereafter and went straight to the aborigines’ camp 2 miles to the south. Nine men left immediately for Wattoning. At dawn on Tuesday, aboriginal trackers found the child’s body under a bush two miles from the house. It is believed she was alive until Monday night when a cold snap and very heavy frost had been too much for her. The distraught moth insisted she be buried there and then. Her grave is on the right of the photo. Sheila was 22 months old. The headstone is also to the memory of her sisters, Kathleen Hall, who died in 1904, and Isobel Hall, who died in 1909. Imagine losing three daughters in the space of six years. It’s just so sad. The family left the area soon after. And do you know anyone called Richenda? It seems an unusual name to me although I do know of another lady named Richenda.