About one o'clock on 31 January, 1869 Dorothy Hillard (née Graham) wife of Freshwater Creek farmer George Hillard, was killed in a dreadful accident occuring at the intersection of Moorabool and Ryrie Streets, Geelong. She was crossing Ryrie Street when a cabman named Joseph Fisher, driving very fast (about eight miles per hour), called out. In her confusion instead of running back she did the opposite. Fisher was unable to pull up and knocked down the deceased. The wheel passed over her body breaking her ribs. She was taken to the hospital immediately (in the same cab), but died a few minutes after arriving there. She was described as an elderly woman (fifty two years of age), and has had a large family, six of whom were still living at home. It was said at the time that in Melbourne and other towns cabmen were not allowed to cross intersections of streets at more than a walk, and it would be well if the same rule was enforced in Geelong. Dorothy was buried in the Methodist section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. George's farm at Freshwater Creek was auctioned on 10 March, 1874. He left the district and went to live with his son at Camperdown where he died on 13 July of the same year. He was buried beside his wife at Mount Duneed. Their Nathaniel Brown monument has sunk on one side and fallen apart. |