Charlotte Waters, Overland Telegraph Ruins
Charlotte Waters grave Who was the old man who died and was buried at Charlotte Waters in an unmarked grave? Who or what is buried beneath the small wrought iron railings? The wrought iron railings near the ruins of the Overland Telegraph Station apparently mark the burial site of a dog, and yet, according to one story, the dog’s owner rests in an unmarked and unknown grave. According to Bob Smith, former owner of New Crown Station, Mr. Cran, a contractor working in the area, was the owner of the dog. Bob Cran is possibly buried at Cran’s Grave Bore at the foot of Mt Rebecca but no trace his grave remains today. The following is an excerpt from Ron Browne’s book “Bush Justice”. Ron was the policeman stationed at Finke (50km to the north) in the 1950’s. “Mr. Cran apparently liked a drink, and on one occasion in Oodnadatta found himself short of drinking money. He struck up a deal with a doctor who was visiting the outback railhead from Melbourne. In return for the loan of five pounds drinking money Mr. Cran would will the doctor his head when he died! The agreement was then drawn up and witnessed.” “When the contractor finally died, a dutiful mate buried him in an unmarked grave after removing his head and placing it in a sugar bag. The sugar bag and its unusual contents then travelled around swinging from the axle of the mate’s donkey-buggy until he next visited Oodnadatta. There, the mate packaged up the head and sent it to the Melbourne doctor thereby honouring the agreement.” Bob Cran “perished from thirst” in November 1901. Another story says the dog belonged to a local blacksmith, Pat Byrne. In 1915 Byrne crushed his arm in a machinery accident. It took 4 days to get him to Oodnadatta hospital where his arm was amputated below the elbow. The iron railings are well built, so it would seem they were at least built by the blacksmith, but whether it was his dog or Cran’s seems to be an outback mystery. An unnamed man is also buried here in an unmarked grave. According to the excellent Flinders Ranges Research website, (http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au), Fred Sharpe, from Old Andado Station, discovered the body of an old man at The Telegraph Station. He and a policeman buried the body near the ruins. This could have been on June 8th, two days before CT Madigan began his Simpson Desert Expedition, in 1939. Charlotte Waters once had its own police station as well as the Overland Telegraph repeater Station. Constable Daer, while stationed there, was the policeman who attended at the death of Joseph McPharlin at Boggy Flat. Daer is also the name of a small mountain nearby. There are good campsites along the waterhole from which the ruins got their name. Beware of the camels in the area. The bull camel can be very aggressive when he is "in season".
Remains of Old Ghan Railway north of Charlotte Waters
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