Narrow escape

A sliding doors moment…

Generations of family connections in Sorell and the south east began with Daniel Long who was my dad’s great, great grandfather and a former convict who became a farmer, whaler and publican at Sorell, licensee of the Plough & Harrow at what was then still called Pitt-Water.

Daniel and his wife Ann had a son Daniel who, with his wife Elizabeth, established Woodvine farm at White Hills (now Woodvine Nature Reserve). Daniel and Elizabeth had 14 children at Woodvine and named their eldest Daniel, who farmed Gillingbrook at Forcett and was instrumental in the building of the Forcett Hall.

How different the Long family story would be, if not for the Gatehouse family and neighbours in the early hours of a cold June morning in 1870.

In recent years the Gatehouse family have become friends and colleagues, so it was amazing to find this moment in time where our fates may have been quite different had the rescue not succeeded:

NARROW ESCAPE. On Monday morning between two and three o’clock, as Mr. Jonas Gatehouse was returning to his home at Wattle Hill, in a chaise cart, in company with Daniel Long, they had to cross a ford at the Iron Rivulet, within a short distance from the homestead, when the cart was upset, and the horse drowned. A servant of Mr.Gatehouse hearing cries for help proceeded to the scene of the disaster, where he observed his master and Long clinging to some bushes projecting from the side of the rivulet. After some difficulty in extricating Mr. Gatehouse, he had to return to the house, where he procured a rope, On his return to the creek he tied this round Long and pulled him out, apparently dead. Having conveyed him to Mr. Gatehouse’s, the usual remedies were resorted to restore animation, which happily was brought about after two hours’ exertions, Mrs. Lindsay, wife of the miller, and others, aiding in so praiseworthy an effort. It is supposed that from the rise in the rivulet during Monday night, the current became so rapid as to sweep the horse off his legs. A couple of bags of flour which were in the cart were carried out of it, and found half a mile down the stream.

The Mercury 17 June 1870 p2 (Trove)