One hundred and twenty-three years ago Warwick in Queensland was attacked by cursed fish. I told a version of this story on radio 4WK.

In 1901 a strange phenomenon happened when showers of fish fell on Warwick. Thousands of live fish.

That’s not unique even far from the sea in western Queensland. In 1924 fish rained in Longreach after travelling eight hundred kilometres. In 1936 it rained fish in Cloncurry having travelled over six hundred kilometres. In France it’s been reported to have rained frogs, and in Norway it rained rats.

But the fish that rained on Warwick weren’t any ordinary fish, you see they appeared to have been cursed.

The shower of fish took place on Mr. Arthur Boyce’s farm in Campbell’s Gully outside of Warwick. Acres and acres were covered with the fish, many of which were fully an inch long.

Arthur Boyce was brother of Councillor Frederick Boyce who was chairman of the local Rosenthal Shire Council for nine years. But what was remarkable about Arthur wasn’t his brother, but the way that Arthur died after he was covered with fish.

Arthur met his death in a fearful manner on the railway outside of Warwick. While crossing through a train, it started to move. Arthur fell but managed to hang on for some time. Eventually he went under the wheels and was killed. The body, when picked up hours later, was horribly mutilated after several trains had passed back and forth over the remains.

The curse of the raining fish had begun.

The fish storm of 1901 also fell on the property of Mr. Andrew Margetts of Henley near Warwick. Thousands of live fish fell during a storm at night, and they looked like bream fry. The ground for acres was covered with them, and it occurred over three kilometres from the Condamine River.

Andrew was a surveyor and son of Warwick’s Doctor Frederick Margetts whose consulting rooms were near the centre of town on the corner of Albion and Fitzroy streets. The doctor’s career began after he received a commission in the East India Company upon which he started a seafaring life, but that doesn’t mean his family had an affinity with the sea or the fish in them.

It the doctor’s son Andrew Margetts and the family around him who may have been cursed by the raining fish.

Andrew’s brother was Albert Margetts. He appeared in Warwick courthouse a number of times, including when he and his arch nemesis allegedly threatened to burn down each other’s house, car, and everything.

Another of Andrew’s brothers was a well-known Toowoomba dentist Thomas Margetts. He spent time in Brisbane’s Boggo Road gaol for failing to pay his wife alimony. He also knocked down and killed a woman while driving his car in Toowoomba’s Ruthven Street, and he later died after collapsing in a barber’s shop.

The father-in-law of Andrew’s daughter was Captain Claudius Whish. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council and son of General Sir William Whish of the Royal Artillery. Captain Whish and his wife were among the one hundred and thirty-four people who tragically died in the sinking of the “Quetta” in the Torres Strait. It remains the worst peacetime maritime disaster in Queensland history.

I was at the Quetta memorial church on Thursday Island last year and the Margetts parents-in-law are commemorated on a marble plaque there.

But now back to Arthur Boyce whose farm was covered in raining fish. When he went out on a survey party with Andrew Margetts, whose property was also covered with fish, well, he was doubly-doomed.

An axe came down on Arthur’s foot with full force. He then had to endure an excruciating nine hour journey by wagonette back into Warwick. He suffered a great deal of pain, lost a large amount of blood, and no doubt never wanted to see fish again.

But it didn’t do him any good of course, because the fish curse and the trains got him in the end in the most gruesome manner.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON RADIO 4WK

Photo credits:
Goldfish – Pinterest.
Doctor Frederick Margetts of Warwick driving a horsedrawn buggy c1890 – State Library of Queensland.
Quetta Memorial Church, Thursday Island, 2023 – Harold Peacock 20230812_083036.