Some may say that the Warwick clock tower on the Darling Downs is cursed. More specifically was it cursed in the 1930s because that’s when a series of bad things happened to those connected with it. I told a version of this story live on radio 4WK.

When the clock in the Warwick town hall tower was installed in 1892 it was described as one of the best and most complete turret clocks in the colony. It wasn’t cheap because it cost £341 which is over $300,000 in today’s money. The clock only happened thanks to a public meeting called by the alderman John Healy. Healy came from County Limerick in Ireland, was elected to council for thirty-three consecutive years, he twice served as mayor of Warwick.

The clock hasn’t always been in perfect working order. Some remember former mayor Ron Bellingham while he was in office used to climb up in the clock tower most weeks to keep it going. Before that, maintaining the clock was done for about twenty years by watchmaker John Walsh.

Further back in the 1930s, a Warwick jeweller by the name of William Ernest Wallace was in charge of the servicing of the clock. He was born in Yuleba and spent the final forty years of his life living in Wantley Street in Warwick. In 1933 he was called into the Warwick courthouse to give evidence in a case of stolen bagpipes, but other than that his life was fairly quiet. But it’s what was happening to his family around him that suggests he may have picked up some nasty curse from the Warwick town hall clock.

A prelude of things to come occurred in 1914 when Wallace’s brother David Wallace was the driver of the train that ran over and killed a little old lady at Toowong in Brisbane. Her hearing couldn’t have been too good because a young porter warned her a couple of times about the danger of crossing the line. Anyway, the train ran over her and that was that.

In the 1930’s once Wallace started looking after the Warwick clock, then really bad things started to happen.

In 1935, Wallace’s son Austin Wallace was one of four people who were crammed into the front seat of a truck. The truck collided with some stray cattle on the Ipswich side of Haigslea. The truck overturned and one of the passengers was killed. He was planning to celebrate 21st birthday that same day.

Just three years later in 1938, Austin was again a passenger in a serious accident. This time the car he was travelling in overturned at the intersection of Wallace and Wood streets in Warwick. Also in the car was Austin’s younger brother Robert Wallace who was still at high school. There were broken bones everywhere, they were rushed to the Warwick hospital, and this time at least there weren’t any deaths.

The accident happened just metres from where not long before twelve mysterious deaths had occurred. It was at the home of the Warwick postmaster on Wallace Street that twelve of his twenty-five fowls mysteriously died during the night. Despite post-mortems, no cause of death was ever found.

In between these two awful traffic accidents, in 1937 further misfortune happened to the family. This time it was Wallace’s only daughter Williamena Wallace. She was just twenty-two years old when she died in hospital in Brisbane. Even the fact that she was a nurse couldn’t save her from the Wallace 1930s clock curse.

So next time you look at the Warwick town hall clock, don’t just wonder if the time is right. Also remember the Warwick jeweller William Wallace. It was ninety years ago – while he was in charge of looking after the clock – that his family were dropping like flies all around him.

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

Photo credits:
Warwick Town Hall, 1898 – State Library of Queensland.
John Healy, Warwick Municipal Council, 1901 – State Library of Queensland.
Warwick Town Hall, 1898 – State Library of Queensland.
Warwick Town Hall, 2020 – State Library of Queensland creative commons.