In 1865 Ipswich in Queensland was perplexed by the mysterious disappearance of an extraordinary man. I told a version of this story live on West Bremer Radio.

In September 1865, Ipswich was completely baffled when Mr. William Henry Nalder vanished. He was twenty-one years old but had told his employers that he was older. Nalder was an intelligent, junior clerk in the Australian Joint Stock Bank at Ipswich, which was the same branch that the father of the author of the magical Mary Poppins would later be manager.

Nalder’s disappearance caused a great deal of excitement and speculation.

One Saturday, Nalder said that he wanted to bathe in the Bremer River that evening, and after having dinner, he was never seen again. The next morning some of his clothes were found on the bank of the river at Basin Pocket. It’s the same spot where ten years later a Brisbane councillor would fake his own death.

The immediate conclusion naturally was that Nalder had been drowned while having a swim. The police dragged the river all day Sunday, and divers were called in the next day, but no body was recovered.

Among the clothes found by the river, his collar, necktie, socks, and pocketbook were not there. On searching Nalder’s room where he lived, police discovered that a clean shirt was missing, along with a hat, a pair of boots, and one suit of clothes. It was then assumed that Nalder had embezzled at the bank and faked his own death in an effort to get away.

On examining the bank books, however, they were found to be correct and so the mystery deepened.

Nalder had cashed a £7 cheque for his salary the day before he disappeared. He left some liabilities, such as a week’s rent, but not enough to explain the mystery.

On the Friday evening before his disappearance, Nalder had purchased one pound of tea and two pounds of sugar at a shop in Brisbane Street in Ipswich, which supported the belief that Nalder was for some reason determined to disappear.

The belief then circulated that it was all due to a woman. A similar case was recalled from a couple of years earlier in Brisbane. That’s when a young man, whose clothes were found on the riverbank and the assumption was made that he’d been eaten by sharks, but he turned up not long after with a young lady in Sydney.

Despite all the speculation that swept across Ipswich, the truth behind Nalder was even more remarkable.

William Nalder was formerly a Treasury clerk in Melbourne, and was one of the best-known men in Melbourne. That’s because he was a rifle shooting champion, having won several hundred pounds in prizemoney which back then was a fortune. With this money he went to England and enjoyed a tour of Europe.

He then came back to Queensland, and joined the staff of the newspaper called Peak Downs Telegram in Central Queensland. There he became a hero by apprehending, by force of arms, two horse thieves and handing them over to police.

Nalder hid himself in the long grass, surprised the thieves by suddenly springing out of the grass, and covering them with his revolver, announce that they were his prisoners.

One of the bushrangers, a Spanish West Indian, displayed a formidable-looking knife, but Mr. Nalder, undaunted, ordered the prisoners to sit down on the grass, and he explained that if any of them moved, a bullet would be lodged in their head. Nalder gave a warning shot straight into a tree some distance away, thereby convincing the men that he was a crack shot, and so hirs orders were complied with.

When riding the stolen horses back into town, Nalder was too fast and enthusiastic and when he tried to pull-up he was thrown and suffered brain damage, which took some time for him to get over.  

That’s when it seems that Nalder went to Ipswich, while still suffering brain damage. After his disappearance from Ipswich in 1865, Nalder returned to Melbourne to again work as a clerk in the treasury.

By 1879, Nalder was working as a surveyor in Kempsey in New South Wales, and that’s where he saw out his days. He didn’t live to know that two of his eleven children would die in the First World War. This large number of his children (family pictured top of page) being yet another extraordinary thing about the man.

When William Nalder passed away in 1909, his funeral was one of the largest ever seen in the district, the cortege being about half a mile in length.

No one was aware that their modest surveyor had lived an incredible life as a treasury clerk, shooting champion, European grand tour gentleman, hunter of bushrangers, and even that he faked his own death over five hundred kilometres north in Ipswich.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
Nalder family 1901 – William Holland via Macleay Argus 2 July 2021.
William Henry Nalder from the Nalder family 1901 – William Holland via Macleay Argus 2 July 2021.
Panorama of Ipswich from Limestone Hill taken by Poochee 1865 – Picture Ipswich.
WH Nalder West Kempsey Cemetery – Julie Henderson Lacey Milier 2023 via Find a Grave.