Almost 120 years ago Dalby’s town clerk and council chambers both came to a bizarre end involving a remarkable family whose story has never been fully told until now. I shared a version of this story on Darling Downs radio 4AK.

Bertie Preston “Jack” Walker was born in the Toowoomba district in 1886. He was only twenty-two years old when he was appointed the Dalby town clerk, and in 1909 met a peculiar death while sitting inside the council chambers.

It was on Thursday the 21^st of January 1909 that the Dalby council chambers were found to be on fire, and Walker the young town clerk was discovered in the building with a bullet wound to the side. He died just a few hours later. 

The fire consumed the entire building and everything in it except for some of the council’s books. This was the second time that Dalby had lost its town hall and all its contents to fire, the previous building having burnt down just nine years earlier. This time it was particularly strange because the town clerk had also been shot.

Walker had probably thrown a lit match or cigarette into his office bin before he went into the adjoining room to look at a rifle he had bought for a friend. When Walker saw flames under the door to the room he’d just left, he jumped up, the gun went off, he was shot, and he fell dying on the floor with the chambers burning down around him.

Walker’s funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Dalby. His father was Mr George Needham Walker the Dalby police magistrate. Further interest was garnered because he came from a prominent Anglo-Irish military family, and the fact that he died from an accidental gunshot made the whole event incredibly ironic.

Walker’s brother Dennis Needham Walker would be one of the originals in the Australian Light Horse Horse in the First World War. He became famous for capturing a Turkish regimental standard at the battle of Magdhada. The flag was displayed in the front window of Finney Isles in Brisbane and today is in the collection of the Australian War Memorial.

Walker’s grandfather, George Needham Walker, was captain of the 75th Highland Light Infantry in the British Army. His great-grandfather, another George Needham Walker, was commander in the British Navy.

A cousin was Admiral of the Fleet David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, who would command the British Battle Cruiser Fleet at the famous Battle of Jutland in 1916. A bust of this cousin can be seen in Trafalgar Square in London to this very day.

Another ancestor was George Walker. He was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Anglican priest. He was Governor of Londonderry in Ireland during the siege of 1689 and was killed at the Battle of the Boyne. The Walker Plinth on the city walls remains in his memory to this day, although the column that once stood on the plinth was destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1973.

What makes Dalby’s Jack Walker so remarkable is not just his amazing family, or the peculiar circumstances of his death – but also that at just twenty-two years old age he was almost certainly the youngest town clerk in Australian history.

His last resting place is the Dalby cemetery and is marked by a falling-over headstone. It’s a modest memorial for a young man from such a notable family.

This happened 117 years ago and even though Walker burnt down the Dalby council chambers and accidently shot himself, he may actually deserve more.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON 4AK.

Photo credits:
Death in the Dalby Council Chambers – Harold Peacock with Copilot.
Wide unpaved street in Dalby showing the Post Office with clock tower c1905 – State Library of Queensland.
Regimental Standard of the Turkish 80th Infantry Regiment captured at Magdhaba 1916 – Australian War Memorial RELAWM15159.
David Beatty bust Trafalgar Square – Wikipedia Commons.
George Walker from National Portrait Gallery – Wikipedia Commons.
Bertie Preston Needham Walker Dalby Cemetery – ClubHerron 2020 via Find a Grave website.