A MYSTERIOUS discovery in a quiet Canberra alleyway this week led police on an investigation through the region’s dark past, unravelling a tragic story of war, insane asylums, a haunted orphanage, innocence and, ultimately, murder.
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Late Monday morning, an anonymous tip-off was called through to police, simply telling them to go to an alley in Holder, near Zeal Street.
There, behind some bushes, they found a 160kg marble holy font, with the following message inscribed: ‘‘Pray for the soul of Elizabeth Eva Naughton, charge nurse who was killed at Kenmore Hospital, 16th December 1922. RIP.’’
The discovery of the holy font, which was so heavy it took three officers to haul into a van to take back to the Exhibit Management Centre in Mitchell, baffled police.
But the name of Nurse Naughton led them to a Goulburn insane asylum, the Kenmore Hospital, and to a tragic shooting murder, the story of which has faded from the public’s mind for decades. That story begins with a young patient, Richard Sindell, 24, who was committed to the institution upon returning from service in WWI. The war had taken a terrible toll on the soldier.
He was shot through the jaw, and was still suffering from shell shock and other mental issues when he was committed.
During his time at Kenmore, Sindell began to build a delusional conspiracy incorporating hospital staff, focussing on one particular doctor, Charles Moffatt. While on two weeks’ leave from a different hospital in December 1922, Sindell bought a gun and hitched a ride back to Kenmore with a mail van.
He arrived at the institution, and found Moffatt on a verandah, shooting at him and then chasing him through the grounds.
During the chase, he stumbled across a group of nurses, including Nurse Naughton. The nurses were, tragically, in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to Kenmore Hospital Museum secretary Leoné Morgan.
He fired indiscriminately, shooting Nurse Naughton in the chest twice, and then at a second nurse, reportedly knocking her hat from her head, but not killing her.
The general commotion alerted the manager of the institution, who took a gun from the hospital safe, and ran to the scene. He confronted the deranged patient, shooting him through the hand, and forcing his surrender.
Nurse Naughton died at the scene, and the incident was described as the worst tragedy to occur at the hospital between the world wars.
A wing of the Kenmore Hospital, which still exists, was named after Nurse Naughton. She was also remembered through the font, which was placed at the chapel of St Joseph’s Orphanage in Goulburn.
The orphanage, now disused, boarded up, and in significant disrepair, is rumoured among locals to be haunted. Just how that incredibly heavy font travelled from the haunted orphanage to the Weston Creek alley remains a mystery to the team at the Exhibit Management Centre, including warehouse manager Andrew Waterman and Sergeant Brett Cunningham.
The font is not worth much at all aside from its historical value, according to Mr Waterman. Police are hoping that Canberrans can help piece together the mystery of Nurse Naughton’s font, and are hoping to return it to the Catholic Church.
If you know any information that could help police track down those responsible for taking the font, call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers website.
How the Sydney Morning Herald reported the murder in its December 18, 1922 edition.
