Millar Buzzard

10.0
Millar’s Death

After only being on his new farm 4½ months, Millar died on the property on 12th July 1920 as a result of a gunshot wound. There was some conjecture over whether this was an unfortunate accident or suicide.

In my father’s autobiography, “A Gentleman and a Rascal” by Brian Sheridan Buzzard, he described what happened on that fateful day:

Account of Day that Millar Died

Jacquie Scotney (nee Bailey, a granddaughter of Millar Buzzard) recalls the account given to her by Peter McNamara, a childhood friend of John (Millar’s eldest son):

“Peter said Nanna was correct in defending the cause of Millar’s death, an accident. While out shooting wild turkey, shot himself getting through a fence. Nanna went looking for him in the rain she had put an army coat of over her shoulders. When she discovered his body, it was lying through the fence. He had a gunshot wound to the head. She said she bent over his body, kissing the back of his neck and layed the army coat over him.”

Peter said there was a lot of small-town talk and of course, the gossip was suicide. Nanna always insisted it was an obvious accident. She adored this man and at the time of his death she was pregnant with Millar Jun.”

Millar’s Certified Death Certificate

Newspaper articles of the time carried detailed accounts of the circumstances surrounding Millar’s death. Transcript:

“Farmer Shot Fatally - Details have reached Chief Police-Inspector McKenna of the death, early this week of William Buzzard, an ex-lieutenant in the A.I.F., who recently acquired a farm in the Moora district under the repatriation scheme. Constable Donaldson, of Moora, was informed of the finding of the body by the deceased’s father-in-law, a retired Moora farmer. It was discovered about a mile from Buzzard’s farm in a sitting position astride the five bottom wires of a six-wired fence. A single-barrel breech loading gun stood by the body, the stock on the ground and the muzzle caught in the lapel of the man's coat. The deceased’s right arm was pressed firmly against the barrel of the gun, and the breech was open and contained a discharged cartridge. A hole, surrounded by blackened skin, was in the man’s right temple and the exit hole was over the left eye, the forehead being practically blown away. The deceased was married and had three young children. ” [104]

A coronial Inquiry reported that he died accidently of a gunshot wound from a shot gun he was carrying.

Coronial Inquiry Reported Finds Accidental Death

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[104] The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 17 July 1920, page 6