North Road in Clayton. Michael bought and sold land quickly. He owned the triangular piece of land to the north marked on the map below as ‘Reserve Paddock,’ only briefly, then he sold it and bought another parcel of land to the south of North Road. The farm had fruit trees and a market garden.¹⁶ Michael’s son James took over the running of the extensive property when Michael got older, and James lived in the main house some distance from the dwelling that Michael lived in with his wife.¹⁷
Map of Leonard property North Road. Source¹⁸
Michael Leonard was the original crown grantee of the land, and in 1882 was 83 years old. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and had emigrated to Australia in the 1840s where he married his wife, Catherine in Victoria.¹⁹ James reported that Michael had been in poor health for the previous year, yet his doctor said he had not seen him for health issues for some months. James told the police his father had suffered a stroke about five months earlier, and had begun to show signs of dementia, which was then called insanity. His local doctor agreed that at the time of the stroke which resulted in some paralysis, Michael had shown signs of temporary insanity, however recently he had been well. James reported to the coroner that Michael had begun looking haggard and wild.²⁰ Michael had been seen half-dressed, even naked, wrapped in only a sheet, on several occasions. James also claimed his father was addicted to alcohol and was bad tempered when he was intoxicated.²¹ The relationship between Michael and James was not friendly. In the 1880s there were no nursing homes or community services that could treat, manage or even diagnose a person with dementia so Michael’s care would have rested solely with his family. No pensions were available for Michael to have supported himself had he chosen to live elsewhere.
On Christmas morning, Michael Leonard asked his wife Catherine to load his double-barrel fowling piece (gun) for him, explaining he was going to shoot some pigeons before the holiday shooters arrived.²² For reasons known only to himself, he went to the chaff shed where Harie was polishing his shoes and fired his gun, shooting Harie in the face, head and chest.²³ Harie survived the shots and howled in pain and shock, demanding Michael explain his actions. Catherine heard the shots and came out of her home to investigate, finding Harie with his head in his hands and his face covered in blood. Michael was already walking towards James’ house in the distance.
Catherine screamed for help for Harie. Her neighbour, John Gobbi was alerted by his sister Seraphine who had heard the shots and witnessed Michael heading off into the distance. John set off for Oakleigh to inform the police and get medical attention for Harie. On the way, he passed Michael who was heading towards the Mulgrave Arms Hotel. In John’s statement to Constable Gray from Oakleigh Police, he stated that he had seen Michael walking with a stick in his hands. Seraphine Gobbi, in her statement to police described watching Michael walking down Dandenong Road with a gun in one hand and a stick in the other, then walking into the Irvine property next to Michael’s, and coming out with only the stick. The next day police recovered the gun from the bushes on the Irvine property.²⁴
Harie was taken to the Alfred Hospital on the back of a cart. These days the journey would take less than half an hour by ambulance. In 1882 the trip took almost six hours. Harie died at 7pm that evening from blood loss and clots in his heart. None of the 60 shots that entered his body had penetrated his brain.²⁵
The Mulgrave Arms Hotel was on the site of the current Oakleigh Motel, on the south side of Dandenong Road a few kilometres east of Oakleigh, and about one kilometre from the Leonard’s property.
Mulgrave Arms Hotel, Source²⁶
Michael entered the Mulgrave Arms Hotel, where he had a drink with Martin Bird, the estranged brother of Michael’s wife Catherine who had been employed at the hotel. Martin had not had any contact with Catherine for 18 years, and their relationship cannot possibly be described as pleasant. Martin was a petty criminal, with a long record of theft. In 1864, Martin had beaten Catherine, breaking her arm,²⁷ subsequently spending two years in Pentridge Prison for the assault.²⁸ In evidence to the coroner, Martin said Michael had admitted trying to kill Harie because he feared Harie was having an affair with his wife. He believed Harie’s relationship with Catherine was too close and claimed Harie spent more time in Catherine’s bedroom than he did. (Catherine was 63 years old). But was this just a statement by a vexatious brother, especially given they had not spoken for years?
Constable Gray from Oakleigh Police arrived on the scene and confronted Michael while he was still drinking with Martin at the Mulgrave Arms Hotel. Michael denied any wrongdoing, saying he had not touched his gun for months.²⁹ When he was taken back to the scene of the crime, Michael said he didn’t even recognize Harie. The weapon used by Michael was identified by John Gobbi as belonging to Michael, as Gobbi had borrowed the gun many times. In Michael’s home were bullets which matched the gun.³⁰
Four days later the inquest was held. As was the custom in 1883, inquests were held before a jury. The jury found Michael Leonard guilty of wilful murder. He was then sent to trial in the Central Criminal Courts on February 15, 1883.
At the trial, Michael was found not guilty of Harie’s murder. Why was this? In 1882 wives could not testify against their husbands. As Catherine was the only person who could place Michael at the scene of the crime with a loaded gun, all other evidence was considered circumstantial, and Michael walked free.
Alfred Hospital, Source: State Library Victoria³¹
After his acquittal, Michael was ostracised by his family, and at one stage he claimed to be destitute after being denied access to his home or land. In April 1883, he approached the Oakleigh Police Court to try to reclaim his considerable land. The case was heard by two Justices of the Peace, and after considering Michael’s plight and his request to have access to his own property and belongings, the bench concluded there was nothing they could do and advised Michael to speak to a lawyer.³²
How does a family recover from such a tragedy? That same month Catherine rewrote her will leaving all her property and belongings to son, James. She died in June 1886.³³ It is uncertain when or where Michael died. There is evidence of a very elderly man estimated to be one hundred years old, named Michael Leonard dying in a room in a laneway off Collins Street in 1886. Whether this was Michael or not, will remain a mystery.
What then happened to Michael’s son, James? He was elected to Oakleigh Shire Council around 1884 and served as a councillor until about 1891. One of his legacies was to bring piped water to Oakleigh from Dandenong.³⁴ James Leonard died in Cheltenham in 1923.³⁵
Charles Andrew, 1887, Oakleigh
William Andrew and his wife Alexandrina Andrew née Cuthbert had both been born in Scotland in the 1820s. They married in Lancashire, England in 1853 and soon after migrated to Victoria with their young daughter Eliza. William was a farmer or market gardener. Before her marriage, Alexandrina worked as a servant to a medical practitioner,³⁶ although she remained unable to sign her name on official documents.³⁷
After arriving in Victoria around 1856, William and Alexandrina lived in the Brunswick area north of Melbourne, where their next child, William was born in 1857. By 1858 the family had moved to Oakleigh which was known for the Scottish migrants who had settled there. The creek running through Oakleigh’s northern boundary, shown at the top of the map below is Scotchman’s Creek. Oakleigh was a fertile crop-growing area with ready water from the creek and rich soil for market gardens. Farmer’s produce would have been transported to the Melbourne
