Horse-drawn tram outside General Post Office, Sydney c1865, courtesy National Archives of Australia C4078, N7037
It's long been accepted that the composer Isaac Nathan was the first Australian to be killed by a tram, but thanks to information from a Dictionary of Sydney reader, we have recently been able to amend our entry Tram Deaths.
The first fatality caused by a tram in Sydney was about 9 months before the death of Nathan in January 1864. Six year old Thomas McGowan's 'leg was severed' by a tram when he either fell from or was knocked down by a tram on the Sunday evening of 26 April 1863. Thomas died in the Infirmary the following Monday. Several different possible causes of the accident were mentioned at the inquest, with the jury eventually returning a verdict that 'the occurrence was accidental and there was no blame attached to anyone'.
The death of the well-known musician Nathan in 1864, obviously garnering more public attention than that of the little boy, was the only one mentioned in the petitions to the Minister of Public Works in 1865 to remove the tramway as an example of its dangers, which perhaps explains how the original error came about. (Other, non-fatal, accidents to other prominent citizens were also mentioned.)
Our information came from a member of the McGowan family, and we are very grateful for the lead.
Additional sources were (of course!) available via Trove once we knew where to look, including the following articles - you can follow the links to read them on Trove:
A frightful accident occurred on the tramway tramway, in Pitt-street, on Sunday evening last...WEEKLY REGISTER (1863, May 2). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), p. 5.
