When wheat traders William Drummond and Charles Cornell decided to resolve a business dispute with their fists, it would cost one of them his life. Photo: AI Generated.
The idea of two well respected local businessmen agreeing to resolve a disagreement through “the manly art” of boxing is hard to imagine in 2026, but in Australia’s rough and tumble early days, it was often considered to be a gentlemanly way to sort things out.
Unfortunately for the community of Lockhart it led to the death of one of the region’s “most prominent and highly respected residents” in the early 1900s.
William Douglas Drummond had moved to Lockhart from Corowa when the railway arrived in 1901. According to a story in the Narrandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (15 January 1909) the 42-year-old was an aspiring politician who was well liked in the community and the firm of “Drummond and Co, auctioneers and commission agents, Lockhart” had been a success.
Drummond Brothers Buildings in Lockhart, 1906. Photo: National Library of Australia.
On the morning of 12 January, a clerk named William Davies had headed down to the railway yards to oversee the unloading and transporting of a delivery of wheat for Drummond and Co.
At one point Davies moved a truck that belonged to the railways and was called out by another local wheat buyer named Charles Cornell.
According to The Lockhart Review and Oaklands Advertiser he asked, “What are you doing with that truck?”.
The pair went nose-to-nose in a heated argument which was eventually settled by the station master, who ruled that Davies was in the right
“That settles it,” exclaimed Cornell and Davies replied, “Don’t you interfere with my [blank] business any more!”.
“I’ll beat you and all your [blank] clique!” declared Cornell as Davies headed back to the office.
When he reported the incident to his boss, Drummond was less than impressed and strode down to the railway yards that afternoon to demand an explanation.
“Are you the man that took possession of the yard this morning?” he asked Cornell, who was standing with several others in the goods shed.
When he answered yes, Drummond said, “If you are as good as what you were this morning come and take me!” and he removed his coat, collar and tie and squared off against his younger rival.
According to all the men present, the fight was fair and conducted in an orderly manner without malice and the pair punched it out for four or five rounds.
As they took a brief spell between rounds, a flushed Drummond turned to Cornell and declared, “I find I am out of condition. I’ll have to give you best, I suppose,” and offered his hand.
Despite being rivals in business, the two men knew each other well and according to Cornell, Drummond said “You are too good for me in the condition I am in,” to which he replied “Dudley, old boy, you have only yourself to blame”.
By this time, Drummond was in extreme discomfort and he was taken to hospital where it was determined that he was suffering from internal hemorrhage.
Doctors Davies and Hamilton attempted to operate that evening and found that the “abdomen was full of blood and hydatid fluid, evidently due to a rupture of a hydatid cyst” on his liver.
Hydatid cysts are a serious parasitic infection caused by the larva of tapeworms from dogs and are often undetected until they burst.
Drummond died early the following morning and the coroner concluded that it was from natural causes as “any slight blow might have caused the rupture, and it might have been caused by muscular exertion!”
He left behind a wife and three children.
