Tragedy struck the small rural community of Narrawa, near Wilmot, on Sunday evening 24 June 1934 when a young man shot dead well-known Wilmot farmer and Kentish Municipal Councillor John Hoare (63) in his home. His housekeeper, Miss Miriam Linnane (41), also received a bullet wound to her head. The murderer then walked down the road to the Narrawa State School, where a gospel service was in progress. When he told them he wanted to shoot John Hoare’s son Bernie, he was quickly locked out of the school building. The next day, police arrested Hoare’s son-in-law Thomas Higgins (31) and charged him with murder.

John Hoare’s Early History

Born in Deloraine in 1872, John Hoare was 13 years old when his parents, James & Elizabeth Hoare, with their six younger children, became early settlers in Paradise in 1885. They purchased Joseph Harman’s 102-acre property on the road running along the highest plateau in Paradise, now known as Dawson’s Rd. As a young man, John Hoare began competing in wood-chopping events, left home and went to WA, then to NZ, where he married Mary Leydon (26) in May 1907. Mary, like John, was of Irish Catholic descent, her father coming from Mauritius. After their first daughter, Mary Magdaline (Eileen) Hoare, was born in May 1908 in Taihape, NZ, they returned to Paradise, Tasmania, and purchased a property close to the farms owned by John’s father and two brothers. John & Mary Hoare’s three oldest sons were born in a Sheffield maternity hospital: John Jnr b1909, Lawrence b1912 and Bernard b1914. In Feb 1913, John Hoare (41) led a Paradise delegation to Kentish Council proposing a new deviation road be constructed from Paradise across the Dasher River to join the existing road from Claude Rd to Sheffield. This shortcut was completed in 1914 just as WWI broke out.

Move to Wilmot

In 1915, John & Mary Hoare sold their Paradise farm and moved to Wilmot, where they purchased a 77-acre property near the top of the Forth Falls, about 3 km from the Wilmot township, along what is now Williams Rd. Their last three children were born there: Margue (Rita) b1916, James b1918 and Florence Hoare b1920. During these years, John participated in axemen’s carnivals in various parts of the state but retired in 1929.

John Hoare also passed through some sad times. In Aug 1923, his oldest namesake son, John Jnr (14), died of diphtheria. In April 1924, his American war-veteran father died in Hobart. John was barely home from burying his father when his wife, Mary, was admitted to the Devon Hospital and died on 15 May 1924, aged 43. She was buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Latrobe cemetery. At the time of Mary’s death, husband John was 52, and his surviving children were Eileen (16), Lawrence (12), Bernard (10), Marguerita (8), James (6) and Florence (3). John Hoare was forced to employ a housekeeper, Miss Miriam Linnane.

About 1925/26, John Hoare and his family joined the fledgling Christian Brethren assembly that had been recently formed at Wilmot. They became regular attendees and participated in church services. But eldest daughter Eileen (18) chose to leave home. In Melbourne, she joined the wrong crowd and formed some disastrous relationships. In 1927, John was elected as Wilmot councillor for the Kentish Council. At first, he rode his horse to Sheffield for the monthly meetings, but in 1928 he bought his first T-model Ford.

In 1931, John sold his farm above the Forth Falls for £800 and bought a property up a long road off the Nawarra Rd still known today as Hoare’s Rd. It backed down to the Wilmot River, where his sons loved to catch black fish. John with his oldest surviving sons, Laurie and Bernie, cut timber and built their new house themselves. The boys also helped their father grow potatoes, clover and hay, and run cattle. The younger children – Jim, Rita and Florrie – milked the cows. On Empire Day, 24 May 1934, Cr John Hoare did his usual duty at the Narrawa State School – addressed the children, presented certificates and distributed boiled lollies to all the children present. One month later, he was murdered in his own home.

Sunday Night Murder (24 Jun 1934)

That Sunday evening, John Hoare sat in front of the fire in his living room with his two teenage daughters, Rita and Florrie. With them was their housekeeper Miriam Linnane and Hoare’s oldest, married daughter, Eileen Higgins, who had returned home nearly a month ago and had her three small children asleep in bed. About 7:30pm, Miriam Linnane went outside to fetch firewood when she saw a young man emerge from behind a shed. It was Eileen’s husband, Tom Higgins (31), with whom John Hoare and son Bernie had had some recent disagreements. Miriam hurried back towards the house, but Higgins caught up to her. Raising a revolver, he said, ‘I’ll stop you from giving them any warning.’ and shot Miss Linnane through the side of her head close to her ear. She fell to the ground but remarkably didn’t lose consciousness. Startled by the sound of a gunshot and Miriam’s screams, John Hoare rose from his chair and opened the door into the hallway, where he came face to face with his son-in-law. Higgins fired point-blank at Hoare, killing him instantly. Weighing 16 stone, Hoare fell heavily face down in the hallway. Eileen fled into the bedroom, then returned and faced her husband: ‘You’re not going to kill me and the girls, are you?’ She led him to the back door, saying, ‘You need to get going quickly.’ Back inside, she rang the Sheffield Police. They contacted Dr Firth, who rang the Devon Hospital requesting their ambulance to be sent to Hoare’s home in Narrawa.

Not finding Bernie Hoare at his home, Higgins walked back down the road to the Narrawa schoolroom, where a gospel meeting was in progress. He believed Bernie was probably there. About 8:10pm, he banged on the door and called out. When local farmer Jim Overton opened the door, he discovered Tom Higgins standing there with a revolver in his hand. Higgins said, ‘I’ve just killed Jack Hoare, and I want to do the same to Bernie Hoare.’ It was obvious that the madman meant what he said. Overton told Higgins at that moment Bernie was up the front preaching. Overton then quickly retreated, locked the door and yelled, ‘John Hoare has been shot, and the gunman is outside! Turn the lights out and everyone get on the floor!’ There they waited in the darkness, not knowing what might happen next, not being able to raise the alarm. After the longest time, when they felt sure the murderer must have left, young Jock Smith and Bernie Hoare got up and walked down the road to Bernie’s father’s home, arriving about 9:45pm, just after Senior Constable Freiboth, Trooper Ed Nibbs and Dr Wm Firth had arrived from Sheffield. It was a nasty sight. His father was lying face-down in the hallway with a large pool of blood near his head. Dr Firth had pronounced him dead, and Miss Miriam Linnane was in a critical condition. The bullet had struck her near the left ear and passed out the upper part of her head. Taken by ambulance to the Devon Hospital, she was admitted there at 4:30am. Amazingly, Miriam recovered well enough to make a witness statement from her hospital bedside. John Hoare’s body was taken back to the Sheffield morgue, behind the courthouse, where Dr Firth completed an autopsy the next day.

Killer on the Loose

Wilmot and Narrawa residents had little sleep that Sunday night, for the tragic news spread rapidly because the murderer was still at large, wandering around the district. However, Higgins arrived back at Stingle’s camp where he had been sleeping, told him what he had done and left shortly afterwards. Four Wilmot residents – Richard French, Eric Purton, Amby Radford and Stella Beswick – testified later that Higgins had called at their homes, telling them what he had done, requesting they call the police and the doctor for he didn’t know whether Hoare was dead or not. Higgins spent the night sitting beside a burning log in a paddock, and then the next morning continued walking to Devonport to give himself up. About 8am, police arrested him at Lower Wilmot. He showed them where he had spent the night and where he left his overcoat, in which they found an empty revolver and several live cartridges. They took him to the Sheffield police station, where he made a long statement and was formally charged with the murder of his father-in-law, John Hoare. Higgins was placed in the lockup next to the morgue with Hoare’s body lay. Hoare’s funeral left the Sheffield Court House at 1pm on Tuesday June 28 for interment in the Wilmot Cemetery at 2:30pm. Councillor John Hoare was survived by five children: Eileen (26), Laurie (22) (who is not mentioned at all on that Sunday, so was presumably already working away from home), Bernie (20), Margue (Rita) (18) and Florence (nearly 13).

Trial in the Launceston Supreme Court

Higgins told the trial that he met John Hoare’s daughter Eileen in Melbourne in Mar 1931. Higgins was an unreliable drifter who couldn’t hold a job. When John Hoare became aware of his daughter’s marital problems, he tried to help the couple. John Hoare bought a property near Dover and put Tom Higgins to run it. It wasn’t long before Tom quit. Eileen wanted ‘out’ and asked her father if she could bring her three children up to Narrawa. She arrived in early May, but Higgins followed her, and for a week they all lived together in John Hoare’s home. Again, John Hoare and son Bernie offered to take him on as a share farmer, but Higgins wanted his wife to go away with him, and she declined to do so. These factors fuelled the breach that developed between Hoare’s family and Higgins. At the end of a tense week, and following a long discussion between John Hoare, his son Bernie and married daughter Eileen, the offer of share farming was withdrawn, and Higgins was asked to move out of the house. He began camping with a man called Arthur Stingle, but Higgins continued to want to see his wife and son and was refused. He wrote letters to his wife, some of which she replied to, telling him to go away; she didn’t want to see him. Once, Higgins had Jim Overton take him to Hoare’s house to speak to John Hoare on his behalf, but Overton was told to take Higgins off their property. On Sunday morning, knowing John Hoare’s family usually attended the Christian Brethren church service held in a hired hall in Wilmot, he waited nearby, hoping his wife, Eileen, might be with them, but neither she nor her father attended. That Sunday night, Higgins told Stingle he ‘was going to Hoare’s house to see if his wife was still there or whether she had cleared out’. About 9pm he returned, telling Stingle that he had shot John Hoare, and soon left without saying where he was going.

On 22 August 1934, at the criminal court in Launceston, the 12-man jury found Thomas Higgins guilty of manslaughter. The accused did not seem to be affected by the verdict. At the sentencing, a week later, Justice Clark said, ‘After considering all the circumstances, I regard this as a most serious crime. I sentence Thomas Higgins to 15 years’ imprisonment for the manslaughter of John Hoare.’ Later, a second charge of the attempted murder of Miriam Linnane was dropped as any sentence imposed would have been made concurrent with his present 15 years.

The vacancy in the Kentish Council caused by the death of Councillor John Hoare was filled by Alex Elliot Lillico of Wilmot from 1934–1960. Lillico went on to serve with distinction in three levels of government. In 1943, he joined his father in state parliament; this was the first occasion a father and son sat together in the same house of an Australian parliament.

After Years

Of John Hoare’s children, his oldest daughter, Eileen Higgins, died in 1956 aged 49. Laurie Hoare became a successful skin-buying merchant in Devonport for many years. He died in 1986 aged 73. Bernard Hoare moved to Queensland for work, where he became an able preacher and active Christian Brethren elder. He died in 1986 in Brisbane, aged 72. Margurite Hoare lived most of her married life in Noosa, Queensland. James Hoare joined the Army and eventually retired in Canberra as Major Hoare, having received an MBE for army service. Youngest child Florence Hoare wrote years later about her experience: ‘I was not quite 14 when my dad was murdered. What was done in front of my eyes by my .… brother-in-law caused me a lot of trauma and suffering. I was sent out to stay with James & Mabel Byard on their farm at Roland. The Byards had one daughter, Dorothy, and I lived with them for a month or so until I came good.’ For ten years after her marriage, Florence Hoare regularly drove a bus, transporting 24 disabled children between Burnie and St Giles, Launceston.