BATHING TRAGEDY

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1932, Page 12

BATHING TRAGEDY

SEEING A SISTER DROWN. BOY TOO YOUNG TO KNOW. Too'young to understand that he was witnessing a tragedy, four-year-old Colin Callan sat on the shore at Avoca Lake, near Gosford, Sydney, , recently and saw his little sister, Juanetta, aged seven, wander out of her depth and drown. . Nobody else was about at the tune. When Christopher Goldsmith, aged 14, arrived about' half an hour later, and asked the child where his sister had gone, the little boy replied: “Sis went out in the water* and went down to have a sleep.” For a moment young Goldsmith did not realise what the boy meant. Then: “Where did she go?” he cried, and the child pointed to the lake in front of him.

Goldsmith dashed into the water and after searching for some time came across Juanetta lying on the bottom in about sft. of water. He carried her to the shore and tried to revive her, but she was dead. Even by this time little Colin could not comprehend that his sister was dead. He stood by her body while Goldsmith ran about half a mile to the Avoca Surf Club house and called for help. The life-savers tried artificial respiration for a long time, but two doctors who were called pronounced life extinct. A pathetic feature of the case is that Goldsmith had gone to the lake to give Juanetta a swimming lesson. The little brother told his brokenhearted parents that his sister had "walked out and gone down.” He said that Juanetta had called out, “Oh, oh!” when she went under. He thought that the girl’s death cries were part of a game.