It was a waterhole which had been so filled with manure that it resembled a large dung-heap.

The moment a heavy body was placed on its surface it would yield and it quickly took a person with it, deeper and deeper they would sink, with no possibility of extracting oneself without help.

There had been seven accidents in a week at the waterhole and while help was at hand for those people, it was not the case for a seven-year-old orphan boy James McCarten on August 16, 1848.

This report comes from inquests recorded in Maitland between 1834 and 1942 and compiled in a book by Maitland Family History Circle.

James was kept by Mr Davies, the pie man of West Maitland, since he lost his parents.

James had left Mr Davies to go to the races and had not been heard of or seen since.

Mr Davies told the police that the boy was missing but he thought he may have gone to Tomago where he had an older brother.

Mr Davies continued to inquire about the poor boy from parties coming into town from the Sugar Loaf area where the lad had two other brothers.

After hearing reports of another woman’s narrow escape from being smothered in the Elgin Street hole, Mrs Sully of Elgin Street mentioned that a boy’s cap and an orange had been found floating on the surface of the water in the middle of the hole.

It was reported to police and they spoke to Mr Davies who confirmed the boy had left with a cap on his head and with an orange or two.

This left no doubt that the little boy had fallen into the hole and perished.

Mr Davies went to the waterhole that night and under the moonlight started to search, accompanied by two other men, Mr Mears and Green.

They had a long pole with a hook at the end and removed the dung from the hole where the cap had been seen.

Mrs Sully was also present.

When the top layer of dung was removed the pole sank six or seven feet through the water before it reached the bottom and a soft body could be felt.

Green also took a long pole and went toward the middle of the hole and after pushing away more dung, he felt underneath and in a few minutes lifted up a mass towards him.

It was the body of the orphan boy. 

Mr Green brought the body to the bank and Mr Davies recognised the boy and embraced him with great distress.

Police were sent for and the body was taken to Mr Davies house for an inquest.

The boy’s hands were firmly closed with straw grasped in each as if he had tried to save himself.

His features were perfect and the body was firm, suggesting he had been dead only a few hours.

Authorities were told to search the hole because they thought it possible there were more bodies of people who shared the same fate as the orphan boy.

An inquest was held into the death of James McCarten whose cap had been found floating near the Elgin Street waterhole after a horseman had ridden in and been saved by the people around.

The coroner found the boy had suffocated and drowned and a jury recommended to the coroner for the waterhole to be secured and filled.

A two-rail fence was built as a temporary measure until the Maitland police magistrate was given authority from the government to pole in the waterhole on September 9, 1848.