A lonely death

Poor Henry McKegney did not have much in life and he died a cold lonely death.
Henry was a swagman. He wandered, primarily in the Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu and Wairarapa area taking any job he could do on any station.
Swagging wasn’t easy. You had to be prepared to sleep rough, to be turned away nastily and if something in the area was ever stolen, you were the first to be looked at by police.
Still, it was a semi-honourable profession, with many men doing what they could to find work.
The trick was always to be humble and nice, and hopefully someone might give you some bread, or tobacco or let you bed down in the barn for the night.
Henry had been born in 1864 to Henry snr and wife Mary. But he knew tragedy early on. His father was killed while felling a tree in 1885 leaving four sons and then a daughter who was born after he died.
Mary died in 1909 and Henry jnr went on to marry Edith Jones in 1919 in Foxton.
It doesn’t look like they had a happy marriage, within a few years Henry was wandering taking jobs on stations around the bottom of the North Island.
Henry got himself into trouble now and then but managed to find his way in life in a solitary fashion.
They did manage to have a couple of children.
By 1933 Edith was petitioning the courts for Henry failing to pay maintenance. And the court ordered that he pay however whether anyone was able to collect is unknown.
Then in July 1936 Henry was found dead.
John Morrison the station manager at Tuatane in Herbertville was out riding the back of the cattle run when he thought the cows were acting funny.
He headed over to a patch of reeds and found Henry lying dead. His swag was by his side and his hat had fallen off.
There was nothing to show how he died and there were no signs of violence.
Henry had been at Bert White’s station in Porangahau a few days earlier. He had stayed the Friday night but there was no work for him and so on the Saturday he was given a bit of food and he headed off.
He was found about five miles from White’s station.
He was 72 and carrying a very heavy swag of about 60lb.
At the inquest he was found to have a little money and papers showing that he had been working at various places around the Wairarapa region.
A doctor said Henry had been under his care for a couple of years and had a severe form of heart disease and that it was likely what killed him.
Henry was buried in a lonely grave at the Mangatera Cemetery in Dannevirke.​