Quest for clues to drowning

By Dion Teasdale
THE tragic death of a brother 50 years ago was the beginning of a long journey for former Warburton resident Shona Blackthorn.
Ms Blackthorn’s older brother, Gregory John Davenport, went missing on Tuesday, 15 November 1955.
The mystery of his disappearance was chronicled in the pages of the Warburton Mail (see below).
The boy’s disappearance triggered a massive three-week search involving almost 300 locals until his body was recovered from the Yarra River, behind the Warburton Mechanics Hall, three weeks later.
Ms Blackthorn, who was only five years old when Greg went missing, said she can vividly remember the last time she saw her brother.
“I remember saying goodbye to Greg in the morning before he left for school. He was eight years old and would have been nine in the February,” she recalled.
“He was a lovely brother and a good playmate. He was a caring, placid boy, who was very shy.”
Greg’s death was one of a number of tragedies that beset the Davenport family.
“Fifteen months earlier, my younger brother Steven died from shock after pulling a pot of boiling water on top of himself in our family home in South Melbourne,” Ms Blackthorn said.
“Having previously given birth to two stillborn children, my parents decided to relocate us to Warburton to make a fresh start, but just four months after we moved Greg disappeared.”
Ms Blackthorn said she found it difficult to comprehend the tragedy of her brother’s death at the time.
“I don’t remember much after Greg went missing, other than there was a lot of crying. My parents were grief-stricken and I think they tried to shield me from the truth,” she said.
“As a result, I always wondered where Greg had gone. One day I had a brother and then he was gone and I never knew exactly what happened to him.”
Greg’s death was the fourth loss for parents Mavis and Mervyn Davenport and the family moved to Sydney shortly after a coroner handed down his findings.
Ms Blackthorn said it wasn’t until she was much older that she started to seek answers.
“Much later, my father told me that our uncle Gerry found Greg’s body in the river. He said uncle Gerry wouldn’t let him see Greg’s body because the yabbies had got to him,” she said.
Since then Ms Blackthorn has been on a quest to reconcile the loss of her brother, a quest that led her back to Warburton in late 2004.
“I’d never had closure over Greg’s death and always there was a questioning in me about what had happened,” she said.
“I was drawn back to Warburton because I had so many questions I wanted answered and no one could tell me, so I had to come here myself.”
Last week, visiting the spot where Greg’s body was recovered, Ms Blackthorn said she has a clear image of her brother etched in her memory.
“I see him as he was the day he disappeared. He is wearing three-quarter length shorts and baggy school socks. He has curly light brown hair and a very cheeky grin,” she said.
Coming back to Warburton has helped put the loss to rest, Ms Blackthorn said.
“At this spot, where his body was found, I find myself talking to Greg. It is a place to contemplate the past and connect with him.
“It has taken me 50 years to come back and find him, and in the process I’ve found out a bit more about myself.
“I’ve been able to accept that it happened, that I can’t change it, and that what we are here to do is make the best of things as they are.”