William Hann was a pastoralist

Pastoralism

Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...

 and explorer in northern Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. His expedition in 1872 found the first indications of the Palmer River

Palmer River

The Palmer River is a river southwest of Cooktown in northeastern Australia. It was the site of a gold rush in the late 19th century which started in 1872. The Palmer River flows west across Cape York to the Gulf of Carpentaria, via the Mitchell River...

 goldfield.

He was born in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on 26 February 1837. Fellow explorer Frank Hann

Frank Hann

Frank Hugh Hann was an explorer in Western Australia, who in 1897 named Lake Disappointment. Hann was in the area exploring the east Pilbara, around Rudall River. He noticed creeks in the area flowed inland, and followed them expecting to find a large fresh water lake...

 was his younger brother.

The first gold was found by Frederick Warner the expedition's surveyor

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

 on 6 August and further deposits were located on following days. However Hann thought they were not in commercial quantity; as a result James Venture Mulligan

James Venture Mulligan

James Venture Mulligan was a bushman and prospector. He was born in Drumgooland, County Down, Ireland and emigrated to Australia in 1859...

 who in 1873 followed up Hann's report and announced richer deposits is credited with the discovery.

Obituary notice from The Queenslander

The Queenslander

The Queenslander was the weekly summary and literary edition of the 'Brisbane Courier' , since the 1850s the leading journal in the colony later federal state of Queensland...

, Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Saturday, 21 September 1889: "HANN--On the 5 April, William HANN, of Maryvale, North Queensland, accidentally drowned whilst bathing in the sea at Townsville

Townsville, Queensland

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...

, leaving a wife and two daughters to mourn the loss of an affectionate husband and loving father, aged 52."

Further reading

Robert Logan Jack

Robert Logan Jack

Robert Logan Jack was Queensland Government geologist for twenty years.-Early life:Jack was born at Irvine, in Ayrshire, Scotland the son of Robert Jack, a cabinet-maker, and his wife Margaret, née Logan...

, Northmost Australia, George Robertson and Co., 1922

In addition to the obituary, the following article appeared in the Brisbane Courier 6 April 1889

A Townsville telegram dated 5 April states
that William Hann of Maryvale Station, one of
tho oldest of the northern pioneers, committed
suicide by drowning', in the bay in front of the
Queen's Hotel during Thursday night.

This suggests that the drowning was not accidental and took place at night.