Dost Mahomet - Dost and Annie's Deaths

Dost and Annie's Deaths

Both parents died violently not longer after building their Australian-style home at Port Hedland.

The full circumstances of Dost's death in1909 are unclear. It is known that Dost was killed at home during a long and fearsome fight with his two brothers-in-law. One of them fatally smashed open the back of Dost's skull with a heavy piece of jarrah. The two brothers stood trial in Broome in June 1909 but were acquitted of murder. Dost's relatives attributed Dost's death to Annie's brothers and held Annie at least partially responsible for their acquittal.

Dost was a man of wealth as well as standing when he died. He had left a written will bequeathing his assets to his children and Annie and designating his brother Jorak as executor. Annie left accounts that Jorak was withholding money from her and that life was very difficult. She finally agreed to Jorak's offer of financial security and a good education for the children on condition that she return to India with the children. But, she boarded ship in fear for her life.

In Karachi, she took precautions, for example, establishing contact with the British Resident in the town. She was well remembered by many of Dost's relatives around Karachi, working and joking alongside women in the village in their day to day lives. Warned by some of them of threats to her life, she and the children moved one evening to a compound the other side of Karachi gaining the protection of a trusted relative.

Annie slept with a small revolver under her pillow and a watchdog outside. Three months after landing in Karachi, in August 1910, Annie was stabbed to death in her bed while her two youngest children lay alongside. Two nephews and a third person were charged with murder but were acquitted because of lack of identification.

After the court trial, the five youngest children were returned to Australia under an agreement between the district magistrate at Karachi and the Federal and Western Australian Governments. They were eventually placed in the care of the State. After their deaths, accounts of their parents' assets included camels, property in Port Hedland, monies owing to the estates, and jewelry, but the children did not come to inherit any of this.