Located in the Greenmount Cemetery is the grave of John Slattery, better known as the character Cranky Jack from the stories in On Our Selection, written by Steele Rudd.
The grave is found in site 3, at the far-right corner of the cemetery. As you approach, it is towards the left edge of the site. The headstone is made of sandstone with a sandstone cross at the top, however, the cross has broken off and pieces of it sit in front of the headstone.
The writing on the headstone is getting difficult to read with weathering. It says:
In Memory of John Slatery
Died at Woodland Greenmount
April 8th 1924 Aged 90 Years RIP
A Faithful Servant of the Allan Family for (not legible)
Interred by the Allen Family
The writing has a couple of errors, the spelling of his surname is with one ‘t’, as Slatery instead of Slattery. It also says 90 years, with a separate plaque it meaning approximately 92 years.
The plaque is more easily read, with the following text:
The character “Cranky Jack” who features in Stelle Rudd’s “On Our Selection” stories was based upon the real life personality, Jack Slattery.
Jack arrived in Australia as a convict in the 1860’s and initially worked for Thomas Allen in Drayton.
The Allen family moved to Emu Creek taking him with them as a farm worker. He Lived in a hut on the bank of Emu Creek and in his later years looked after the pigs and wood supply.
Jack died on 8th April, 1924 aged approximately 92 years and his body is interred here.
If you are curious that John Slattery is known as Crazy Jack, it is because Jack is a nickname or diminutive name for John, like Jack Nicholson’s name is John Nicholson. It seems weird, but historically it wasn’t a separate distinct name. In the UK during the middle ages, one-fifth of men were named John, with the nickname Jack becoming name for any generic person, and possibly the source of the expression Jack of All Trades still used today.
