The story of John Dummett

Discover the story of The Rock; Dummett Rock, and the man behind the rock, behind the puzzle, wrapped in the enigma of the strange relationship between One Man and One Rock
John Dummett was born to Bill and Petunia Dummett in 1900. Bill Dummett ran a quarry on the outskirts of Bendigo, and as a small boy John would amuse himself by dragging rocks behind him on a self devised harness, showing off his strength (and the fact that he was none too bright). At age 19, John was conscripted to Algiers to fight the fascists. He kept a favourite pebble in his pocket for good luck, a rock which was eventually worn smooth with handling. This rock is now in the British Museum, locked safely behind glass. John was considered something of a liability by his peers, as he was forever dragging rocks around the battlefield - a habit which almost led to his untimely demise when, under attack, John was unable to make the safety of his trench in time, partly due to the 600 pound boulder he was dragging at the time. A large shard of shrapnel made its way through his trousers into his right buttock, and it was whilst convalescing in a camp-hospital that he met his future wife, Nurse Eliza May of Castlemaine. John kept the boulder next to his bed for good luck, telling his new love that it would one day begin the foundation of their home. Six months later, John found himself standing on the bow of the Queen Mary IV, waving a tearful goodbye to his betrothed, and the rock that he his unsympathetic ships captain had not allowed him to add to the ships ballast. He vowed to Eliza May that he would meet her at the place where their marital home was to be built, with a rock of the exact dimensions of the one that had almost taken his life. It took John a year to find an appropriate rock in Eliza's hometown of Castlemaine, and on the 2nd of October 1920 he set out to drag it the 100 miles to Clifton Hill, there to set the foundation of their home. For forty days and forty nights he dragged the rock, attracting derisive laughter from those he passed, and developing muscular power that the strongest bodybuilder would envy. Through rain, hail, dust, snow and scalding heat he dragged that rock, arriving at his destination on the 1st of November. Not fifty meters from the Clifton Hill terminus, John sat upon his rock with the letter from Eliza in his hand to await her arrival. A row of terraces was to be built on what was later to become Dummett Crescent and with his fathers newly expanded bridge building company beginning construction of the terraces and the nearby Northcote bridge he was assured employment and a prime building position. A full two days passed and still Eliza May had not arrived. In a delirium of hunger and tiredness he vowed not to drink a drop or eat a morsel until her arrival. John's fate grew worse as the spring storms brought blustery conditions, pneumonia and bronchitis. Often the locals would gather and mutter while some good soul would tend his sores or mop his brow. Young local tearaways would play 'Scissors, Paper, Rock' with him and legend has it that John was unbeaten. Ten days passed and still no sign of Eliza. John was nearing death, but the rising sun bought the last hope; the eleventh of the eleventh, the marriage date. The pastor he had organised stayed as late as possible, but eventually he too left. Incredibly, John Dummett lasted another two weeks and died of starvation, dehydration, pneumonia and a broken heart on the 30th of November 1920. Thanks to the feral cat explosion of 1919 to 1921, Johns skeleton was picked clean within three days. Johns skeleton remained for a number of weeks before it and the rock mysteriously disappeared as the construction of the new factory went up right where John had intended to build their marital home. Some had said John's body was buried beneath the Tru-Mould Tyre Factory and others thought the verge for the new overpass had swallowed him up, enshrining his remains in the sands of progress forever. Until March 2006 when the winds of time exposed the very rock that John Dummett sat and died upon almost a century ago. At present, preliminary laser imaging of the hill behind Dummett rock has begun before a dig can commence. Legend has it an eerie glow can be seen upon the rock in the misty evening. Some say it is the glow of Johns burning heart. Others think its the ghost of the campfire that kept John comfort those lonely Melbourne nights. Others think its just a trick of the light. One thing is for sure - there's a little bit of John Dummett in all of us. And if not, there should be. Note: Word has it that Eliza May, originally from central Victoria was a little wary of John's strange advances and was last seen boarding the Orient Express on the arms of a dashing gadabout in the early 1920's. No relatives survive.
In October of 2009, the ghost of John Dummett returned to exact his revenge on the feral cats that consumed his body after he died of a broken heart. Thanks to the John Dummett Memorial Society this event was captured on video.