‘I killed her’: 90 years on from Dapto station master’s felonious slaying

There’s a charm to the 19th century property at 1 Station St, Dapto, however, it has a haunting history as the scene of a horrific homicide nearly a century ago.

Tucked beside Dapto train station is a quaint Georgian-era home with a gloomy history.

The house was built in 1887 as the station master’s residence with Dapto station also opening the same year, on the completion of the Wollongong to North Kiama train line.

Sunday will mark 90 years since the charming property was the scene of a brutal murder, when 45-year-old station master Harold Seldon maimed his wife, Louisa, with an axe in front of their children in the kitchen.

The old station master's house at Dapto.

The now-defunct South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus reported the events of January 16, 1932, explaining Mr Selden had been struggling with depression and rheumatic fever, spending a lot of time in hospital during the preceding four months.

In the early afternoon, Mrs Seldon, 47, was busy in the kitchen, accompanied by her children, when her husband surged into the room wielding an axe.

The eldest of children was 19-year-old George who tried to fend off his father with a chair, but was knocked unconscious and left bleeding on the floor.

George’s younger siblings, too small to intervene, watched on in horror as their father delivered a fatal blow to their mother’s skull.

One of the terrified children fled crying for help.

They were heard by assistant station master William Black who alerted police before restraining Mr Seldon.

Constable Arnold arrived at the scene of the tragedy shortly to find Mrs Selden lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Picture: Dylan Arvela

Constable Arnold found the culprit in a back room before asking how and why he had committed the atrocity.

“I don’t know, all I know is that I have hit Georgie and murdered the wife,” Mr Selden said.

“I am going away tonight and I can’t leave her, so I killed her.”

When asked where he was going, Mr Selden told Constable Arnold, “I think it’s either Gladesville or Callan Park” (both mental hospitals which ceased operating in the 20th century) before he produced the murder weapon.

Mr Selden fronted the inquest at Wollongong Court House on February 17, where it was revealed the station master was depressed and certified as being insane.

Deputy Coroner Mr J. Kirby reached his verdict: “I find that the deceased died from injury to the brain following a wound caused by an axe, willfully inflicted by her husband, Harold Frederick Seldon.

“I further find that Selden, whilst insane, did feloniously slay the deceased.

“It is a very sad case and my sympathy is extended to the family of the deceased.”

Mr Selden was institutionalised at Long Bay Psychiatric Hospital and George made a full recovery.

Railcorp sold the house in 1996 and it has since changed hands four times.

The last time the charming 883sq m three-bedroom property was up for sale was in 2017 when an Illawarra couple, Sue Phillips and Lee Taylor, purchased it for $610,000.

A gorgeous home with a haunting history. Picture: Dylan Arvela

Mr Taylor chuckled as he discussed the purchase on the front porch next to a contemporary statue of Buddha.

“We like heritage homes and we just liked the look of it really,” he said.

“We didn’t know about the murder, not until we moved in and then found out about it.

“It’s nearly a 100 years ago or whatever it was so it didn’t really worry us, it’s not haunted or anything.”

Real estate data analysts CoreLogic estimate the property to now be worth between $800,000 and $900,000.