Name Of Mine On Which Last Employed
Maninga Marley GM, Sandstone, Western Australia

Place Of Burial
Sandstone Cemetery, Western Australia

Submitted by
Admin. Updated by David McMillan & Ian Hodkinson

Cause of Death
Mine Accidents

Other Information
STORY: Maninga Marley – ghost town

Sonnenschein. "More Lonely Graves of Western Australia". (2000) Coate, Yvonne & Kevin. Hesperian Press. Page 365.

Spent some time in the Geraldton area, including working at Wheal May at Northampton. Lived at Sandstone with wife and daughter during the years before WW I.

1925 'MISSING PROSPECTOR', Kalgoorlie Miner, 4 November
MISSING PROSPECTOR BELIEVED TO BE ENTOMBED. Perth, Nov. 3.
It is feared that an elderly German prospector named Sonnenschein is entombed in the old Maninga Marley mine at Sandstone. He has been pottering about the property for many years, and generally worked in, some workings adjoining the old workings. Constable Markey, of Sandstone, was notified yesterday that the old man was missing. A search revealed the fact that the water which had accumulated in the old workings had broken through into the new shaft, but no trace of Sonnenschein could be found. If he was underground when the water broke through he may have had time to reach a place of safety, as happened in the famous instance of Varischetti at Bonnievale many years ago.
When Inspector Deeble, of Cue, heard of the affair he telegraphed to Sandstone, giving instructions for an engine driver to be procured to commence pumping operations and also, if necessary, to put on men to cut firewood to provide fuel to keep the boilers supplied.

1925 'MINER'S DISAPPEARANCE', The Daily News, 4 November
MINER'S DISAPPEARANCE - MANINGA MARLEY MYSTERY - BODY RECOVERED.
A brief message was received by the Mines Department from Inspector Deeble at Sandstone this morning, intimating that the body of an old German miner Sonnenschein, had been recovered. As pumping operations had been resorted to on the Maninga Marley mine to reduce the water.

1925 'DETAILS FROM SANDSTONE', The Daily News, 4 November
DETAILS FROM SANDSTONE - EMPLOYEES' FEARS REALISED.
SANDSTONE, Wednesday.
On Monday, at 6 p.m., a telephone message was received from Maninga Marley, 20 miles from Sandstone, stating that Frederick Sonnenschein, aged 59 years, proprietor of gold-mining leases 203 and 345, was missing through a supposed accident in the underground workings. Immediately Constable Markey, with a relief party, motored to the scene. It appears that deceased at 8 a.m. on Monday was lowered to the 300f t. level, the working face being 750ft. along the drive where deceased was rising to break through to the shaft for air. A shot was heard at 10 a.m.. and as the deceased, did not come to the 'crib,' two employees went below, and their fears were realised that Sonnenschein had been caught by a rush of water from the old shaft. A diligent search was made, but no tidings were received. The case was reported, and baling operations were immediately started and carried on continuously and at 7 o'clock last night the body was found in an underhand stope, where it had evidently been carried by the rush of water. After the shot had been fired, the deceased must have returned to the face, and, while examining it, broken through.

Warden Butler, with Mr. W. M. Deeble, inspector of mines, arrived last night and inspected the scene of the accident. An inquiry is being held.

1925 'ENTOMBED IN MINE.', Geraldton Guardian, 5 November
OLD MINER'S FATE. - A MANINGA MARLEY TRAGEDY
The epic struggle to rescue the entombed miner Varischetti at Bonnievale, a decade and a half ago, was recalled when a telegram . from the Inspector of Mines at One (Mr. W. M.Deeble) to the Mines Department on Tuesday, hinted at the possible entombment of an old miner at the Maninga Marley mine in the vicinity of Sandstone. Some little time before the war an elderly man named Sonnenschein, of Teutonic origin, secured from the company then holding it, the lease of the Maninga Marley mine, which lies about 20 miles to the east of Sandstone. He worked the mine, often without assistance, and from time to time was rewarded with a fair amount of success. Like a number of those who potter about the old mines, he was said to be eccentric, and during the war earned a little notoriety for his ill chosen out-outspokenness. He was esteemed harmless so long as he continued his work of extracting gold from the lease, and as this appeared to be one of his obsesssions, no notice was taken of his occasional outbreaks.

On Monday it appears, information came to the ears of Constable Markey at Sandstone, that the old German was missing and a search was instituted, Maninga Marley, it is learned, has two lots of workings; those which were abandoned some time ago and those on which Sonnenschein was recently working. An investigation showed that the water which had accumulated in the old workings had broken through into the new shaft. The owner of the lease was nowhere to be found. The telegram is regretfully brief, but it is surmised that someone visiting the lease — there are few occupied leases within miles — called at the owner's camp which is situated nearby and found indications that the camp had not been abandoned, although Sonnenschein was not to be found. Immediately upon hearing the news Inspector Deeble telegraphed to Sandstone giving instructions for an engine driver to be procured to commence pumping operations, and also if necessary to put on men to cut firewood to provide the fuel to keep the boilers supplied. On Wednesday the Mines Department received word that the man's body had been recovered from an underhand slope, and it was assumed he was drowned when water from the old workings broke through into the new shaft.

1926 'Wills of the Week', Sunday Times, 14 March
Letters of Administration: Frederick Sonnenschein, late of Maninga Marley via Sandstone (died November 2, 1925) to Rebecca Sonnenschein, of Perth.