The Haunting of the British Hotel, Port Adelaide
Designed by architect, W. Beattie, The British Hotel opened in March 1847 as a
single-story
hotel consisting of 20 rooms, including a bar, taproom, kitchen, three parlous
and ten bedrooms.
Its first manager (and possibly builder) was Captain James
Wakeling, who had previously owned the Port Tavern, which had been destroyed by
a fire that wiped out large sections of the Port in January 1847.
Behind the hotel once stood a two-story building used at the stables for the
hotel, in which lived the hotel’s Ostler, a person who looked after the horses
in the stables or the hotel owners and guests. Captain James Wakeling worked
previously for a South Australian company as Captain onboard the ships Sarah
and Elizabeth and was an early pioneer. It is said he was very strict in how he
ran his hotels and was very punctual in closing the hotel's doors at 10pm
nightly. This led to one incident, where a large Irish Shipmaster, played a
trick on the old Captain and changed the clock hands on Wakeling’s clocks, so
the pub stayed open an extra hour, until 11pm!
The hotel was sold in 1849 to William Mart. Only a few
years later, in 1853, Captain Wakeling passed away at the age of 65 in Rundle
Street, Adelaide after contracting influenza. As Captain Wakeling was much respected,
in his honour, all vessels in the Port flew the flags at half-mast the day
following his death. Wakeling was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.
John Wakeling and Mary Ferrers managed the hotel between
1859 until 1863, when it then fell into the ownership of Henry Ayers, who in 1876
added the second story.
Ayers, then Premier of South Australia, sold the hotel not long after the
improvements he made to James Ralph Russell, who had worked in the hotel as its
publican since 1863. Russell, in 1878, added a veranda and balcony.
In 1907 the hotel changed its name to McGraths British Hotel to reflect its new
licensee, John McGrath and family. McGrath ran the hotel until his death in
1932, when it was then taken over by his two daughters Elizabeth and Esther.
Esther would take sole licences responsibility in 1935 after South Australian
laws prohibiting single women from owning or running hotels was amended.
The Russell family, who had owned the hotel since 1863,
decided in 1937 the time was right to sell. The hotel then fell under the
ownership of the South Australian Brewing Company but was still operated under
the license of Esther McGrath, who stayed on until 1952.
The hotel had many more licensee’s over the years, but eventually closed for a
few years, until being revamped and reopened in 2007.
Over the years there have been many deaths inside the hotel,
including in 1905, the death of a hotel worker, Ethel Hammond, aged 39, who
passed away in an upstairs bedroom where she lived.
Former publican John McGrath died in the hotel in 1922, and in 1954, Alexander
Thompson died in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
It has long been alleged that the hotel is haunted, with paranormal activity
experienced across all levels. One spirit alleged to have been seen in the
basement area is that of Sir Henry Ayers, five times South Australian Premier
and served in Parliament for an unbroken 37 years. Although he lived in, and is
said to haunt, Ayers house on North Terrace in Adelaide, it would seem his spirit
has been seen here, in the basement on occasion over the years after his death
in 1897.
In a 2015 interview, the then owner described poltergeist type activity
happening in the basement. It was stated that:
“In the cool room there are stacks of two-litre milks toward the back of the
shelves, not on
the edge ... One morning, we came out and there’s one just thrown in the middle
of the
floor. How in the hell, that moved ...”
It is not known who the mischievous poltergeist-like spirit
might be, and no one is 100% certain why Sir Henry Ayers haunts the hotel, or
even if the alleged ghost is actually him, or just someone who might appear
like him (or just a case of mistaken identity from an intoxicated witness).
Either way, the hotel, like most of the hotels in Port Adelaide, is considered
haunted!
References:
Our Port, (2015), The British Hotel, Government of South Australia, retrieved
from http://ourport. com.au/content/uploads/2016/04/DiscoveringPort-Adelaide-The-hidden-gems-of-the
Portrevealed.pdf
James Hunter, History SA, ‘British Hotel (Port Adelaide)’, SA History Hub,
History Trust of South Australia, retrieved from http://sahistoryhub.com. au/places/british-hotel-port-adelaide.
The British Hotel, (2018), History, retrieved from https://thebritish.com.au/about-us
1853 ‘LAW AND CRIMINAL COURTS.’, South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839-
1900), 26 May, p.3, viewed 09 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38463754
1905 ‘SUDDEN DEATH.’, Evening Journal, 29 June,
p.1, viewed 09 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208008634
1905 ‘Facks and Roomers.’, The Areas’ Express (Booyoolee, SA: 1877-1948), 30
June, p.3, viewed
09 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224371446
S. R. Parr, ‘Ayers, Sir Henry (1821–1897)’, Australian
Dictionary of Biography, National Centre
of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ayers-sirhenry-2914/text4193,
published first in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 10 October 2018.
1922 ‘Family Notices’, The Register (Adelaide, SA: 1901 - 1929), 8 March, p.2, viewed 14 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63582157
1954 ‘Family Notices’, News (Adelaide, SA: 1923 - 1954), 12 July, p.24, viewed 14 Oct 2018,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134753904
First published in MEGAscene issue 13 2018
Allen Tiller (ALIAtech, DipFamHist) is Australia’s most recognised paranormal
investigator,
eminent paranormal historian, and star of the international smash hit
television show “Haunting: Australia”.
Allen is also the founder of Eidolon Paranormal, South Australian Paranormal
and the author
of book and blog, “The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal”.
He is the winner of the 2017 “Emerging South Australian Historian of The Year Award”
as presented by The History Council of South Australia. Employed as “Historian
in Residence” in 2016/2017 with the Adelaide City Council Libraries and employed by the City
of Port Adelaide Enfield Council to write the popular, “Ghosts of the Port Self-Guided
Walking Tour”
You can find Allen online at:
www.AllenTiller.com.au
www.EidolonParanormal.com.au
www.twitter.com/Allen_Tiller
www.facebook.com/AllenHauntingAustralia
https://www.facebook.com/
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