Pelberre Station was a stop on the railway line between
Gawler and Angaston. Pelberre is believed to be the Kaurna word for fruit. The
station was situated near Bella Street, Gawler East, one stop from what is
now Gawler Central (formerly Gawler North Railway Station).
Other stops that existed between Gawler and Lyndoch included Kalbeeba Station,
Kalperri Station, Sandy Creek, Warpoo and Wilamba.[1]
In 1947, Nancy Haese
(24), her mother Amy Haese and Robert Lee (38) were travelling in their car
when they were hit by a train at Jolly’s crossing. The mother and daughter were
in the front seat, and Lee was in the back of the 1927 open touring car.
According to the News,
The railcar struck the motor car alongside the steering
wheel. The car was then crushed against the cattle pit guard rails, and carried
40 yards before it was hurled down a 15-ft. embankment. The 60-1b rails forming
the cattle pit guard were bent and broken.
With the exception of the engine and
bonnet, the car was a twisted mass of steel and wood after the accident.
The rear axle was ripped, out and
carried along by. the railcar's cowcatcher, until it slid down the embankment
when the railcar stopped 125 yards past the point of collision.[2]
Nancy Haese was driving the car back to the family property.
Lee was an employee; the three had been picking grapes on the Adelaide Road
side of the railway line at Warpoo. The gate to the Haese property was just 20
feet from the crossing where the car was struck.
Nancy was killed instantly. Mrs Haeses
and Lee both suffered fractured skulls and died later in the Hutchinson
Hospital, Gawler.
In an article in The Register Newspaper,
it states that the original stop at Warpoo was known as Haese’s, and was little more than a flattened piece of ground where the train stopped to pick up and drop off passengers.[3]
The Angaston line from Gawler opened in 1911. Regular
passenger services ceased in December 1968. In November 1996, Transadelaide
introduced Sunday services to Nuriootpa, and in 1998, Bluebird Rail Operations
ran the Barossa Wine train on the line, which ceased in 2003.
Researched and written by Allen Tiller (c) 2025
S.A.R. 1938 train timetable courtesy of Martin Walker.
[1]
Manning G.H., A Compendium of the Place Names of South Australia, State
Library of South Australia, p. 669.
[2]
'Three Killed in S.A. Crossing Smash', News, (30 April 1947), p. 1.
[3]
'Country News.', The Register, (7 May 1925), p. 13.
McDonald, J., & Johnson, B., ‘Barossa Valley Lines to Truro, Penrice Quarry, and Angaston.‘ Lost in South OZ, (2024), https://lostinsouthoz.jarmlibrary.me/.
Documentary evidence reveals that Gawler came under the foot of the white man in 1837 when a survey party to the Barossa hills found a wanderer in the scrub. Being ill, they put him on the bullock dray. Reaching the ford over the South Para River, they found him dead, and so they buried him in a hollow tree, decently covering the body with bark and sticks. They called the ford Dead Man's Pass, and the place to this day retains the name.
Gawler’s first building was the Old Spot Inn, built by Mr. Schiebner. By the end of 1839 the traffic from the River Murray and the North was so great that Mr. King had to give up entertaining, so he induced Mr. Schiebner to build and provided the money for the building. Soon after that time, there was a small dairy station up the South Para River, belonging to Captain Walker, and Messrs Grant and Butler (grandfather of the State's ex-Premier) had a sheep station at Yattalunga.
'Gawler before, and its First Building.', Bunyip, (3 February 1939), p. 9., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96704537
<Transcript>
Before European settlement, Dead Man’s Pass and the Gawler region was the
home to the indigenous Kaurna Peoples.
Known
originally to European settlers as The Para Pass, the river crossing was first
used circa 1836. Colonel William Light is recorded as having stayed at a camp
near the pass in 1837, while exploring the Barossa Valley region and attempting
to find passage through the Mount Lofty Ranges towards the Murray River.
The crossing got its name after an exploration
party returning from the Barossa ranges came across an exhausted traveller,
whom they offered respite too. Once stopped at the crossing they checked on
their new companion who had fallen asleep in the back of their dray, only to
find him dead.
Having
no tools with which to dig a grave, they placed his body upright in a hollow
tree and covered it as best they could with sticks and branches.
Not
long after, another travelling party happened across the gruesome site, and,
after taking samples of the gentleman’s clothing, encased him with clay in the
tree. The name “Dead Man’s Pass” was adopted circa 1842 as the permanent name
of the South Para River ford, in honour of the dead man found in the hollow
coffin tree.
There
are many different accounts of the finding of the dead man. No one is certain
which account is true. Perhaps there is a little truth to be found within each
version of the story.
Dr George Nott wrote of finding the dead man
in 1860 in his book: Short Sketch of the Rise of Progress of Gawler.
In his diary Colonel Light wrote: “13th January 1839. Returned to the Para. We
halted here the rest of the day. Having heard of a dead body being there under
an old tree, we examined the spot and found it. There is a mystery in this
affair as it had been kept a secret. The skull is large, and the flesh almost
entirely gone. Part of his dress remained. His trousers of corduroy seemed good
as far as his knees - under those much torn. His short on one part contained
much coagulated blood. The body was covered over again and some of his clothes
packed up and conveyed to Adelaide.”
In the book “The Story of Dead Man’s Pass” The
Honourable B.T. Finnis of Gawler wrote a story with a slight variation to
Colonel Light’s.
“Travelling with Colonel Light on one occasion before the
selection of the Gawler Survey, we camped at the Gawler River and whilst
resting there we were surprised to find a dead man buried in an upright
position and plastered with clay. No part of his body was visible except the
toes. The
wild dogs had evidently discovered the corpse and had somewhat mangled the
feet. It was evidently a white man’s burial place from the clothes. The story
that was circulated in Adelaide as to the cause of the death of this
unfortunate man originated with a party under the charge of
Mr Bernhard. It was stated that travelling to the north, having a dray with
them, on nearing the ford of the Gawler River, a man in a distressed state
rushed from the scrub west of the line of the road and fell down in an
exhausted state, perishing for want of food and water. He was taken
every care of, but died very soon after meeting this party, which precede ours
on the way north. They had buried him in this tree and plastered him in to save
his body from the wild dogs. We afterwards called this tree
“Dead Man’s Tree,” a large hollow gum tree. The dead man was supposed to have
been a sailor, escaped from some ship off Port Gawler, who had lost himself in
the scrub in his endeavour to reach Adelaide, and thus perished miserably.”
In yet
another variation, The Southern Australian newspaper on the 16th of
January 1839 published an article titled “Suspicious
case”. Which read; “The body of a man, buried some time ago in the bush to
the northward, was exhumed last week by Colonel Light and Mr Finniss whilst
those gentlemen were out on their surveying expedition, and it was found that
the shirt, vest and trousers of the deceased were stained with blood, and his
pockets were turned inside out. The clothes were brought to Adelaide for
examination by the authorities and we hope a strict investigation into the
affair
will be held. At the time of the reported death of this man in the bush, many
months ago, no inquest was held, as there ought to have been, and we trust the
coroner will not be allowed to neglect his duty.”
Dead
Man’s Pass became a much-used crossing into the main street of Gawler as the
only roadway for bullock drays and horse and carts. The ford crossing became a
secondary way into town once a new bridge was built in the 1860’s on the
Adelaide Road.
In 1869, Gawler Council surveyed a new roadway
at Dead Man’s Pass. Council workers began constructing the new road and came
upon a skull and bones. Examining further, they found an almost complete
skeleton. The bones were taken to office of James Martin and examined by Doctor
Nott. Dr Nott concluded that they were the bones of a very tall European man
owing to the size of the thigh bones. It is thought the bones were those of
the man buried in the base of a tree some 30 years prior. The unknown man’s
remains were interred in an unmarked grave in the newly formed Gawler Cemetery,
now known as Pioneer Park.
In May
1890, a footbridge was installed at Dead Man’s Pass, erected by Mr T White.
In 1901,
Patrick Condon, a Gawler Corporation employee had a fatal accident when his
night cart flipped when it fell down an embankment, and landed on him, killing
him.
Also, in
1901, a young crippled boy was found dead in Black Hole billabong at Dead Man’s
Pass. Anton Johann Link's clothing were found on the banks of the billabong by
another young lad, who went to search for him, only to find Anton floating in
the water, dead.
In 1914,
Mr S. Fotheringham held the town of Gawler to ransom. The Dead Man’s Pass
footbridge crossed the river onto his land. He offered to sell the portion of
land to the council for 50 pounds, or that they pay him 8 pounds a year in
rent. Both the East and West Munno Para District Councils (The Two Councils
governing Gawler at the time.) agreed to buy the land, but ultimately the East
Munno Para Council refused. Fotheringham, in response to the refusal, fenced
his end of the walkway bridge with barbed wire, and threatened to cut down the
tree on his property that the bridge was suspended from. In April the same year,
an agreement was made with Mr Fotheringham, and the bridge reopened.
Floods
in 1917 extensively damaged the footbridge, with water being recorded as being
as high as Ayers Road and reaching the buildings of the former gasworks
In 1923,
raging flood water washed the old footbridge away…the bridge was repaired in
1924 and stood in place until the early 1980s when it was finally removed for
public safety
In 1952,
The Advertiser reported that Ernest L.B. Potter of Croydon, recollected that
when he was 10 years old, his uncle Edward Potter, a geologist, uncovered a
large skull while digging a hole for an underground water tank. The skull was
found to be that of a Diprotodon which is from the Pleistocene Epoch of
Australia. Diprotodon Optatum became extinct about 25, 000 years ago and was
known to exist while indigenous populations were in the area. These animals
grew up to 3.8 meters long from head to tail and stood about 1.7 meters tall at
the shoulder. Its closest relations today are the
wombat and the koala.
There
are many stories of paranormal encounters at Dead Man’s Pass. If one cares to
visit the “Ghost village” website, one can read the story of a young man and
his mate who were riding their bikes down first street. They were going too
fast, and one kept hearing a voice in his ear say, “go right!” indicating to
turn right into Gawler Terrace. The boy didn’t have much time to make a
choice, if he swept left around the dead man’s pass bend he would go into
oncoming traffic, if he managed to turn right, he wouldn’t make the turn. Going against his instincts, he turned
right, and ploughed straight into the curb, flying through the air, and hitting
a massive gum tree. He lay there stunned.He looked up and saw two figures standing
over him. A man and woman. The man said, "You're lucky to be alive,
lad," and the Lady said, "Take heed, boy, you only get one chance
like this!"…
The boys
mate came over to see if he was ok. Laying on the ground, without a scratch on
him, he asked his mate where the old people had gone. His mate replied that he
hadn’t seen anyone, but he had heard his friend talking to someone. He then
said he had watched him fly through the air, over 33 feet of gravel, and then
land, almost softly on the big gum tree.
The land at Dead Man’s Pass has previously
been owned by the Pile Family, and from 1907, the Riggs Family, who allowed the
Gawler Three Day horse Events to run across their land. In 1978, Gawler Council
purchased 20 Acres of Dead Man’s Pass and designated it a reserve.
Today
Dead man’s pass is a beautifully kept park with walking, cycling and nature
trails. It is home to many native birds and animals and is easily accessed and
explored.
Thank
you for watching Hidden Secrets. <End Transcript>
Researched, filmed, edited and produced by Allen Tiller.
Wirrabara, a small town on the banks of the Rocky River in
the Southern Flinders Ranges is located about 235kms north of Adelaide. The town name is Indigenous in origin, coming from the Kaurna People, but it is
actually a misspelling – in Kaurna the word 'Wirra' meaning water, and 'Birra' meaning
gum trees.
European
settlement happened in 1844 when the White brothers took up leases just north of where
the town now stands. The brothers named their station “Charlton Run” after
their home town in England.
An old mining air
intake chimney can still be seen where the old Charlton Copper Mine once
operated in the 1850s. The station was later renamed Wirrabara, and this is
where the town adopted its name from in 1874.
The Wirrabara Station
was once owned by A.B. Murray, the man who made the Marino Sheep famous!
Wirrabara was a means to an end for the South Australian
Government. The State of South Australia had no naturally growing forest like other
Australian states did, so the Government decided to create its own, and Wirrabara
was chosen as the site.
Much of our States
practices for Emergency Bushfire plans that we use today, were founded in the
forest nursery of Wirrabara. The nursery spawned a huge industry locally that
supported the growth of early colonial South Australia.
Like all good South Australian towns it didn’t take long for
a pub to be built in the town. Mr Farley built the hotel at 65 High Street and
leased it to Sam Miller. The hotel has had about 23 publicans since that time,
all of which are displayed on an honour roll in the Hotel.
One of the more
interesting things in this hotel is an old clock which adorns a wall. The clock
is stopped dead at 6 O’clock.
As the story goes, back in the late 1800s a
local man by the name of Malcolm Murray, who was described as a "good-natured
fellow", went on a bit of a bender at the hotel.
At the time of his bender, it
was state law for hotels in South Australia to close at 6pm – Mr Murray did not
like this idea at all as he wanted to drink - so he whipped out his revolver and
shot the clock, dead on 6.
Mr Murray, the next day,
no doubt hungover, and feeling very sorry for his outburst went and bought a
new clock for the hotel – the old one was left in the hotel as a memento of Mr
Murrays bender!
The Hotel is also reportedly haunted with an unidentified phantom
who likes to move things around in the hotel, and has on occasion, held people
down in their beds when staying overnight!
