A Haunting at the Supreme Court of South Australia

 

A Haunting at the 

Supreme Court of South Australia

Why would someone haunt the Supreme Court of South Australia? That is a question one could ask about any building, but a pertinent question after it came to light in January 2019, that the Adelaide Supreme Court was receiving changes to a proposed internal renovation due to a ghost!

The Adelaide Supreme Court was designed by Colonial Architect, R.G. Thomas. The building was constructed using Tea Tree Gully sandstone in 1869. The building was first used as the Local Court and Insolvency Court, then from 1873, it became solely the Supreme Court.[1]

 The building is part of a group of significant law buildings facing Victoria Square that also includes the Sir Samuel Way Court, the Magistrates Court, and the original Police Courts.[2]

 The Supreme Court of Adelaide has been home to some very notable South Australian’s including Sir Samuel Way, Sir Mellis Napier, Sir James Boucat, Sir Herbert Mayo, and Dame Roma Mitchell just to name a few. Another Judge, and the suspected ghost haunting the Adelaide Supreme Court, is Sir George John Robert Murray (1863-1942).
 Judge Murray was born at Magill, the son of Scottish pastoralists. He was educated at J.L. Youngs’s Adelaide Educational Institution, and attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland.[3] He returned to South Australia and attended St. Peter’s College, then the University of Adelaide. He obtained a scholarship for his outstanding marks, which allowed him to attend law school at Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.[4]

 Murray had a distinguished career, now only as a lawyer and Judge. He was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1912. He also served as Chancellor for the University of Adelaide six times between 1916 and 1942. In 1916 he became the Chief Justice of South Australia. Murray also administered the government of South Australia, as the states Lieutenant Governor on numerous occasions in the absence of a Governor. In 1917, Murray was honoured with Knight Commander (KCMG), The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George.[5]

Murray was seen by many as an austere and serious man. He never married, and instead lived with his unmarried sister, Margaret at the family estate, Murray Park at Magill (now the administrative building of University of South Australia, Magill Campus).[6]

Sir Murray died on 18 February 1942 following an operation for appendicitis. He was buried alongside his sister at St Georges Church of England Cemetery, Woodforde (near Magill).

 It was alleged in numerous newspaper reports, that during the renovations of the Adelaide Supreme Court in 2018-19 that a psychic medium, brought in by construction company Hansen Yuncken, identified Sir George Murray as a resident ghost in the building.
 Construction workers had reported strange goings-on in the old building. Chairs had moved through the worksite of their own volition. Fire extinguishers, placed in areas of high risk, would be found in entirely different sections of the worksite far from where workers had placed them. I personally had contact from security guards who told me they had seen the spectre of a man walk through the building, his presence was solid enough that when he walked past motion-activated doors, they would open.
 Some staff became ‘spooked’ by the ghost, so the psychic was called on to investigate. It is claimed the psychic ran her hand over the proposed plans of the building and “felt a presence”. She spoke psychically to the spirit and later identified him via a portrait of Sir Murray. She stated that Sir Murray objected to the proposed seating rearrangement of where the Judges sat in courtroom 11.

A spokesperson for Hansen Yuncken stated:

'Apparently she spoke to what she called the 'spirit', which was a Supreme Court Judge, Sir George Murray, who was a little bit annoyed that the layout of his courtroom had changed so he has been causing a little bit of mayhem.'
The spokesperson went on to say; 'There might be a little bit of a design change to keep the judge happy. There may well be some things to accommodate his, shall we say, temper.'[7]

 Sir George Murray was the States Supreme Justice for 16 years and served at the courtrooms from 1912 until his death in 1942. Perhaps, it is justified that his presence is felt in the courts…

 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2020

(Written for the publication; Haunted Adelaide)

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[1] Adelaide Heritage, Supreme Court, National Trust of South Australia, (2019), http://www.adelaideheritage.net.au/all-site-profiles/supreme-court/.

[2] Ibid.

[3] ‘Death of Sir George Murray’, The Advertiser, (19 February 1942), p. 4.

[4] Alex C. Castles, 'Murray, Sir George John Robert (1863–1942)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, ANU, (1986), http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-sir-george-john-robert-7708/text13497.

[5] Peter Duckers, British Orders and Decorations, (Oxford 2009), pp. 26–27.

[6] Jim Nelson, Murray Park House, Campbelltown City Council, https://www.campbelltown.sa.gov.au/library/local-history-room/localhistoryarticles/local-history-articles-places/murray-park-house.

[7] Brittany Chain, $31 million Supreme Court renovations halted after medium declares the spirit of a dead judge is haunting the building – as plans are rearranged to ‘appease the ghost’, Daily Mail Australia, (20 Jan 2019), https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6611759/Supreme-Court-renovations-halted-medium-declares-spirit-dead-judge-haunting-building.html.

Kate Cocks: Pt. 3: From Probation to Police.

Kate Cocks: Pt. 3: From Probation to Police.

 The impact of South Australia’s male population serving in World War One overseas saw a large proportion of the States females suffering, not only the worry of their male relatives and friends being away overseas, and the very real possibility of being killed in action, but also the responsibility of being able to feed their families. With the main wage earner away, women had to find work, some managed to find jobs supporting the war effort, but there weren’t enough jobs for every one, consequently, many young women turned to prostitution to support themselves and their families.

 Church and community groups became concerned about the welfare of women in the state, and began to push the State Government toward employing female police officers to help alleviate the social problems they were witnessing.

 The Police commissioner, William Raymond, did not like the concept at all, and out-rightly dismissed the idea. A.W. Styles, the Chief Secretary, pushed harder, and turned to Crown Solicitor, Charles Dashwood, who advised there were no legal barriers to employing women as police officers.

 On September 27, 1915 an expression of interest, advertising for female police officers in South Australia, appeared in The Advertiser Newspaper.

 More than 200 women applied for the initial positions within the first week!

 Despite the maximum age for women to join the South Australian Police Force at the time being 29 years old, 40 year old Kate Cocks, was given the position of Principal Police Matron and offered six assistants. She declined the six assistants, and instead asked for just one, Annie Ross. (both women were over 29 years old, but the rule was waived for them to join.)

On the first of December 1915, South Australia had its first two females police officers, both serving at the same pay rate as men, a first for the British Empire.

 The women served from their own department, based at Victoria Square, known as “The Women Police Office”. The women mainly worked in a social welfare capacity, often they walked the areas known mainly for prostitution: Rosina Street, Light Square, and especially around Port Adelaide’s wharf's and railway station. Their first official job was to watch over women who were seen coming and going from soldier camps around the city.
Cocks said in a newspaper article many years later, about patrolling the wartime camps;

“Many of the girls we had to protect were by no means vicious but were caught up in a wave of emotionalism through a certain glamor that surrounded heroes in khaki. All along the river we patrolled and in the vicinity of the Cheer-up Hut, too.”
''Many girls were semi-hysterical over their friends going away, perhaps to be killed. People who judged them harshly did not dig down deeply enough into the cause of their unbalanced state of mind”.

Until the mid-1920’s, when Ms. Cocks applied to carry a small firearm, the women police force were armed only with a baton, police whistles, badge and ID card, and wore their own clothing. Cocks was proficient in Ju-jitsu and had taught one young lady who had suffered from an abusive husband, how to defend herself from him.

 Cocks went on to serve for twenty years in the South Australian Police Force, only retiring in 1935 to look after her dying mother.

Next Week: Kate Cocks: Pt IV: The Crusade Against Psychic Exploitation.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018

Bibliography on final post

“Gone Postal” - Murder & Suicide at the Adelaide General Post Office

“Gone Postal” 

Murder & Suicide at the Adelaide General Post Office

Adelaide’s General Post Office (GPO) design came from the minds of Edmund Wright and Edward Woods who won a competition to design the new building that was replacing the old, much smaller post office further up King William Street. Designed in the style of Monumental Italianate, the Post Office is a grand cornerstone of Victoria Square and changed the face of that part of Adelaide when it was completed in 1872.

 Even before construction had begun, the building attracted a crowd, with the laying of the foundation stone by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred on the 5th of November 1867. The event attracted an estimated 3500 spectators.

 The GPO also housed Adelaide’s first telephone exchange and is where our first message was received from the Overland Telegraph Line in 1872.

Extensions were made from 1891 until 1893 to house an improved telephone exchange.

 In 1926 the General Post Office became the scene of a horrific attempted murder shooting and suicide.  The day prior, employee James Hannagan was fired from his job for assaulting two of his fellow employees.

 Hannagan entered the General Post Office at about one o’clock in the afternoon and opened fire with a revolver. First, he shot Ernest Doble, a clerk, wounding him, before opening fire on the Post Officer Director, James Mason, shooting him in the chest. Hannagan, then fired shots towards the women’s clerical division, narrowly missing the working women with a volley of shots, before fleeing the building.

As Hannagan made his way down the steps, out into Victoria Square, a witness to the events, Mr J Beare, tackled Hannagan to the ground. The two men struggled in the street until Hannagan freed his revolver and shot himself dead in the gutter.

On Friday, October 28th, 1927, another horrific fatality occurred in the building when an unidentified man jumped from the interior balcony of the GPO and killed himself. His last words, spoken to an employee who had stopped to ask him what he was doing, were; "I'm going to commit suicide. Goodbye.”

 He jumped the railing and fell 30 feet onto the floor below.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller.

© 2018 Allen Tiller

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Selected Bibliography

1926 '"YOU'RE KILLED FORTHWITH!"', News (Adelaide, SA: 1923 - 1954), 27 December, p. 1. (HOME EDITION), viewed 02 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129334986

1926 'POST OFFICE SENSATION.', Recorder (Port Pirie, SA: 1919 - 1954), 18 December, p. 1. , viewed 02 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95968304

1926 'POST OFFICE TRAGEDY.', Recorder (Port Pirie, SA: 1919 - 1954), 28 December, p. 4. , viewed 02 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95968855

Closed Hotels of South Australia: The Windsor Castle Hotel

The Windsor Castle Hotel 

Situated on Victoria Square in Adelaide’s West End stood the Windsor Castle Hotel. For 103 years it operated as a city watering hole. the hotel had a reputation for being a rough pub. Its proprietors and barmen were very well known locally for causing fights and for their run-ins with the local law.

 Illegal gambling, opening after hours and selling alcohol illegally were just a few of the laws broken by the staff of the hotel.
 The clientele was also known for getting a little rowdy too!

 One Mr James Turner, an elderly drinker, once caused an uproar that made the local newspapers. It was noted in The Advertiser that Mr Turner had had a little too much to drink and became enraged – he threw two glasses at the barman (smashing four other glasses at the time). In court, Mr Turner admitted to being drunk before even entering the hotel. He wasn’t sure when, but someone cut a string on his waistcoat and stole his watch. When refused a drink at the bar, he got enraged and grabbed a decanter, throwing it at bar staff before storming out of the hotel.

 

In earlier years there was a near shoot out in the rear stables of the hotel when a customer refused to leave after being asked by the proprietor. 
 The customer pulled a revolver and went into a rage promising to kill the owner if he didn’t get his way. The man was subdued and dutifully reported to the police. He was arrested and charged in a heated court case which saw the accused rant uncontrollably, and eventually, be forced to serve time for his threats.

 There was a death on the hotel's grounds as well. An old man who worked in the rear stables was standing on a platform some 8 feet high, when he fells backwards onto the ground below, fracturing his skull. He was taken to the hospital but died early the next morning.

In the late 1940s, the hotel was bought by the Mutual Life and Citizens Assurance Co. Ltd. who intended to build an apartment complex on the site. After waiting for the hotel license to expire, the hotel was finally pulled down in 1954, with interior features sold via auction.

The hotel lasted 103 years, originally licensed by Mr Thomas Chalk on the 3^rd of April 1851.   Legend has it, the land was originally purchased for 50 pounds and a wagon and oxen team.

Now on the corner of Victoria Square and Franklin Street stands the MLC building. The building was ahead of its time when completed in 1957. At the time it was the tallest glass building in Adelaide. It also featured a weather beacon on top!!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2015