Coober Pedy, South Australia is, known for its
opals and underground housing. The outback location was originally home to the Antakirinja
Yunkunytjatjara people, who knew the area as ‘Umoona’. Europeans first called
the area the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after John McDouall Stuart, who
explored the area in 1858. In 1920 a post office was established at the
location, so a new name was chosen, ‘Coober Pedy’ which is an aboriginal term
for ‘white man in a hole.’[1]
On the outskirts of the town of Coober Pedy
sits the Olympic Opal Field. It is claimed that during the late 1980s, in the
evening, miners would report seeing the ghost of an old miner wearing a wide-brimmed hat, carrying a lantern, walking across the field. The miners would
investigate, only to see the apparition disappear before their eyes.
It is not known who the apparition may have
been in life, but 3 men have died on Olympic Field. Those three men, Yanni
Vosvouris, Nick Nathanael and Gregory Digaletos were killed when a cave
collapsed on them in 1980. A cross marks the location of their deaths.[2]
In 1903 the women of Brompton and Bowden became terrified of
the vagaries of a ghost! Women, and some men, became afraid to leave their
homes at night in fear of encountering the ghost haunting the streets. Some men
began to arm themselves for self-defence if they encountered the terrifying
spirit, but one has to wonder what effect a bullet would have upon the
non-corporeal.
According to The
Advertiser (newspaper), the ‘ghost is everywhere, and nowhere in particular’.
The ghost appeared in East Street Brompton at midnight, as witnessed by a young
man in the neighbourhood.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, the same young man witnessed the apparition
again. This time the witness provided an odd statement about the ghost, when
he stated, ‘The ghost of someone hath appeared to me two several
times by night—at Brompton once, and this last night here in
the Bowden brickfields. I know my hour is come."[1]
At 9pm
Tuesday, the screams of a child shouting on Drayton Street, Bowden were heard.
‘The Ghost! The Ghost! It’s gone up the street!’ the child screamed, which attracted a small
crowd of onlookers. None of the crowd were brave enough to chase the ghost
down. Frightened women, who were witnesses to the ghost claimed it attacked the
child, clasping it in its ghostly arms and almost scaring the child to death…the child lived, and the
ghost escaped into the night.[2]
The police later ascertained that the ghost was an ‘unfortunate woman’ who could not held
responsible for her actions. She was dressed in a ragged and torn white dress,
with unkempt hair, and a sullen white face, which gave her a spooky appearance in the moonlight.
In August 1880,
Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula was haunted by a ghost. The ghost was seen in the
evenings. It purposefully scared women and children, jumping out from behind
trees, and around corners.
One evening, Foot
Constable Murray of the Kadina police patrolled the streets. He
spotted the ghost as it floated through the town and followed it. He approached
the ghost, and grabbed it, expecting to pass through it - as you do – but the
ghost was solid. He unmasked the Kadina spectre, a man in a white bedsheet, and
took him to the police station! FC Murray may have been South Australia’s first
‘ghostbuster!’
Hosiah Clark was charged by Foot Constable Murray with
‘unlawful use of a disguise to frighten women and children.’[1]
Clark was deemed idle and disorderly, he was sentenced to pay 15s for his
crime and serve fourteen days in the Wallaroo Gaol.[2]
In the past year, I have held 3 presentations at the Gawler
Heritage Museum, raising close to $2000 for the museum. Many people still don’t
seem to know Gawler has a museum in Murray Street, so I thought I might
share a ghost story to see if it generates some interest and gets some people
visiting…
This building started as Gawler’s Telegraph Station and
was built in 1860. Pre-internet and telephones, A wire signal was installed
that allowed a tapped, morse code message to be sent to Gawler from Adelaide or
Port Adelaide when the mail arrived.
Eventually, the Post office moved next door and this building became the Gawler
School of Mines and the Gawler Adult Education Centre. From 1915
until 1953 it was the Commonwealth Government Electoral Office. In 1966, the
building was transferred to the National Trust. It is now Gawler’s National
Trust Museum.
Ghosts
The building is allegedly haunted by twin girls who sit on
chairs on
the upper level. A witness claimed to have walked into the room and saw the
little girls sitting there,
talking to each other. They did not seem to notice the living lady, and
vanished before her eyes, as she
stared at them in shock!
Another ghostly occurrence is linked to the old piano
upstairs, during a paranormal investigation, the piano was heard to tap out a
few notes – perhaps this was a ghost playing a tune…or typing our morse code…
Parabanks at Salisbury was developed in 1962 when Arndale Developments
negotiated with the Salisbury District Council to acquire 30 acres of land near
the Salisbury CBD. Historical houses including that of Salisbury founder, John
Harvey were bulldozed for 'progress’. Also lost in the razing of buildings was
the original Hepzibah church and presbytery.
I have been contacted many times about unexplainable
incidents in the Parabanks. One of the more common stories is that of a ghost
of a child seen on the western side of the shopping complex, so I was intrigued
when South Australian Ghost Investigations invited Karen and I to investigate
with them at Kandy House.
I was aware of the
alleged haunting, as a friend, Alex had put me on to it. I had watched the alleged
paranormal activity videos on the Kandy House Facebook with interest. We
investigated at Halloween. We spoke directly to the owner and staff about what
they believed had been happening at the shop. We had a visiting psychic, Bea,
who felt a presence, which would later prove an interesting connection to a
local crime.
We used a variety of meters and received
no interaction. While in the back storeroom, which was reported as highly
active, I personally witnessed a very strange light. I tried through various
means to recreate the light and could not – I am still intrigued by the light,
as it made no sense how it could be where I witnessed it!
We concluded our investigation. We were told a few days later
that the alleged paranormal activity had subsided after our initial visit, but
we will be remaining in contact with the owner to evaluate if further
investigation is needed.
In the meantime, check out Kandy House online – they have an
awesome range of hard-to-get lollies!
South Australia Ghost Investigations: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1539033312782383
Built in 1866, the main building of the Kapunda Museum served
the Kapunda Baptist community until 1948. From 1949 until the mid-1960s the building was utilised as a technical school. It was then sold to the Kapunda
Council. The council donated the building to the Kapunda Historical Society
which reopened the building as the Kapunda Museum in 1971. In the years that
followed the nearby building that once housed the Kapunda Herald newspaper was incorporated
into the museum and renamed Bagot’s Fortune.
The museum hosts
Kapunda’s mining, religious and business history, and is considered one of the
finest folk museums in Australia. I have my own personal connection to the
collection with my grandmother, Audrey Tiller (nee Tremaine) donated numerous
items from her properties around Kapunda, including her bedroom suite, my father’s
schoolbooks, and my great grandfathers, H.J.B. Tremaine’s crystal radio set.
Other items in the museum include photos of my relatives from the Hazel, Cole, Rowett,
Datson and Adams families.
In the Hawke Gallery, one can see foundry products from an
era long gone, including a cross-compound steam engine. The museum contains a collection covering every facet of Kapunda's history including an
extensive display of machinery, agricultural equipment, an old local Kapunda Ambulance, and a collection of old record players, including wax cylinders.
Karen and I were invited by Chris and Deano of Spirit Crew
South Australia to investigate with them at the museum on September 29, 2023.
We started in the main building on the ground floor. Karen and I also tried to
contact my grandmother in the room set up as her bedroom, but there were no discernible
responses. Eventually, we head into the basement.
The basement was
quiet. At one point in the evening, we noted what sounded like footsteps
walking through the room above us, when everyone present was accounted for and in eyesight of each other in the basement. However, this could easily be disregarded
as temperature changes in the late evening affect the woodwork in the
building.
At the roadside end of the basement,
there is a small schoolroom display consisting of some desks, mannequins, and
a blackboard. It was in this room that movement was noticed. First was a chain
moving of its own volition. Ghosts? Possibly, but there is also the chance one
of us knocked it and did not notice, or that building movement, or airflow
caused the movement.
While investigating this schoolroom
display movement was noticed near the mannequins. It seemed as though a dark
shadow moved from the right to the left wall behind the mannequins. We tried
our best to communicate but received nothing. We then tried to recreate the movement
but were unsuccessful. We do not have a reasonable explanation as to what caused
the shadowy movement in the schoolroom display – further investigation is
required.
It has previously
been reported that the museum is haunted. Many years ago, local Reggie Rawady
(R.I.P) told me he once experienced the ghost in the old newspaper office. He didn’t
elaborate much on the ghost, only that it was in the rear of the building where
a movie plays (a movie featured Reggie!)
This building is also infamous for the
suicide of former newspaper editor, Leonard Samuel Curtis. In 1911, 52-year-old
Curtis was found dead in his office by his apprentice, Albert Patterson. Curtis
had swallowed a large quantity of Lysol and then shot himself in the neck four
times with a revolver. No note was left… Curtis’s ghost is sometimes reported
to be seen peeking out the window of the building.
If you get the chance to visit Kapunda, do consider spending
some time in the museum. There are some amazing displays, including an operating
table from the Kapunda hospital and out the back, and an old hearse!
As part of the South Australia History Festival, paranormal historian Allen Tiller presented a talk on ghosts, hauntings and other paranormal events in the Town of Gawler for the Gawler History Team.
The original owner, and builder, of the North Star Hotel at Melrose, was William St. George. The North Star Hotel was originally licenced in 1854, operating from a simple log hut.[1] Such were the profits from his hotel, which allowed St George to build his mansion. The house featured cedar fittings throughout and was believed to be the first in South Australia to have a corrugated iron roof. Unfortunately, St. George never got to enjoy his home, as he was killed in an accident at Roseworthy.
St. George was carting furniture from Adelaide to George’s Knob, ten kilometres south of Melrose in the Flinders’ Ranges when his horses fell into an unseen railway ballast pit, toppling his cart and killing him. William St George was buried at Gawler Cemetery, which is now Pioneer Park in 1863.[2]
His house became derelict and was frequented by squatters. A 1904 newspaper article in the Evening Journal detailed graffiti on the internal walls of the house, one stated ‘I can’t sleep here tonight; this great windy house seems to haunt a fellow.”[3] It became rumoured that the house was haunted. The Evening Journal claimed that “a party of superstitious people recently slept on the premises with loaded guns, but the ghost did not come that night.”[4]
Eventually, the property was purchased by J. H. Angus and became a part of the Willowie Pastoral Company. It was renovated and lived in by a pastoral overseer for the company John Ross and his wife Lyn. The house then became known as Rosslyn Estate.[5]
From the 1st of November 1920, the house was occupied by Ernest Benjamin Pitman.[6]Pitman received the property from the Soldier Settlement Branch. Soldiers who were honourably discharged from Australia’s Imperial Forces and served overseas were entitled to assistance from the South Australian Government purchased land and assisted in erecting buildings, purchasing seeds and general improvements of the property. In his book, Ghosts and Haunting of South Australia, author Gordon de L. Marshall interviewed Keith Pitman, son of Ernest. Keith stated that in the 1920s his father first witnessed a ghost. During daylight, the ghost came out from the cellar, it was a skeleton dressed in a shroud. According to Keith, his father was sitting near a window when he witnessed the ghost walk alongside the house, through a 3000-gallon water tank, and out to a paddock, some 400 meters from the house. There it stopped. Ernest went and investigated the location and found the remnants of an old grave, but no headstone.[7]
The family believed that another ghost haunted the old home, that of William St George. They believed St. George would open doors in the house. The family never felt uncomfortable around this ghost. Keith Pitman sold Rosslyn in 2002.[8]
[1] North Star Hotel, Melrose Community Development Association, (2022), https://www.melrose-mtremarkable.org.au/historic-buildings/ [2] 'MOUNT REMARKABLE', South Australian Register, (29 October 1863), p. 3. [3] 'WHEN MELROSE WAS YOUNG.', Evening Journal, (29 September 1904), p. 2. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] ‘PITMAN Ernest Benjamin Hundred of Wongyarra, Sections 381/3 1 Nov 1920.’, GRG35/320 Record of land held by soldier settlers - Soldier Settlement Branch 1917-1931, State Archives of South Australia, vol 2, (2019), p. 83, https://archives.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/public/documents/GRG35_320_1917-1931_Record_of_land_held_by_soldier_settlers.pdf. [7] Gordon de L. Marshall, Ghosts and Haunting of South Australia, (2012), p. 214-15. [8] Melrose land sale sets new record, The Flinders News, (2017), https://www.theflindersnews.com.au/story/5124039/melrose-land-sale-sets-new-record/.
The Goolwa Police Station was erected in 1859. It was designed by Colonial Architect E.A. Hamilton. The police station had its own water supply, via a well. In 1867 the courthouse was erected next door, and in 1874 a store for Aboriginals was built alongside it.[1]
The Goolwa Police Station was closed in 1993 when a new purpose-built police station was opened. At the time the Goolwa Police Station was the oldest operating police station in Australia.[2]
Goolwa Radio Alex FM run a local ghost tour every Halloween. That ghost tour takes in the old Goolwa Police Station and courthouse complex which is now the SA Coast Regional Arts Centre. During one of many tours, a person on the tour snapped a photograph of the front of the building which shows what looks to be a person looking out at them. It is claimed that no one was inside the building at the time the photograph was taken.
“The photo below was taken on a previous Ghost Tour outside the Old Police Station. Witnesses at the event insist there was no one in the doorway when the photo was taken! The figure is thought to be that of a Police Constable who drowned at the Murray Mouth in 1880.” – Radio Goolwa Alex FM[3]
[1] Department for Environment and Heritage, ‘Police Station & Courthouse and Outbuildings’, Government of South Australia, (2012), https://cdn.environment.sa.gov.au/environment/docs/goolwa_police.pdf. [2] 'Force defends station', Times, (25 June 1993), p. 1. [3] Goolwa Historic Ghost Walk’, Pet Let, (2021), https://petlet.net.au/goolwa-historic-ghost-walk/
In January 1961, Shirley and Bruce Baldwin were enjoying a seaside holiday on the Eyre Peninsula. Stopping at Talia, Bruce decided to get some photographs of the coastal cliffs and Talia caves. The film was developed and Bruce noticed an unusual figure standing in the ocean. He gave the negative to his friend Michael Leyson who had the image printed. Leyson submitted the print to be published in the book Haunted: The Book of Australian Ghost Stories, giving full credit to Bruce. However, Leyson claims that the author of the book disregarded the true story, misquoted Leyson and wrote a new story about the nurse that puts her reputation in disrepute. That book is by respected author John Pinkney, who, unfortunately, has since died and cannot defend himself against accusations of dishonesty, exaggeration, and embellishment.
Pinkney states in his book that Sister Millard’s death occurred in 1923. That her death was a murder, “A nurse became pregnant to a respected married man. He was so terrified of the scandal that might engulf him that he tried to solve the problem by hurling her from the high cliffs.’[1]
Waterhouse Chambers was built by successful grocer Thomas Greaves Waterhouse, who had invested heavily in the Burra Mines and made a small fortune in return.
Waterhouse used his earnings to construct the impressive building, which was so iconic at the end of Rundle Street, that the corner became known locally as “Waterhouse Corner”, before being usurped as “Beehive Corner”, when the even more impressive “Beehive” building opened across the road. The building has seen many uses, including, at one time, being used as the head office of the South Australian Mining Company.
The building left the ownership of the Waterhouse family in 1919 after A. Waterhouse sold it to F.N. Simpson of Gawler Place through realtor J.S. Kithor. In 1921 Kithor would on-sell the building to tobacco merchants “Lawrence and Levy” who remodelled the ground floor shop front.
After ninety years of occupying a section of the building, Shuttleworth and Letchford moved their offices to the YWCA building on Hutt Street.
The building has seen many tenants over the years but perhaps one of the best-loved was the 44-year occupation by the iconic confectioner, Darrell Lea before the current Tennant, Charlesworth Nuts took over in 2013.
Ghost Stories:
Long rumoured to be haunted amongst the local paranormal community, ghost stories for this particular building are very hard to come by, but it would seem, that the majority of stories that have surfaced involve the upstairs section of the building. It has been reported that staff do not like the feeling of the upstairs room, reports of paranoia, smelling phantom pipe tobacco smoke when clearly no one is smoking, and hearing loud footsteps in rooms have surfaced. At one point this led staff from a downstairs shop, which used the upstairs as storage, to abandon the upstairs section as no one wanted to enter the rooms for fear of the unknown. If it is haunted, it has yet to be investigated by a professional paranormal investigation team or group of sceptics to find the cause of fear and paranoia!
Trivia: Before the imposing Beehive building was built the corner of King William Street and Rundle Street was known locally as “Waterhouse Corner”.
This story was originally written for the Adelaide City Library project "Haunted Buildings in Adelaide." For a more complete history of the building and eyewitness accounts of ghost stories at this building please refer to my book "Haunted Adelaide" available via Amazon here: Haunted Adelaide
At the end of my first post in A Haunting at the Mount Remarkable Hotel, I mentioned that there were several recorded deaths at the hotel. Each week I have supplied research on those deaths. Starting with watchmaker Dugald Wilson who fell into the basement, dying in the hotel that evening. Then Margaret ‘Maggie’ Salmon who suicided by poison in 1866. The next death was another suicide, that of August Fix who shot himself in an outlying building in 1908. In 1915 George Moran, son of the original owner, Thomas Moran died suddenly from a cerebral haemorrhage, and in 1931, the death of Irene Wight, followed by her husband Harry Castle Wight in 1932, who died ‘suddenly’.
So how do these deaths fit in with the local ghost stories?
The Mount Remarkable Hotel is alleged to be haunted by three (or more) ghosts. The first is a young woman who it believed may have drowned in the cellar. The second is thought to be the spirit woman and the third is a male who presents himself as a shadow person. Owners have reported hearing people running through the unused upstairs section of the hotel. Poltergeist-like activity is also reported, with witnesses claiming to watch a bar stool topple over of its own volition, and cups from the pokies room being found on the floor in the morning during the opening of the room, which wasn’t there the night before.
I can find no corroborative evidence for death by drowning in the cellar. One would expect that such an event would require an inquest and that the inquest would be published in a newspaper. The second alleged spirit, without a description of what she looks like, could literally be anyone, but one could assume that the female spirit may be Maggie Salmon or Irene Wight. The third alleged spirit that appears as a shadow person could literally be anyone, but again, one can make an assumption that the spirit may be Dugald Wilson, George Moran or Harry Wight. Without a proper description and a proper paranormal investigation done by professionals, it is hard to identify or conclude who any spirit is in any location.
Other alleged ghostly activity at the Mount Remarkable Hotel is poltergeist activity. With claims that cups appear in places they shouldn't be on opening the hotel. Often, things like cups left in a room are related to memory or misinterpretation. A person closing a hotel may think everything is away, having a brief look before locking up, then return the next day and be surprised when something is where it should not be, having missed it the night prior. However, there is always the possibility of a spirit moving things – there has been prior evidence of this in South Australia at the North Kapunda Hotel, The Port Admiral Hotel (Port Adelaide), and The British Hotel (North Adelaide).
Although I have linked ghosts to known deaths and made assumptions, this is unreliable and should not be regarded as evidence of the named people being ghosts in this location. If there are spirits haunting this hotel, they remain unidentified, and could literally be anyone who has passed through the building, or simply urban legends...
Harold Wight served during World War One in Egypt, where he contracted Malaria. At the time of his embankment, he and Irene were living at 162 Jetty Road, Glenelg.[1]Harold Castle Wight and Irene Pearson Wight (nee Taylor) had one child Nina Marie Castle Wight.
Prior to owning the Mount Remarkable Hotel, Harry and Irene owned the Aurora Hotel at Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide. Harry was prosecuted in court for illegally supplying liquor on Christmas day and fined 10 pounds and 1-pound costs.[2]
Only a few years later the Wights were in trouble again for the illegal supply of liquor, however, this time they were found innocent.
Harry Castle Wight (48), on complaint, charged with a breach of the Licensing Acts, 1917 to 1927, section 183, at Mount Remarkable Hotel, Melrose; complaint dismissed. Tried at Melrose on 22/1/29. Evidence obtained by M.C. Jones.[3]
Wight bought the Mount Remarkable Hotel from Clarence Fuller in 1928. In 1929, Wight tried to sell the Mount Remarkable Hotel and its furniture and fittings.[4]
Irene died at the Mount Remarkable hotel on 25 august 1932, aged 43 years. Harry died on 29 March 1932 at the Mount Remarkable Hotel, aged 46 years.[5]They were both buried at Saint Jude’s Cemetery in Brighton, South Australia.[6]
After the deaths of the Wights, the hotel was sold to Herbert Ey.[7]
Next Week: A Haunting at the Mount Remarkable Hotel - Part VII - Conclusion + Ghost Stories.
[1] ‘WIGHT Harry Castle: Service Number - 15400: Place of Birth - Adelaide SA: Place of Enlistment - Adelaide SA: Next of Kin - (Wife) WIGHT Irene,’ National Archives of Australia, https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/418631. [2] 'ILLEGAL SUPPLY OF LIQUOR.', The Advertiser, (26 January 1926), p. 7. [3] ‘Harry Castle Wight’, South Australia, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1862-1947, AU5103-1929 SA Police Gazette, (1929). [4] 'Advertising', The Advertiser, (18 December 1929), p. 9. [5] 'Advertising', The Advertiser, (30 March 1932), p. 4. [6] 'Family Notices', News, (26 August 1931), p. 12. [7] J.L. (Bob) Hoad, Hotels and Publicans in South Australia, (1986), p. 390.
On 12 November 1908, Martin Jacobson was doing his rounds as an ostler at about 6am for Moran’s Hotel, Melrose, when he came across August Fix. Fix was an elderly local resident who worked for the Willowie Pastoral Company. Fix was in an outside room of the hotel that Jacobson had neglected to lock. Fix was very drunk, but not disturbing anyone, so Jacobson let him be and got on with his job. Later that evening, at 8am, Jacobson returned to check on Fix. He found the man dead. Fix had shot himself through the right temple with a small-bore rifle.
Mounted Constable Siggins deposed during the inquest that he had been summoned to the hotel at 9:20am. Siggins examined the crime scene and waited for Coroner Lewis George to arrive.[1]
Dr Hann gave medical evidence that there was,
a small bullet wound in the right temple. Edges of the wound were scorched. The course of the bullet seemed to travel through the base of the brain. There was no wound of exit, but bleeding from the left cut and from the nose and mouth. In his opinion, a cartridge of the size produced would be sufficient to make the wound and to cause death. It was quite possible for the deceased to have fired the rifle according to the direction of the wound.[2]
Mr H. M Mair, manager of the Mount Remarkable Station deposed that Fix had not worked since October 31st. He had taken to drinking heavily and had a wife living in Nuriootpa, to whom Fix had sent a telegram the morning of his suicide. In another report, it is stated Fix’s wife lived in Angaston.[3]
After a short retirement the jury found:
We are unanimously of opinion that the deceased met his death by a bullet wound in the head, fired, from a rifle by his own hand while in a fit of temporary insanity.[4]
Next week: A Haunting at the Mount Remarkable Hotel – Part V – Like Father, Like Son.
In 1886 Margaret ‘Maggie’ Salmon was in the employ of publican Edwin Worden of the Mount Remarkable Hotel.[1]Maggie had worked at the hotel for about 14 weeks but had recently given notice to Worden that she intended to leave. On Saturday the 4th of September, Worden had discussed with Salmon the neglect of her duties but did not sense any feelings of ill will towards himself from Salmon. Nor did he sense any melancholy from the young woman.
Monday 6 September 1886 Mr Worden saw Maggie in the morning, and she seemed not her usual self. He was told later that evening, that Maggie had admitted to taking strychnine and was laying sick in bed. Maggie died just a few hours later.
An inquest was held the following day where Mrs Worden stated she did not see the girl at dinner and enquired where she might be. She found Salmon lying on her bed, not willing to work. Salmon stated nothing was wrong. Mary Croft, another employee of the hotel stated during the inquest that she had seen Salmon by the kitchen mantle. As she passed Salmon, the girl ran to the table, then weeping, ran to her room. She questioned Salmon in her room, where Salmon admitted to taking the strychnine. Salmon then asked to see her brother and priest.[2]
Another witness, Jane Leewee stated that on the Saturday prior to Salmon's death, she had remarked that she would like to be buried in Leewee’s backyard.[3]
The jury concluded that ‘the deceased died from strychnine administered by her own hands, and there is no evidence to show that she had any reason for so administering it.'[4]
A year before, Margaret Salmon, an employee at the Huntsman Hotel in North Adelaide was charged with stealing from the premises of her employer. She was found guilty and sentenced to two months imprisonment with hard labour, despite protesting her innocence. Perhaps this is the same Maggie Salmon, and perhaps this is, in part, why she moved as far north as Melrose. Perhaps, her past was threatening to catch up with her, but before it could, she ended her life.[5]
Next week: A Haunting at the Mount Remarkable Hotel – Part IV - Station Hand Suicide.
[1] J.L. (Bob) Hoad, Hotels and Publicans in South Australia, (1986), p. 389. [2] 'CORONERS' INQUESTS.', Adelaide Observer, (11 September 1886), p. 34. [3] 'CORONER'S INQUEST.', South Australian Register, (9 September 1886), p. 7. [4] 'STRANGE DEATH AT MELROSE.', South Australian Weekly Chronicle, (11 September 1886), p. 10. [5] 'LAW AND CRIMINAL COURTS.', South Australian Register, (24 October 1885), p. 3.
In 1877, Dugald Wilson, a local watchmaker was walking along Stuart Street when he went under the veranda of the hotel. It was a dark night, and the hotel's lamp was lit, but Wilson did not see the trap door to the cellar was open, and fell through the hole, smashing his head on the ground below. Mr Peck had gone down to the cellar at about 6pm and heard the man fall. He rushed to help him, just as witnesses to the event, James Hart and Peter Toner came down the ladder to help lift Wilson out. They carried the senseless man into the hotel. Wilson was very drunk and belligerent, telling the men to leave him be. He died that evening. The following day during the inquest into his death, it was reported to Mr F.J. Whitby J.P. and a jury of 13, that Wilson had been in town for a fortnight, and that entire time had been drunk.
The jury concluded that Dugald Wilson came to his death on 15 August 1877, ‘through a shock to his nervous system, caused by a fall down the cellar of Moran’s Hotel, Melrose.’[1]
Dugald Wilson was 65 years old at the time of his death.[2]
Next week: A Haunting at the Mount Remarkable Hotel – Part III - Death by Strychnine.
The Mount Remarkable Hotel can be found on Stuart Street in
Melrose, South Australia. According to historian Bob Hoad; the original hotel
was constructed in 1857 and was known as the Mount Remarkable Hotel until
1872. It was then known as Moran’s Hotel between 1873 and 1920 when it
reverted to the Mount Remarkable Hotel.[1]
Melrose promotes itself as the oldest town in Flinders
Ranges. Prior to European settlement, the area was home to the Doora people. By
1880, the Doora had been all but wiped out by Europeans. The first European to
the area was explorer Edward John Eyre who named Mount Remarkable in 1840.
Copper was discovered in the area with mining operations
commencing in 1846 and closing in 1851. The mines produced no lodes worthy of
continued mining. Despite this, the mines were opened again in 1916 -1917.
The Mount Remarkable
Hotel was completed in 1857, making it the second oldest in the town after the
North Star Hotel (completed in 1854.) The hotel was opened by Thomas Moran after
he retired from the Mounted Police.[2]
Thomas William Moran was born in Dorrington Westmeath
England in 1816. He joined the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Athlone
Barracks. He served in Kent before his detachment was sent to Tasmania, then
Adelaide, then Sydney. He quit the military in New South Wales, where he stayed
for a short while before relocating to Adelaide to work as a reporter. He
became friends with Captain Bagot of the Kapunda Mines, who had him admitted to
the Mounted Police Force. He served at Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, on the Yorke
Peninsula in the capacity of Corporal under Inspector Tolmer. Both Tolmer and
Moran were involved in quelling ‘black uprisings’ in country districts.
Moran retired from the Mounted Police at
Mount Remarkable building a hotel. He also took up farmland in the area
erecting one of the district's first woolsheds. After retiring from hotel life,
he purchased a farm in Wongyarra, where he lived until his death in 1904.[3]
Ghosts
It is alleged that the Mount Remarkable hotel is haunted by numerous ghosts, and possibly a poltergeist. There are several recorded deaths at the hotel that could be
utilised as possible evidence for the alleged hauntings. In the same instance,
some of the alleged hauntings, have no correlating historical evidence, which
could perhaps be used to reclassify the haunting as an urban legend. I will be
presenting some of the historical documentation over the coming weeks. Then the
ghost stories at the end of the series.
Next Week: A Haunting at the Mount Remarkable Hotel – Part II - The Death of a Watchmaker.
[3] 'A CHEQUERED CAREER.', The Laura Standard, (19 August 1904), p. 3.
Photo: The Wenmouth Collection: Melrose [B 64310/290], State
Library of South Australia, (1969), https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+64310/290.
Recent reports have come in regarding the sighting of the
ghost of a man walking his dog on Angle Vale Road, Angle Vale.
Witnesses have been driving along Angle
Vale Road at dusk, and sometimes late at night when seeing the alleged ghost.
The man and dog are walking in the middle of the street. He appears solid but
vanishes before the witnesses’ eyes.
If you have witnessed this ghost, we would like to hear your
story… please contact us.
An Update (19/10/2022): Since sharing this story of the ghost of a man walking his dog on Angle Vale Road, I have been contacted about the same, or a similar ghost, seen on Dalkeith Road....
The Mallala Hotel is alleged to be haunted by a ghost named George.
The Mallala Hotel was built in 1872 by Peter Farrelly, with his sister, Mrs Kelly being the first licensee. The second licensee was my great-great-grandfather, George Tiller. Another George to operate the hotel was George Reddaway in 1879…
This hotels ghost has been dubbed George, which is the most common name used to dub pub ghosts. George the ghost has been known to slam doors, make lights flicker, and let out the odd groan on occasion
.jpg)
.png)
