Subterranean Adelaide Part Three - The Treasury Building Tunnels

Subterranean Adelaide Part Three

The Treasury Building Tunnels

 The Treasury Building of Adelaide was first constructed in 1839, and small parts of the original building can still be seen in the edifice that stands today, although remodelling over the years has hidden much of it.

Over following decades, and especially from 1858 to 1876, construction took the building to new heights, and new lows, with long rumoured tunnels, which are now no longer a secret.

For more than 150 years the Old Treasury building provided offices and administration buildings for multiple Government agencies including The Governor, The Register General and the Land Office and the Colonial Secretary.

The building also features the treasury vaults, which during the gold rush in Victoria in 1852/1853, was where gold from interstate deposits was stored safely. Nearly 13 tonnes of gold was sheltered in the tunnels in 1853.

The tunnels underneath the building were actually a mishmash of various basements built during the buildings various remodelling and rebuilding periods over 150 years. The tunnels were interconnected with walkway tunnels to make it easier to move gold and important documents around between departments with more ease.

It has been a long-held belief within the Adelaide urbex explorer community that there were furnaces installed in the basement area to smelt gold, but this is, in fact, a myth. The two furnaces that are installed in the basement are not large enough to provide the required heat to smelt gold. It is thought they were installed to help with lithographic processing for the production of maps for the above survey office.

There is evidence that smelters were installed on a ground floor level to produce smelted gold, but these have long since been removed from the site.

The “newest” tunnel was built in around 1907 to join the eastern basement built in 1867 with the new northern printing rooms built under the north wing.

Presently the tunnels are used during various festivals to display artworks or for other social events. They can be accessed via tours held by the National Trust.

© 2015 Allen Tiller

Subterranean Adelaide Part Two - Roseneath

Subterranean Adelaide Part Two

Roseneath

Completed in 1849 in the northern Adelaide suburb of Walkerville sits the stunning Georgian Villa known as “Roseneath'.

The house was built for James Wyld Macdonald who was an official at the Burra Mines.

The villa, built from locally kilned bricks was originally surrounded by olive groves and rows of grape vines that flanked the main driveway to the front gates on Stephens Terrace.

At the rear of the building sits a small limestone cottage, stables and coach house that was completed sometime around 1845.

This building has a service tunnel underneath it that extends to the servant quarters at the rear of the main building. Other branches of the tunnel go into storage rooms and wine cellars. 

 There is an old legend that there was once another tunnel from Roseneath that led to the River Torrens. It is speculated that this tunnel was to aide bringing water to the house, to help cool the house, and to provide an escape route if there was an attack by local indigenous people, or if Russians invaded Adelaide, a constant fear at the time.

The tunnels are all bricked lined their entire length and were constructed under the guidance of original owner James McDonald.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2015

Want more stories?

Find exclusive stories in the book:

"The Haunts of Adelaide - History, Mystery and the Paranormal"

The first book in a series by paranormal investigator Allen Tiller

available via #Amazon and Amazon Kindle

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-HAUNTS-ADELAIDE-History-Paranormal/dp/1503150232

Subterranean Adelaide - The Jubilee Railway Line

Subterranean Adelaide

The Jubilee Railway Line

One of Adelaide's forgotten railways existed purely to service the Jubilee Exhibition that was to be located on the corners of North Terrace and Frome Road in the Adelaide.

The line travelled along the River Torrens from the Adelaide Railway Station, across where the Festival Theatre now stands, under King William Street on a diagonal line. It then travelled beside the Torrens Parade grounds, and around to the festival grounds, where the Jubilee was to be held, into an area that is now part of the Adelaide University.

The Jubilee Line was built for the sole purpose of getting heavy machinery and exhibits through to the Exhibition and opened in 1886. It was then used for another 40 years for moving heavy objects into the pavilion of the exhibition and University buildings.
Between 1899 and 1902 it was used to transport soldiers from the Torrens Parade grounds to Adelaide Station in preparation for them to catch trains from Adelaide Station to Port Adelaide and various other ports before setting sail to South Africa to face the perils of the Boer War.

The line was also used to take patients during the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1919 from Adelaide Station to a temporary quarantine station made of tents in the oval of the old Jubilee Exhibition grounds.

The showgrounds were moved in 1924 to their current position at Wayville, and the lines were considered redundant, so they were removed in 1927

The tunnel is still intact in one section underneath King William Street but was blocked on both sides in around 1928. Since then the road above has been widened multiple times, but underneath, there probably still lies some train tracks and a very short tunnel, the only remaining remnants of the Jubilee Railway line other than a flat parcel of land between the Torrens Parade ground and northern boundary fence of the Government House Estate.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2015

Icons of South Australia: Donald Dunstan

Icons of South Australia
Donald Dunstan

Donald Dunstan was an important figure in South Australian politics, a man some thought was ahead of his time (if you were a supporter).
Dunstan was born in Fiji moving to Murray Bridge at the age of seven. He went on to complete his education at St Peters College, and then Adelaide University. Dunstan graduated with a Bachelor of Law in 1948.

While studying at Adelaide University, Dunstan met his first wife, Gretal, who was from a Jewish family who had escaped Nazi-occupied Germany for a new life in Australia.
  After a brief stint living in Fiji together the couple moved back to Norwood in 1951, now with their first child Bronwen, and soon to follow, two sons, Andrew and Paul.
  In 1953 Dunstan entered the world of South Australian politics becoming an elected Member for Norwood, this would eventually lead to his placement in 1965 as the Attorney-General, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Minister of Social Welfare.
In 1967, the then current South Australian Premier, Frank Walsh retired, and Donald Dunstan was elected the leader of the party, and therefore, the new Premier and Treasurer of South Australia.
Dunstan lost the next State election, and the Liberals regained the power of the State, which only lasted until the next election when Dunstan was elected by the people. He then went on to serve for another ten years, only standing down due to ill health in 1979

  Dunstan was always a controversial figure in South Australian politics, but also a forward thinker. Under Donald Dunstan, legislation was changed that introduced anti-discrimination laws to protect the rights of women, indigenous people and homosexuals. Dunstan was also an avid supporter of the Arts, establishing the Adelaide Festival Centre, The South Australian Film Commission and expanding upon the Adelaide Festival of Arts.
  If it was for Donald Dunstan, all South Australians would still be kicked out of the pub at 6pm – It was Dunstan who changed the Liquor Licensing laws, and allowed pubs to serve alcohol until 10pm!

Dunstan was also the man responsible for legalising homosexuality in South Australia.
Dunstan also began the process of handing the Pitjantjatjara lands back to its native owners.

In 1972 Donald Dunstan caused a media sensation across Australia when he 'donned' a pair of tight pink flannelette shorts and wore them into parliament, his advisers and personal assistants did all they could to keep the media at bay, and stop them taking photographs, but Dunstan snuck out a back door and welcomed the media to take photos, which would eventually lead to him being seen across Australia and a whirlwind of political controversy and opinion that soon followed. By all accounts, Donald Dunstan relished every minute of the attention.

More about the enigmatic South Australian Premier Donald Dunstan

http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=239&c=655
http://www.news.com.au/national/power-passion-and-those-pink-pants/story-e6frfkp9-1226630100208

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/don-dunstans-former-partner-steven-cheng-wants-his-history-acknowledged/story-e6frea83-1226630361906
http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/feature/don-dunstan-charting-the-life-of-a-queer-premier-14204.html

Haunting:Australia Tour

Hi Folks

It's time for Robb Demarest, Gaurav Tiwari, Rayleen Kable and myself to start a Paranormal Investigation tour of New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland!

We have some great locations lined up and are looking forward to meeting HA fans everywhere we go - We also have a few "Meet & Greet" locations where you can come along and buy a signed copy of the DVD or other merchandise...look for more detials , ticket prices and where we will be in your State via

www.haunting-tour.info

Welcome to 2015! THOA fans

Welcome to 2015! THOA fans

This year the Haunts of Adelaide blog is still going strong, even with the first book in the new series being published, I still have a ton of stories to share with you, be they, paranormal, mystery, murder, crime, UFO, conspiracy or highlighting South Australia's amazing architecture and people, there will be something to interest most on this blog in 2015.

In the meantime, my first book: "The Haunts of Adelaide - History, Mystery and the Paranormal" is selling really well around the world, Work on the 2nd and 3rd books in the series is already well underway, both featuring exclusive stories never before published here on the blog, and some never before published anywhere!

 Thanks for sticking with the blog and taking an interest in my work, I hope 2015 offers you a fantastic year, and some, if not all, of your dreams, come true

- Allen Tiller 

The Haunts of Adelaide – History, Mystery & the Paranormal

Published by CUSTOM BOOK Publications It has always been Allen Tiller’s aim to provide a factual insight into haunted locations in Adelaide, and indeed, the rest of Australia. He lifts the veil on ghost stories and reveals the truth behind the myths and tales that so often become urban legend and local folklore. His mission is to research the historical facts of locations, people, places and buildings - from a distinctly paranormal perspective. The Haunts of Adelaide was born… 

With previously unpublished stories.

Exclusive Haunting: Australia references

Avid paranormal enthusiasts may note that this book misses some allegedly haunted locations in Adelaide, such as The Light Hotel and Old Adelaide Gaol, this was done with the intention of keeping the cost of book down and also allowing the main location in this book “The Adelaide Arcade” (which was investigated for the very first time by the team from Haunting: Australia in 2013) to shine a little bit brighter – there will be a follow up book to “Adelaide” in the future, but the next book in the series will feature Kapunda, with some exclusive never before published ghost stories about Australia’s Most Haunted Town passed on by the locals of Kapunda!

It is my intention to follow in the footsteps of some of my favourite Authors like John Pinkney & Grant Osborn and write multiple books, but the real inspiration behind this series of books goes to two people Russell Smith, who resides right here in Adelaide and wrote the wonderful series of books “Curiosities of South Australia”, and Ghost Hunter; Mr Peter Underwood who has written a huge number of books including the incredibly popular “Ghosts of” series which covered popular, and lesser known hauntings across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

http://www.amazon.com/The-HAUNTS-ADELAIDE-History-Paranormal/dp/1503150232

• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1503150232
• ISBN-13: 978-1503150232

SUICIDE FOLLOWS GHASTLY DEED ADELAIDE

SUICIDE FOLLOWS GHASTLY DEED ADELAIDE

In 1931, Ivan White awoke to the horrifying sounds of screams from his neighbour's house on Brighton Road, Helmsdale. He jumped out of bed and ran across to the bungalow. Looking through the window, to his horror, he saw his neighbour, Stanley Jones, bashing his wife in the head with a hammer...


Stanley Jones was married to Gertrude, and together they lived with their 18-year-old daughter Marjorie and a 35-year-old female border by the name of Ms Sullivan.
Stanley owned a Billiard Saloon Hall in Glenelg that had always been reasonably rewarding financially, but in recent times had become somewhat of a strain on his hip pocket.


On the night in question, Mr Jones came home from work and sat down to dinner with his wife, daughter and border. The foursome ate, and afterwards, Ms Sullivan and Marjorie excused themselves and returned to their rooms.
Ms Sullivan, later in her police statement, said after she had left the dining room, and returned to her room, Mr and Mrs Jones had sat at the table engrossed in amicable conversation.
At some point the same evening, after saying goodnight to his wife, Stanley began to write a note explaining that he was sorry for all the trouble he had caused and that the “The Billiard Saloon was the cause of it all”.
 At about 2:45am, Stanley went into his daughter Marjorie's room and slit her throat with a razor. Marjorie couldn’t scream, but she managed to get up and make her way to her mother's room.
 As she entered her mother's room, Stanley, her father, struck Majorie in the back of the head with a hammer.
Marjorie fell to the floor at the foot of her mother's bed.

Gertrude began to scream, and as she did, Stanley came at her with the hammer, swinging wildly At the same time he also slashed at her with a cut-throat razor.
In another part of the house, Ms Sullivan had been awoken by the screams. Realising something terrible was happening in the house, she jumped out through a window to escape and ran into neighbour Ivan White as he crossed the street to see what was going on.
Looking through the window at the horrors before him, Ivan tapped on the window. Stanley turned and looked him in the eye, with a savage expression on his face, and turned back to beating his wife around the head with the hammer.
Mr White rushed down the street to the nearest telephone box and called the police, who arrived within in five minutes.

The police entered the house to find Marjorie was still alive, but in a very bad way, they followed a trail of blood through to the rear of the house and into the backyard where they found Stanley, who had taken the razor to himself and slit his throat from ear to ear. He was still alive.


In the brief amount of time it took for medical help to arrive, both Majorie and Stanley died from their wounds...