Gawler's Unfulfilled Commercial Precinct

  In 1954, the Gawler Council was planning for future population growth. They estimated that Gawler would soon reach twenty thousand people and that the town centre would have to be redesigned to accommodate the extra traffic.
A survey was conducted and showed that at the time Gawler’s main shopping area consisted of 84 Shops, Willaston had 6 shops, Gawler South, had 7 shops, and ‘other areas' (e.g. Evanston) had 5 shops.

The plan to increase shopping in the town included expanding the shopping precinct west towards Reid Street and closing Jacob and Tod Streets to vehicles between Murray Street and Dundas Street, forming a pedestrian precinct for shopping.[1]

Today we Have the Woolworths Complex and Drakes west of Main Street, and an Aldi opening in 2025. However, no streets have been closed, and the 'shopping precinct' is still unattached, e.g. - no mall or shopping centres like Munno Para or Elizabeth. 

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[1] 'PLANNED FOR GAWLER OF 20,000 PEOPLE', Bunyip, (5 November 1954), p. 1. 

 A Haunting at Bowden and Brompton

 

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.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2024

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[1] 'A Ghost at Hindmarsh.', The Advertiser, (4 February 1903), p. 4.

[2] 'A Ghost at Hindmarsh.', The Express and Telegraph, (4 February 1903), p. 2. 

 Haunted Kapunda by Allen Tiller

 

  Kapunda, dubbed the 'most haunted town in Australia,’ after a 2001 documentary, is full of history, mystery, and the paranormal. In 2019, MSN.com voted the North Kapunda Hotel the 8th most haunted hotel in the world.  Kapunda’s hauntings were featured in the documentary Kapunda: Most Haunted Town in the Western World and the television series Haunting: Australia.

  What makes Kapunda, a historic mining town in South Australia, so haunted?
Join paranormal investigator, historian, and researcher Allen Tiller as he dives into 20-plus years of research into a town his ancestors helped establish. Read about a one-legged pushbike riding ghost, a haunted lolly shop, murders, mining accidents, the truth about Dr Blood, Haunting: Australia’s paranormal investigation in the North Kapunda Hotel, and Allen's connection to some of the most haunted buildings and ghosts in Haunted Kapunda!

 

HAUNTED KAPUNDA by Allen Tiller

Buy it here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Haunted-Kapunda/dp/B0DV4R599T

#AllenTiller #hauntedkapunda #haunted #kapunda #southaustralia #history #ghosts #paranormal #trueghoststories

A History of the Kapunda Congregational Church

 A History of the Kapunda Congregational Church: The First 100 Years.

The Kapunda Congregational Church, located on Chapel Street, Kapunda served the local community for more than 100 years. Many of Kapunda’s well-known citizens including William Oldham, James and William Shannon, the Hawke family, and Sir Sidney and Lady Isabel Kidman attended the church.
A Welsh Congregational Church, located on Stow Street, Kapunda also existed in the town, sharing many of the same Reverends’, but preaching almost exclusively in the Welsh language.
This publication documents the first 100 years of the Kapunda Congregational Church, its Ministers, some of its Deacons, parishioners and their lives, giving some insight into the church's influence on the town of Kapunda, its politics and the lives of the Congregational Church community.

Purchase here: A History of the Kapunda Congregational Church by Allen Tiller

#Kapunda #church #congregational #religion #history #allentiller #author #book

A History of the North Kapunda Hotel:

 A History of the North Kapunda Hotel:

 The First 100 Years

– by Allen Tiller

  Built in 1848 by the North Kapunda Mining Company, the North Kapunda Arms Hotel opened to the public in 1849. The original building was a single-story hotel with a double-storey accommodation wing for miners and travellers on Franklin Street (now Crase Street). The accommodation building still stands today and is the oldest original structure of the building.

  John Bickford was the first publican of the North Kapunda Arms Hotel, the first licensed hotel in Kapunda. It narrowly beat out James Whittaker at the Sir John Franklin Hotel on Main Street by one week.

  The North Kapunda Hotel, as it is known today, is an icon in the town and has featured in many of its notable historic occasions, including the reading of the Riot Act in 1893 by Corporeal Hugh Gray Queale during local political upheaval.

  This book investigates the building's first 100 years of history, including the many publicans who worked and lived in it and their families, the 1866 reconstruction, the Bachelor’s Hall, Crase’s Assembly Rooms, and the many clubs, foundations, societies, and religious groups that used the hotel as their base of operations.

Available here: https://amzn.asia/d/6HJxVrD

#Kapunda #history #allentiller #Northkapundahotel #southaustralia

 Dumb Criminals - Car Theft.

In July 2019, a 34-year-old man, and a 23-year-old woman, stole a blue Holden Commodore from Blakeview, in the northern suburbs. The criminal duo drove to the Christies Beach courthouse, parking at McDonalds across the road. The man was due to face charges that morning for stealing a car. A police officer noticed the car and recalled that one of a similar description had been reported stolen, so they ran the plates.[1]

The man, from Whyalla Norrie and the woman from Whyalla Stuart, were both arrested and charged for stealing the car after facing the courts for the original charge, of stealing a car! The man was also charged for driving while disqualified.

Senior Constable Rebecca Stokes told the ABC, ‘He'd actually stolen a car and turned up to court to face charges of car theft. We're hoping that when his partner attends court next month she catches the bus, and we just break this vicious cycle!”[2]

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2024

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[1] Brendan Cole, ‘Man Facing Car Theft Charges Turns up at Court in Another Stolen Car, Gets Arrested,’ Newsweek, (2019), https://www.newsweek.com/adelaide-car-theft-australia-1452130.

[2] ‘Man facing car theft charges arrested after allegedly arriving at court in another stolen vehicle,’ ABC NEWS, (2019), https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-31/man-arrested-for-allegedly-turning-up-to-court-in-stolen-car/11370986.

 William Williams and the Missing Christmas Day Goose!

  In 1845 William Williams a 37-year-old brickies labourer was charged with theft for stealing a goose, the property of hairdresser, Alfred Cooper. Williams saw the goose being cooked at Birrell’s bakery on Rundle Street.  He decided he would like to eat it and stole it.

  He then took it to the house of Henry Brooks, a bricklayer. The men and some friends dined on the goose. Cooper, missing his prized goose, suspected that Williams may have stolen it. He arrived at Brooks's house and caught the men eating it, then went to find a police officer.  Williams knew he was in trouble, and asked Brooks for a loan of 5s 6d. – enough to pay for the goose.

  The South Australian newspaper reported that Cooper “came in and saw his goose in the hands of the Philistines. He then got a policeman, who took Williams into custody”.[1] Williams offered the money he had borrowed from Brooks for a goose, but Cooper declined, and Williams was arrested and taken to the police station where he was committed for trial.

  At court the following day Birrell was asked to give testimony. He stated that on Christmas Day Williams came into his shop and asked for a light for his pipe. He went through the shop into the kitchen to get a light. On his way there, he passed through a small room where he saw Birrell’s wife stuffing a goose. Williams stated he would like to dine on the goose, as he was, ‘out for a spree’. The goose was taken into the kitchen to be baked. Williams left Birrell’s and went to the adjoining house, owned by Brooks.
 Mrs Cooper came to the shop to get her cooked Christmas goose but returned home without it. So, Mr Cooper and his wife went to Birrell’s to find their goose. They then stopped at Brooks's house and witnessed Williams and other men eating a goose.
 The men dining denied stealing the goose, but after Cooper called the police, Brooks and his wife admitted that Williams had brought the goose to their house. Williams had then offered Cooper double the value of the goose so he would not press charges against him.

 

James Birrell, the baker, stated to the court that Cooper came to his house seeking a Christmas goose but got none. He told Cooper there were more geese than one -"two gooses" - and that Williams had taken one away on a plate; leaving the tin in which it was brought behind. There was nothing else missing but the goose.
Williams and Brooks came in together whilst he was drawing the baking, and saying the goose was what he wanted, it was handed up to him.

Henry Brooks stated to the court that he went to Birrell's for his dinner and was followed by Williams. He assisted Mr Birrell in taking out the dinners, and when he left with his dinner Williams had left the shop. Afterwards, Williams came to his house with a goose on a plate and stated he had bought it overnight for six shillings. They ate the goose together. When Cooper came with the police, Williams called him into the next room, told him he had got into trouble about goose stealing, and borrowed some money from him to try to arrange payment for the goose and avoid gaol. Instead, he was then taken to the station-house.

Ellen Birrell, wife of Mr Birrell, deposed that Williams asked for one of the two geese, and took one away. A girl came and fetched the other goose. When the police arrived, she recalled Williams saying to Cooper, “I will pay you any amount you like rather than go the office.”

  The Defence argues that there had been no proof that the prisoner had taken, nor stolen the goose. Identification of the thief was insufficient.  The defence continues, ‘Mr Birrell had stated there were ‘two gooses’ at most it was only a "spree" and having seen Mrs Cooper stuffing a goose, he perhaps thought he might as well stuff it too, only in a different manner; he was sorry Mr Cooper should have been prevented dining off the goose, and also that he should have been such a goose us to lose it: it was at most only a case for the Resident Magistrate.
  Mr Cooper then argued that if Mr Fisher, the defence lawyer had lost his Christmas dinner, just as it was cooked, and he was ready to eat it, he would not have made so light of it.
  Mr Fisher then replied, “By no means! he was sorry for both him and Mrs Cooper; and would further say that if she could dress geese as well as he could hairs, they must be a very clever couple.
  The Magistrate said, he feared it would prove a serious "spree" for Williams, as he should commit him to take his trial, though he would admit him to bail.[2]

 On Monday, March 9, 1846, Mr Williams faced trial for ‘Stealing a ready cooked goose, value 5s., the property of Alfred Cooper, on 25th December 1845, at Adelaide.” A handwritten note on the side of the record indicates that Williams was found Not Guilty.[3]

 

© 2024 Allen Tiller

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[1] 'DEC. 26.', South Australian, (30 December 1845), p. 3.

[2] 'Law And Police Courts. Police Commissioner's Court.', Adelaide Observer, (27 December 1845), p. 6.

[3] GRS 12820 Criminal record books, Supreme Court of South Australia