Glenelg Riots - part three -  Guy Fawkes Day 

Remember, remember, the 5th of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and the Parliament

Three score barrels of powder below

Poor old England to overthrow

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match

Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring

Holler boys, holler boys

God save the King!

 

 

Way back on January 24^th, 2023, I published the first part of this series ‘The Glenelg Riot.’ I decided it would be more fitting to publish this post on the 5^th of November - Guy Fawkes Day.

 

 Guy Fawkes Day (also known as Cracker Night, Bonfire Night, and Fireworks night) was an annual celebration in Great Britain and in some Commonwealth countries such as Australia. The day memorialised the attempted assassination of King James 1, a protestant King, by Catholic conspirators.
 On November 5^th, 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested while guarding explosives that had been placed under the House of Lords. He was part of a plot to blow up Parliament led by Robert Catesby. The other conspirators were captured and executed on 31 January 1606, but not before Edward Montagu, a Member of Parliament proposed that the King had been saved by Divine Intervention, and therefore the day should be celebrated as a day of thanksgiving.

 The 5^th of November became a day for the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes. In its early incarnations, the day celebrated the Protestant King by defiling Catholic Church symbols, such as the pope, by burning effigies. The holiday remained in Australia until circa 1982 when the Government banned all sales of fireworks.

In 1910 Glenelg celebrated Guy Fawkes night with a riot![1] Crowds had gathered at Mosely Square and Jetty Road to celebrate the evening. All was going well, until around 10pm that evening, an apparent signal went up and firecrackers from every direction were thrown at police.
At around 11pm a large stone was thrown from a lane adjoining Jetty Lane at Constable Harrold. The stone missed him but hit Mounted Constable Clark inflicting a deep wound into his skull which later had to be stitched.[2]A plain-clothed officer arrested the rock thrower, assisted by Constable Keene, who was promptly despatched by a bottle thrown at his head, knocking him out.[3]
The police retreated to the station, but the crowd followed. After a short time, the police came outside and confronted the crowd with their batons drawn. The crowd soon dispersed, and the riot ended.[4]

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2023

[1] 'CRACKERS AND CONSTABLES.', Evening Journal, (7 November 1910), p. 4.

[2] 'SOUTH AUSTRALIA.', The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times (8 November 1910), p. 3.

[3] 'RIOT AT GLENELG.', The Sydney Morning Herald, (7 November 1910), p. 9

[4] 'RIOT AT GLENELG.', The West Australian, (7 November 1910), p. 8

Glenelg Riot – January 1984 – part two.

 Glenelg Riot 

– January 1984 – part two.

 

On Tuesday, January 24, 1984, just two days after the Glenelg riots, thieves broke into the explosives magazine of Quarry’s Industries ltd at Hillbank, in Adelaide’s northern suburbs. Using oxy-acetylene equipment, they cut through the hinges and padlocks on the building between 5pm and 8pm that evening.
The thieves stole four cases of gelignite, around 64 sticks of the volatile explosive, and detonators.
Elizabeth CIB attended the scene and found a handwritten note which read, "Thank you, now watch out cops at Glenelg."
A direct threat to the police station and star force officers that attended the riots on January 22nd.[1]

Rioters overturning a car at Glenelg in 1984.

researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2023

---

[1] 'Gelignite thieves' threat taken seriously by police', The Canberra Times, (26 January 1984), p. 6. 

Glenelg Riot – January 1984 – part one.

 Glenelg Riot 

– January 1984 – part one.

 

On January 22, 1984, bands, Pseudo Echo and Sandy and the Sunsets were scheduled to play at Colley Reserve, Glenelg. It was a hot day, 15000 people descended on the reserve for the free concert sponsored by radio station SA: FM.

 The crows were reasonably well-behaved until, as reported in the Canberra Times, the police started making arrests. At around 6pm, the mood in the crowd changed and chants of “Kill the pigs” and “kill the coppers” began as the restless crowd surged towards the police.[1]

 The police reported that 200 or so people began charging the police at Colley Reserve, throwing beer bottles at them, and screaming abuse. Cars were damaged in a side street, and a group of police officers were besieged, locked inside the Glenelg police station.[2] A local senior citizens centre had 23 windows smashed. Two police officers were treated for head wounds. Sixty-three people were charged with offences ranging from drunkenness and assault to malicious damage.

The New South Wales newspaper Tribune, reported on the riot, interviewing eyewitnesses to the event. One witness, Stephanie Columbus stated about the riots, “The first thing to emphasise is that no trouble occurred until the concert was finished, and most of the 15, 000 people had left the area. The concert was very relaxed. It is true that lots of booze was being drunk.”[3]

Columbus and another witness, Carol Jacobson claimed that a few young men had been having an ice fight, throwing ice and water at each other. Some hit a police officer, who, with three other officers, grabbed one of the men and slammed his head into the bonnet of a car four times in front of the crowd. This claimed the witnesses were the trigger for the riot. The crowd started pelting the offending officers with bottles. The police arrested another young man, again being brutal in the arrest, and sending the crowd into a further uproar.

 Stephanie then claimed that,

From then on it was a situation of the police imposing their power and authority at will. There could be no talking to them, to them everybody was the enemy.
  For instance, a police officer and his dog passed by an onlooker who seemed to unthinkingly stroke the dog. The officer immediately kicked him in the shins and gave him a karate chop to the throat. When I protested about someone else being forced to move on, a policeman said: 'You shut up, slut, or you'll be arrested next.[4]

 

 It is claimed that during the riot, police officers removed their numbers so no reports of police violence could be claimed against them. It is also claimed that police entirely surrounded the reserve so people could not leave, adding further fire to the rioter’s cause.

A few days after the riot, the State Government became involved, putting a political spin on the event, and blaming the riot on unemployed people. Interestingly, at the time of the riot, the Police Association President was vocal about a review of the Police Offences Act which could lead to a weakening of police powers to move on disorderly youths.

 

In the weeks after the riot T-shirts with the slogan ‘Come to Glenelg…it’s a riot’ began to be seen around Glenelg.

 

This is not the end of this story…. next week, a chilling conclusion to the Glenelg Riots!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2023

---

[1] 'Four-hour rampage after rock concert', The Canberra Times, (24 January 1984), p. 3.

[2] 'Four-hour rampage after rock concert', The Canberra Times, (24 January 1984), p. 3.

[3] 'Glenelg clash shakes Adelaide's complacency on jobless', Tribune, (8 February 1984), p. 16.

[4] 'Glenelg clash shakes Adelaide's complacency on jobless', Tribune, (8 February 1984), p. 16.

Phineas Philip Davies (31 March 1865 – 28 Dec 1885)

Phineas Philip Davies (31 March 1865 – 28 Dec 1885)

Commemoration Day, December 28th, 1885. The South Australian Colony’s only warship, the HMS Protector was sitting off the coast at Glenelg, awaiting to fire its guns in salute to the forty-ninth year of the settlement of the colony.

 It was the first time the HMS Protector had been allowed to fire its guns in salute.
 The canons fired five times, then suddenly, the ship's flags were lowered and it steamed of towards Port Adelaide.

 Onboard, the crews were in full medical mode. The canons had fired, but something had gone wrong, and two crew members were seriously injured.
 Daniel Cann, in charge of canon number 5 was severely maimed by an explosion of the canon and was sent to Semaphore Hospital. He survived the explosion but lost an eye and was disfigured.

 Phineas Philip Davies, on the other hand, had received the full force of the blast from the cannon breech and died on board the ship.

An inquest was held on Tuesday the 29th of December 1884 at the Largs Pier Hotel by the city coroner Mr T. Ward.  The Coroner and Jury were taken to the warship to inspect the gun. Sitting alongside the gun was the coffin and body of Davies.
 Master Gunner Haisom explained to the audience how the gun works, and then what they believed went wrong.

Haisom explained that Davies was positioned at gun 5, position two. Haisom had himself gone around to every gun and supplied each with a bucket of water to sponge out the excess gunpowder after each firing. He then informed the gunners they had 50 seconds to reload after each firing.

 At 12 o’clock they began to fire the guns.
The number 5 gun fired two rounds, with its crew, including Davies, preparing for shot three. Davies entered the charge, which exploded on contact. Davies had neglected to sponge the gun after the last firing, leaving lit residue in the canon, which exploded the new 10 Lb powder charge.
 Davies gun commander, Daniel Canns, was subsequently accused of not delivering the order to sponge the canon between shots, something that was standard procedure.
 The jury deliberated on the evidence for quite some time, but in the end, delivered a verdict of accidental death.

The remains of Protector at Heron Island in 2008 at low tide

A memorial was erected to Davies at Cheltenham Cemetery and was claimed by the Royal Australian Navy in December 1986. The Memorial to Davies was installed as the headpiece of the South Australian Naval Memorial Garden at H.M.A.S. Encounter until the memorial was relocated to its current position in April 1995.

Front Inscription

Sacred to the Memory

of

PHINEAS PHILIP DAVIES,

A.B. H.M.C.S. PROTECTOR. 

Killed By Premature Explosion

Of A Cartridge When Firing Salute

At Glenelg Commemoration Day 

28th DECEMBER 1885. 

Aged 20.

Erected By His Shipmates

And Naval Reserve

Plaque: 

This tombstone marked the site of the

grave of Phineas Davies in Cheltenham

Cemetery for 100 years and was claimed

by the Royal Australian Navy in December

1986. It was installed as the headpiece of

the South Australian Naval Memorial

Garden at HMAS ENCOUNTER until the

Garden was relocated to its present site

in April 1995.

(Note: Phineas Philip Davies was born on the 31^st of March 1865 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand)

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018

Bibliography

1885 'CORONERS' INQUESTS', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 - 1900), 30 December, p. 7. , viewed 02 Aug 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44536720

1885 'The Fatal Accident on the Protector.', The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA: 1867 - 1922), 30 December, p. 5. (Afternoon Edition.), viewed 02 Aug 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208372973

1885 'THE-FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE PROTECTOR.', The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1858 - 1889), 30 December, p. 6. , viewed 02 Aug 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36320103

Adelaide (S.A.). Corporation 2003, Historical walking trails, Adelaide, South Australia, City of Adelaide, Adelaide

Ancestry.com. Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Madeleine Ryan, History SA, ‘Naval Memorial’, SA History Hub, History Trust of South Australia, http://sahistoryhub.com.au/things/naval-memorial, accessed 2 March 2018.

Scott, Jenny, 2012, Davies, Phineas Phillip, The State Library of South Australia, 2 March 2018, https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+72767

Buried in the City - Colonel William Light

  

 Buried in the City - Colonel William Light

Born in Malaya in 1786, William Light was the second son of Captain Francis Light and his Princess Bride, Martinha Rozells.

 William spent the earliest part of his life at Penang, but at the age of six, was moved to England to be educated in Suffolk by Charles Doughty.

Light volunteered in the Navy in 1799, and left two years later with the title Midshipman. After which he spent some time in France and then Calcutta, before returning to Europe in 1806. In 1808 he purchased a cornetcy* in the 4^th Dragoons, and was soon promoted to Lieutenant.

 Light was able to speak many languages, showed great tact, and accuracy in his reporting. This held him in great stead with his superior officers, and often led to him being chosen to be an intermediary in hostile negotiations.

 In 1812, Light was chosen to become a junior officer at Wellingtons headquarters where he would be employed on mapping, liaison duties and reconnaissance.

In 1814, Light purchased a “Captaincy of the Infantry” and spent time travelling Europe, before returning to full service working in the Channel Islands, Scotland and Ireland.

Seven years later in 1821, William Light quit the army with the rank of Major.

In 1824, Light married the Third Duke of Richmonds daughter, Mary Bennet. The newlyweds travelled extensively across Europe. Later, Light bought a yacht and sailed to Italy, then around the Mediterranean. Light visited the Egyptian city of Alexandria around 1832, at the time the economic centre of Egypt. He became friends with the powerhouse Mohammed Ali, who was rising to power in the country and would lay the foundations for modern Egypt. In 1834 Light would captain the paddle steamer “Nile” which was on its way from England to join the Egyptian Navy. The Nile would be taken over by John Hindmarsh, who would later be given a letter by Light, introducing him to Sir Charles Napier, who had recently resigned as Governor of the proposed settlement of South Australia. Hindmarsh would go on to replace Napier in that position.

In 1836, William Light was appointed Surveyor-General of South Australia. With his chosen staff, he set off for Australia in the ship “Rapid” whilst his deputy, George Kingston, set out five weeks earlier in another ship called “Cygnet”.

 Light arrived at Kangaroo Island in 1836, and visited Encounter Bay soon after, which he rejected as being a main port for the new colony. Light began to explore the coastline, and Rapid Bay caught his eye, he sailed north seeking harbours reported previously by explorers Captain Collet Barker and Captain John Jones, but to no avail. Soon the Port Adelaide River was found. Light as impressed with the location, and earmarked it as the spot for his future settlement, but first he had to follow instruction and sail to Port Lincoln to assess the possibility of that Port being the main capitol of the colony.

 Light returned to the Port Adelaide River on December 18^th 1836. The site chosen was 9.6km from the ocean, and this did not please Governor Hindmarsh at all, who then set about to get the capitol site changed to Encounter Bay or Port Lincoln.

Light pressed ahead with his survey of the area, and had laid out a plan of 1042 acres by March 1837, plus twenty-nine section of Port Adelaide, as a means to pacify Hindmarsh.

 Light knew he was hard against it, the survey he been contracted to undertake was going to take many years to complete, not the few months he had been allotted when taking the contract on, so he wrote to his superiors asking for more men, equipment and time.

 His requests were rejected, and his survey was to be replaced with a faster method. If Light refused to do this, he would be put on the lesser task of coastal examination. Light promptly refused, and resigned his position, which did not improve his ailing health, for at the time Light’s health was beginning to fail considerably.

 By January 1839, William Lights health had waned, he was not able to complete a 10 hour horse ride to survey land north of Adelaide, He returned to his temporary accommodation, only to have it burn down the following day. The fire consumed a life long collection of books, journals, maps and drawings.

 Light then moved into a house he was having built, named Theberton, he was poor in wealth and health, and survived by selling sketches.

 In May 1839, Light, despite his failing health, took part in the search for a northern route to the Murray. He returned to his home with a sever fever, and died of tuberculosis on October 6^th 1839.

 Colonel William Light was buried in Adelaide, in Light Square. Governor Hindmarsh had a monument built over his grave, but unfortunately it didn’t stand the test of time. A new monument was erected in 1905.

A statue of William Light, designed by Birnie Rhind stands on Montefiore Hill, overlooking the city he founded. 

*Cortency - the office, rank, or commission of a cornet

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...

John Hill

John Hill 

Mr Hill served as boatswain (The Foreman of the “unlicensed” crew) in His Majesty, King William's Ship, The Buffalo. [1]

John Hill was born on the 3rd of June 1808 in Cheshurst, Hertfordshire England. Mr Hill was a skilled thatcher before serving for his King in the English Navy.

John Hill's most notable mark in South Australian history, other than coming to our fine shores aboard the Buffalo, under the soon to be Governor of South Australia, Captain John Hindmarsh, was to unfurl the flag at proclamation day ceremonies at Glenelg.

As the proclamation, declaring South Australia a British colony was read aloud to the gathered sailors and dignitaries, John Hill raised the British Flag, thus marking his place in South Australian history for all time. He was aged 29 at the time.

Mr Hill was soon engaged to thatch roofs for the newly colonised State, the only skilled Roof thatcher available he was very busy and was summoned to thatch the roof of the Governor's house.

Mr Hill lived much of his middle years in Wilpena before settling in Kapunda with his family, where he died at the age of 77, after fighting an illness for four months. Mr Hill died on the 2nd of April 1885 and was interred in The Clare Road Cemetery. 

Mr Hill's Wife and Family were very proud of the fact that their Husband and Father hoisted the flag on proclamation day and marked the significance upon his tombstone.

His grave also features a very distinct and different marking. It features as the centrepiece the “British Standard” with Gum tree carved into Headstone.

Mr Hills obituary appears in the South Australian Register on page 2, April 11th 1885 and reads:

Deaths of Pioneers.— Our Kapunda correspondent mentions that bluff, hearty old John Hill the boatswain of the Buffalo, who hoisted the flag at Glenelg when the colony was proclaimed, died on Thursday evening, after an illness of four months. He was 77 years of age, and during his life enjoyed the very best of health until recently, when he was attacked by bronchitis. During his illness he suffered a great deal. He leaves  a widow, who is somewhat older than himself 

[1] The “Buffalo” was originally named “The Hindostand” in 1813 when it was built it was sold in that same year to the United Kingdom Navy and renamed “The Buffalo” where it began to ship mast timbers across the globe. It eventually was used to ship English female prisoners to Sydney (187) then travelled to South Africa. The ship was recommissioned in 1835 where it was fitted to house emigrants for transport to Australian Colonies.

Please note, this post was originally made on a short-lived blog I wrote about Kapunda, due to the amount of time spent researching the paranormal, the Kapunda blog suffered a severe lack of posts - rather than lose the blog into the depths of Internet obscurity, I am reposting some of the research back onto this blog as much of it contains, History, Mystery and the Paranormal.

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au