A Haunting at Melrose - St George’s Folly

 

 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 1^st 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]

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2023

[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/.

Barton Vale House

Barton Vale House

Built between 1850 and 1852 by Edmund Bowman, Barton Vale house, an early Victorian, Gothic styles mansion is now owned by the Smith Family Group.
Bowman tried to build the house as cheaply as he could, but still maintain excellence in construction and style. He sourced local materials and builders and constructed one of Adelaide's most impressive buildings.
Unfortunately for Edmund, he didn’t get to enjoy his new home for too long as he passed away in 1866. His wife remarried and with her new husband refurbished the house in 1880.
On Tuesday, August 23rd 1881 the “South Australian Advertiser” published a detailed description of the house on page 5, after allowing architects and builders in to let them inspect the fine work of the house. The article is very descriptive of the interior at the time and describes such things as room size and décor, it is a most interesting read for history buffs.

In 1922 the Bowman family house and the estate was sold by order of the Supreme Court after the death of Hubert Bowman. The sale lasted a few days because of the sheer amount of goods inside the home.
The house itself was sold to The Salvation Army, who installed within its walls a “home for wayward girls”. During this era the house was known as “Barton Vale home” and many girls saw the insides of its walls for their misdemeanour’s.
 It was not uncommon for the home to make the news in this era as the wayward girls would often try and liberate themselves, once such incident involved a lot of violence and the police were called in, the story made page 4 of the “Register News” newspaper in Adelaide on July 17th 1930.

In 1947 the house was again sold, this time to the State Remand System, who renamed it, “Vaughan House” causing a little controversy as the Enfield council were not happy with the new choice of name.
Renaming the house did not exclude it from the mischief of its residents, there were breakouts, with two girls absconding for five days, dressed as boys before they were caught. On Tuesday, December 15th 1953 the police were called to Vaughan House after the girls had become disruptive, just before the police arrived they climbed onto the roof and began hurling abuse at the officers and locals who had come out of their houses to see what the ruckus was about, they managed to stay on the rooftop until almost sunrise the next day.

By the 1980s the house was no longer used and remained empty, it was a shell of its former self, with windows broken, vines growing uncontrolled over it, and graffiti sprayed through its rooms, the house was in an awful state. The State very nearly demolished the building, but it was fortunately saved after the Enfield Historical Society campaigned for a National trust listing and for its restoration.

The Advertiser  Tuesday 11 November 1947,

The South Australian Government allocated funding for the restoration with the view of using it as government offices. Work got underway in 1991, the tower, which had been removed in 1944 due to its extreme weight cracking the floors was replaced with a new tower made of fibreglass and lightweight steel, allowing the building to be seen as it once was. Halfway through the year, the majority of the work had been completed in the restoration, except the interior, the Government then decided they would not need offices and put the house and land up for sale.

The land was sold to a developer, Collaroy Developments, who subdivided the 5 acres included with the house and sold it off as a new housing estate, leaving the house standing on one acre of land.
In 1995, Peter and Marilyn Smith purchased the house and began restoring its interior unto its former glory, a lovingly painstaking task that has seen the home return to the splendour and grandeur of its past.

The Smith family use Barton Vale house, partly as their private home and partly as the headquarters for their various business enterprises, it is well kept and in loving hands.

The Advertiser Wednesday 5 October 1949,

The ghost stories that grew around this magnificent structure can mostly be attributed to the time when it was vacant and in a state of disrepair, as with most grand mansions that acquire a status of haunted, it would seem that past usage of the house was not forgotten by locals and urban legends amongst the youth about goings-on grew, as did the reputation of the old empty rotting mansion, spawning tales of ghost girls walking its staircase and a nasty matron telling boys to leave.

As far as I am aware, from the beginning of the restoration period in 1991 to now, no ghosts or other paranormal phenomena have been reported from builders over the years or the current owners. It would seem that the ghost stories associated with Barton Vale house are just that, stories, made to scare younger kids from going inside the old mansion, that have been passed down from older brothers and sisters through the years and grown into legends.

© 2014 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

"Stonehenge" - Sinister by design Part 3

“Stonehenge” Robe Terrace Medindie

A quick trip back in time, we revisit our "Sinister by Design" series, which covered the architecture of John Quinton Bruce around Adelaide, first we looked at Carclew house, this time we visit the house he designed for Frederick Scarfe in North Adelaide.

The Mail, Saturday 11 October 1919, page 12

Designed by iconic South Australian architect; John Quinton Bruce for Fred Scarfe, A Director of South Australian department store icon, Harris Scarfes, Stonehenge, as the building was named, is a beautiful building located in North Adelaide.

Often it is reported that Frederick Norman Scarfe, former Mayor of Kensington and Norwood is the man who had the building erected, but by the time it was built, he was a very old man. Frederick George Alexander Scarfe is actually the man who built the impressive house, he was a director of Harris Scarfes at the time and a very wealthy individual.

Tony Syrianos - 

THE ADVERTISER NEWSPAPER 

ADELAIDE, April 24, 1994

The building consists of 15 main rooms including a gracious reception hallway and a sweeping grand staircase. There is also a Ballroom, a formal lounge-room, Library and formal dining room, plus 5 bedrooms and a wine cellar.

The house was often featured in local newspaper stories as Mr Scarfe would host his own events, Grand Balls and parties, in his home. In 1919 Frederick Scarfe sold the house for an impressive sum, citing in adds that he found the housekeeping tasks laborious, being such a large manner.

In 1994, The Adelaide Advertiser (April 24^th 1994) published a story about the house featuring a local businessman who had purchased the house for $1.2 million dollars, only to find out that the house is haunted by a young lady.

The Register Thursday 13 November 1919

The young lady appears in an upstairs bedroom known as the Blue Room. It is stated that she only appears during the hours of 11 pm and 5 am and walks from the blue room, to a bathroom, or up the extravagant staircase. She is dressed in a white nightgown with an overly frilly neckline.

It is thought the spirit is that of a young girl who died in the house from tuberculosis around the 1920s, when the disease was making itself felt in North Adelaide.

It has also been reported that whenever renovations take place in the house, the ghost becomes very hostile and begins to throw objects and make a lot of noise, not unlike a poltergeist would do, other owners have also reported cold spots in various rooms of the mansion.

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

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