Torrens Weir Restaurant

May 1961

 Architect: Hassell & McConnell, builder: Marshall & Brougham Ltd 

This photo is from a later date in the 1960s.

Historic Properties:  Tenterden House, Woodville

1901 - The Advertiser

  Tenterden House, in Woodville, South Australia, occupied a wedge of land at the intersection of Findon Road and Woodville Road. Throughout the twentieth century, the property fulfilled a succession of significant public functions, reflecting the changing social, military and immigration priorities of both the Commonwealth and the State of South Australia. During the Second World War it became a hostel for women employed in munitions production; in the post-war period it became an important reception and accommodation centre for assisted migrants before ultimately being incorporated into the expanding precinct of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

  The Government acquired Tenterden House from Dr L. J. Dunstone on 11 December 1941 for £3,500. The acquisition formed part of the Commonwealth’s wartime programme to provide accommodation for workers employed in essential defence industries.
In early 1942, the property became the site of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), which used it as a hostel for young, unmarried women engaged in munitions work.
 The principal residence comprised two storeys, each containing five principal rooms, together with a dining room, pantry, linen press and four cellars. Several of the principal rooms—including the billiard room, drawing room and dining hall—were of generous proportions and were readily adapted for communal use. 
  

Transition to a Migrant Hostel

  On 27 August 1948, ownership of Tenterden House was transferred from the Commonwealth Government to the Government of South Australia. Administration of the hostel remained with the YWCA under lease from the State.
  With the conclusion of hostilities, the purpose of the establishment altered to meet the demands of Australia's post-war immigration programme. Tenterden House subsequently accommodated state-assisted migrants arriving from numerous European and other countries under Commonwealth and State migration schemes. As one of South Australia's migrant reception facilities, it played a significant role in the settlement of newly arrived families and individuals during the decades following the Second World War.

Association with The Queen Elizabeth Hospital

The continuing expansion of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, located nearby, brought further changes to the use of the property. On 1 March 1954, the Board of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, acting on behalf of the State Government, resolved that the lease with the YWCA should include a provision requiring accommodation at Tenterden House to be made available for hospital nursing staff whenever required.

This arrangement reflected the increasing demand for residential accommodation associated with the hospital and demonstrated the property's continuing importance within the broader public infrastructure of the western suburbs.

Later Uses and Closure

As assisted migration declined during the 1960s and 1970s, the function of Tenterden House evolved once again. The hostel provided accommodation for students attending country schools and, during 1974–1975, temporarily housed South Australians displaced by Cyclone Tracy following the evacuation of Darwin.

By July 1977, the large pavilion situated on the property had been transferred to Woodville Primary School, while the rear annexe had been converted for use as administrative offices for The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The establishment, by then known as the State Immigration Centre, ceased operations in late 1977, and immigration personnel vacated the premises during 1978. In 1979, following a formal approach to the State Government, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital acquired Tenterden House in its own right. Redevelopment of the site continued, culminating in the opening of a new nineteen-bed accommodation facility in 1982.

Historical Significance

The history of Tenterden House illustrates the capacity of a substantial colonial residence to be adapted to successive public purposes over more than forty years. Initially established as accommodation for women employed in wartime munitions production, it subsequently became an important centre for the reception and temporary housing of assisted migrants during one of Australia's largest immigration programmes. Its later association with The Queen Elizabeth Hospital further reflects the changing institutional development of Woodville and the western metropolitan region.

The successive uses of Tenterden House—as a wartime hostel, migrant reception centre, nurses' accommodation, student boarding establishment and emergency housing for Cyclone Tracy evacuees—provide a tangible record of the social and demographic changes that shaped South Australia during the mid-twentieth century. As such, the property occupies a notable place in the history of wartime mobilisation, post-war migration and public health administration in the State.

Tenterden House was demolished in 1996.

 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2026

References:

https://healthmuseumsa.org.au/history/tenterden-house/

Historic Properties: SWANSCOMBE - 10 Fuller Street Walkerville

 Historic Properties:

 SWANSCOMBE  - 10 Fuller Street, Walkerville

Swanscombe was built in the early 1840s (c.1844). From 1855 it became the home of Charles Burney Young, who purchased adjoining properties to create an extensive garden estate. The estate extended from Smith Street behind St Andrew's Church, along Fuller Street, and slightly west of the house.

Charles Burney Young and his wife, Nora Creina Young, arrived in South Australia aboard the Flora Kerr, sailing from England on 16 November 1854. On their arrival, they were welcomed by Wilfrid Kent Hughes at "Avenel" on Robe Terrace, North Adelaide. Their second child was born there but sadly died in infancy. The family later lived in Ward Street, North Adelaide, before Charles was appointed a draughtsman with the Public Works Department in 1856 and soon afterwards became a government surveyor.

Charles Burney Young was a distinguished surveyor and pastoralist who owned Kanmantoo Station. He is also remembered for recognising the potential of the gifted 13-year-old Aboriginal boy David Unaipon, whom he brought from the Point Pearce Mission to Adelaide to further his education.

Nora was the daughter of Major General Bacon and Lady Charlotte Bacon (1801–1880), who before her marriage was Lady Charlotte Harley. Celebrated for her beauty, Lady Charlotte was immortalised by Lord Byron as "Ianthe" in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Nora had married Charles at the age of 16 in Swanscombe, Kent, before emigrating to South Australia.

Lady Charlotte joined her family in Adelaide in 1865 and lived there until 1877, becoming one of the colony's most admired social figures and often described as the "toast of the town". Nora remained at Swanscombe despite losing her sight later in life and lived there until she died in 1925.

researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2026

The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal — Revised Edition

The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal — Revised Edition

By Allen Tiller

What secrets lie behind Adelaide’s most enduring ghost stories?

Award-winning historian and paranormal researcher Allen Tiller returns with a completely revised and rewritten edition of The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal.

This new edition goes deeper into Adelaide’s haunted history, featuring additional historical research, new photographs, extensive footnotes, an index—and, most importantly, more ghost stories.

Join Allen Tiller as he explores some of the most haunted locations across Adelaide and its suburbs, uncovering the history behind the buildings, the people who lived and worked there, the urban legends that grew around them, and the ghosts said to remain.


Discover the stories of Graham’s Castle, Younghusband Mansion, the Adelaide Arcade and Waterfall Gully. Investigate the mystery of Schneider’s Alley and uncover the strange story of the Union Hotel tiger.

Drawing on years of historical and paranormal research, Tiller examines the stories behind Adelaide’s hauntings, exploring where history ends and legend begins.
Thirty stories from the other side.
The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal — Revised Edition takes you deeper into the history, mystery and folklore of one of Australia’s most haunted cities.


Buy now: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08JLQLLC5


#Adelaide #theHauntsofAdelaide #squattersarms #AllenTiller #history #mystery #paranormal #truecrime #trueghoststories

 A Ghost at World’s End

 Near Burra in South Australia's Mid North lies a place with one of the state's most intriguing names—World's End.

The settlement of Lapford, surveyed in 1877, was once located in what is now known as World's End. Although the township was planned, it never really took off. Even so, the district had a thriving community for many years. A post office operated from 1876 until 1971; a school opened in 1888 and closed in 1941 due to a shortage of teachers; and a Wesleyan church served the community from 1889 until 1975. Today, the ruins of many of these buildings can still be seen along the World's End driving trail.

The origin of the name "World's End" has inspired a few stories over the years. One popular tale links it to Goyder's Line, suggesting it marked the edge of reliable farming country. It's a romantic idea, but it isn't true. The name predates Goyder's Line by 15 years. It was given by Scotsman Donald McDonald, who established the World's End pastoral station in 1851.[1]

For a Scot, the name "World's End" would have carried a very different meaning. It recalls the aftermath of the Battle of Flodden in 1513, when the English defeated the Scots. Fearing Edinburgh was left vulnerable, King James IV ordered defensive walls to be built around the city. A pub just beyond those walls became known as the World's End because it stood outside the city's protection—the point where the safe world ended. That historic pub still exists today, and the present building stands on the foundations of the original Flodden Wall.[2]

The Edinburgh World's End was just one of many inns and pubs that adopted the name on the outskirts of Scottish towns. Donald McDonald, who came from Aberdeenshire, would also have been familiar with World's End House, built there in 1767 and associated with the Scottish folk tale of the Well of World's End.[3] With such familiar and affectionate associations back home, it's easy to see why McDonald chose the name for his pastoral run in colonial South Australia.

 In 1908, at The World’s End, South Australia, it was reported that multiple ghosts had been terrifying residents in the area. One incident involved a team of horses that took off from their owner after encountering a ghost. A ‘white-robed’ ghost had been witnessed by the driver of the horses. The ghost scared the horses so much that they got spooked and fled. In an interview with the Burra Record (newspaper), the witness elaborated that it was not a white-robed ghost he had seen, but the ghosts of a little girl and a little boy. He stated in an interview, ‘it was on account of their tender years that he decided to speak to them concerning their early morning travels, and as he did so the forms disappeared, in the most mysterious fashion.’[4]

 

 On another occasion, a woman was doing her laundry. She pinned some white bed sheets to her clothesline. Later that evening, she went out to collect her sheets and noticed one had been removed and thrown some distance away. Rather than being logical and thinking the wind did it, she instantly went to ghosts being the cause! She rallied her family, they armed themselves with sticks and other weapons, and went and beat the bed sheet, as if it were the ghosts, only to find it was just a bed sheet.[5]

Have you been to World’s End? Have you seen a ghost? Let me know in the comments.

© 2026 Allen Tiller

www.allentiller.com.au

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[1] 'Late William McDonald', The Proserpine Guardian, (29 February 1936), p. 6.

[2] About The World’s End, Belhaven, (2026), https://www.belhaven.co.uk/pubs/edinburgh/worlds-end

[3] Joseph Jacobs, ‘The Well of the World’s End’, (1890), https://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-44.html

[4] 'The Ghosts.', Burra Record, (25 November 1908), p. 2.

[5] 'The Ghost.', Burra Record, (18 November 1908), p. 2.

 Fata Morgana & the Quest for UFO Evidence

By Allen Tiller, originally published on Paranormal New Zealand on 03/03/2014

 

 “Fata Morgana” sounds like the name of a sorceress from the legendary stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and believe it or not, that’s indeed where the term’s origins lie!
  However, it is also the name given to a complex atmospheric mirage that could explain at least some UFO reports in the Australian desert and outback, both day and night.

Many people report strange sightings in the Australian outback, day and night, of shimmering lights, glowing objects, and other unexplained phenomena, usually described as UFOs — unidentified flying objects. (Which, when you think about it, is a very broad category of objects, as anything you cannot identify that flies remains an unidentified flying object. The UFO community may need to create some more specific sighting categories — but that is a whole other area of discussion!)

  Have you ever driven your car on a hot summer’s day and noticed that watery mirage out on the horizon — the one you can never reach, but is always there? That is a type of mirage associated with hot surfaces, but it is more accurately described as an inferior mirage, rather than a Fata Morgana. The natural phenomenon behind these effects, however, is much more interesting than many people realise.

  A Fata Morgana can occur over land or sea. It is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction as light passes through layers of air with different temperatures and densities. Under normal atmospheric conditions, air tends to become cooler with increasing height. However, during a temperature inversion, warmer air can exist above a layer of colder, denser air.

  This is important because light rays bend as they pass through air of different densities. In a strong temperature inversion, the bending can become sufficiently pronounced to produce a superior mirage, where distant objects can appear elevated above their true position. Under more complex temperature profiles, multiple images can form, some inverted and some upright, stacked vertically and rapidly changing in appearance. This more extreme and complicated form is what is commonly called a Fata Morgana.

  What happens is that distant objects on or near the horizon become part of the mirage our eyes see. Because the light is refracted through layers of air with different temperatures and densities, the image can become distorted, stretched, compressed, inverted or vertically displaced.

Any object — let’s say a distant car on the horizon — can suddenly appear above the road, possibly distorted and apparently floating in the sky, moving quickly or changing shape. Sounds like some UFO sightings you’ve heard about, right?

 The interesting thing about these atmospheric mirages is that they can happen at night as well. In the Australian outback, the right combination of a warm day, a cool or cold night, calm conditions and relatively flat terrain can create the temperature structure necessary for unusual mirages to occur.

 Fata Morgana can make distant objects appear stacked horizontally or vertically, inverted, mirrored or distorted. In fact, it can distort objects so significantly that they become almost unrecognisable.

Now, before I go any further, we should distinguish a true Fata Morgana from an ordinary superior mirage or an inferior mirage. An ordinary superior mirage occurs when the miraged image appears above the true object. It is commonly associated with a temperature inversion, where colder air is trapped beneath warmer air. Light passing through these layers is refracted, causing distant objects to appear higher than they really are.

 A Fata Morgana is generally considered an extreme or particularly complex form of superior mirage. Instead of producing a simple displaced image, the atmosphere can produce multiple erect and inverted images that appear stacked on top of one another. These images can change rapidly, become stretched or compressed, and sometimes produce bizarre shapes that bear little resemblance to the original object.

 An inferior mirage, on the other hand, is the terminology used to describe the classic mirage most of us know, where what appears to be water can be seen in the distance, often beneath an object such as a sand dune, road or other landscape feature.

 This is the familiar “water on the road” effect seen on hot summer days. It occurs because the air close to a hot surface becomes warmer and less dense than the air above it, causing light rays to bend as they pass through the different layers. The apparent water is often actually a refracted image of the sky.

While both superior and inferior mirages are related to atmospheric refraction, there is more happening in a Fata Morgana. The temperature structure of the atmosphere can create multiple images and dramatic vertical distortions, making the phenomenon much more visually spectacular — and potentially much more confusing to an observer.

  As I said earlier in this article, a temperature inversion is an important part of many superior mirages and Fata Morgana effects, but the exact atmospheric structure is important. Under suitable conditions, a layer of air can act as an atmospheric duct, allowing light to travel much farther than it normally would while also being strongly refracted. This can allow distant objects or lights that would normally be hidden below the horizon to become visible to an observer.

This is where it gets a little weirder.

  A Fata Morgana can cause not only horizontal distortions but also significant vertical distortions, making a recognisable image into something totally unrecognisable to the human eye. The phenomenon can also produce considerable apparent magnification or vertical stretching.

  For a Fata Morgana to be visible to you, the viewer, the atmospheric conditions and temperature profile must be suitable for strong refraction. The geometry between the observer, the distant object and the atmospheric layers is also important. It isn't simply a matter of having hot air over cold air — the strength and structure of the inversion determine what kind of mirage is produced.

So, taking all that into account, it boils down to this…

  If you have the right weather conditions — say, a really hot day followed by a cool or cold, relatively calm night — an atmospheric temperature inversion can develop close to the ground. In suitable terrain, particularly flat or gently undulating country where cold air can become trapped, distant lights or objects may become visible through atmospheric refraction.

  And this is not just theoretical. In an experiment investigating the mysterious Min Min lights of the Australian outback, a distant vehicle was positioned approximately 10 kilometres away, beyond a slight rise in the landscape. Under suitable atmospheric conditions, observers were able to see the vehicle’s light apparently floating above the horizon. The following morning, a spectacular Fata Morgana was also observed under the same general atmospheric conditions.

 This is particularly interesting when considering reports of mysterious lights in remote parts of Australia. A distant car headlight, campfire or other light source can potentially be refracted by the atmosphere and appear to be somewhere it isn't, possibly even appearing to move as the observer or atmospheric conditions change.

  This does not debunk every UFO sighting, of course, far from it. But it certainly makes you think about many of the sightings you read about that happen in the Australian outback. Could Fata Morgana, superior mirages and other forms of atmospheric refraction be responsible for some of these sightings? The answer is quite possibly yes.

  But the important point is that each sighting needs to be considered on its own evidence. A strange light seen near the horizon under strong inversion conditions may have a very different explanation from a close-range object observed overhead.

And that is what makes the search for UFO evidence so interesting!

For more on how the effect works, please follow this link:

http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/mirages/mirintro.html

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage))

http://english.pravda.ru/science/tech/19-04-2003/2614-light-0/

http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/04/05/terrifying-ufos-or-fata-morgana-mirages/

Researched and Written by © Allen Tiller, 2014 (re-edited 2026)

www.allentiller.com.au

  Historic Properties: Forsyth House - Felixstow

 Forsyth House, located in Adelaide’s eastern suburb of Felixstow, is a state heritage-listed residence originally built in 1913 for Arthur Ebenezer Pitt, who named the property Kahurangi. Set amid extensive orchards, it reflected the prosperity of the Pitt family, whose horticultural enterprise grew from early colonial beginnings in South Australia’s eastern districts. Arthur was the son of Ebenezer Pitt, an English migrant who arrived in 1847 and whose family became prominent in the region’s fruit-growing industry through Pitt & James.  Kahurangi remained in the Pitt family until 1943, when the property was sold to the Central Mission Old Folks Home Incorporated.

Following its sale, the home was renamed Forsyth House in honour of Samuel Forsyth, superintendent of the Central Methodist Mission. Forsyth was a significant social reformer whose contributions included establishing the Kuitpo Industrial Colony during the Great Depression and bringing radio stations 5KA and 5AU under mission ownership.

In 2008, the property evolved into the Aldersgate Nursing Home, continuing its role in community care. From 2025, Uniting Communities announced major redevelopment plans to expand the site into a broader integrated care precinct. These plans include aged care, retirement living, disability accommodation, dementia-specialist housing, affordable and social housing, and build-to-rent family apartments—blending heritage preservation with contemporary social and residential services.

Source: https://normus.com.au/urban_projects/aldersgate-village-and-forsyth-house/

Historic Properties: The Briars – Medindie

 Historic Properties:

 The Briars – Medindie

 

'The Briars', Medindie 1880 - SLSA: [PRG 742/5/139]

 

  Located on Briar Avenue, Medindie, The Briars was built for George C. Hawker. When Hawker purchased the property, it had a modest home already built, which he altered. He added another story and then decorated his property in Classical Italianate style. The main palazzo style façade features white rendered arches and a centred square tower. The design is carried along the side of the building with three archways.[1]  The home features 30 rooms.
  The original lot (Lot 38) on which Hawker built his mansion was owned by Francis Hayborough Dutton, who sold it to Francis Corbett Singlton in 1850. Singleton built the modest house that would eventually be added to and become The Briars. George Hawker purchased the property in 1857 and Lots 10 and 37 for £3500. This equated to approximately eight acres of land. Hawker purchased an additional four acres from Singleton in 1858, increasing his land holding to twelve acres. Thirty years later, in 1891, Hawker purchased Lots 12 and 13 from Francis Dutton.[2]

  Between 1865 and 1874, the Hawker family lived in England. During this time, The Briars was leased to John Acraman. The Hawkers returned to economic prosperity, and additions were made to the property, which now contained the house, stables, servants’ quarters and five acres of land used as paddocks.

1880 Hallway of the "Briars", home of George Charles Hawker.
SLSA: [B 41859]

  After Hawker's death, the property was sold to James William Cowell, a Norwood timber merchant. Cowel died in 1910; his estate was then managed by The Executive Trustee and Agency Company, which subdivided the acreage into 16 lots, leaving The Briars on approximately an acre of land. The property was then sold to William Bramwell Booth of the Salvation Army. The property was sold in 1987 for two million dollars to investors looking to transform it into a retirement village. This plan went unrealised, and instead, it eventually returned to private ownership.

In 1914, The Briars were purchased by the Salvation Army and became the McBride Maternity Hospital.   The Hospital was named in honour of Mr R. J. McBride, who was a prominent grazier at Kooringa near Burra. Mr McBride was known for his philanthropy, donated £3000 pounds to purchase the property for the purpose of a hospital.[3]

  The hospital provided accommodation for single mothers and their babies, as well as some public maternity patients. Some mothers (unwillingly) had their babies adopted out from the hospital. The hospital operated until the mid-1970s. It then became a convalescent hospital in 1978, with a small hostel for single mothers. The hostel closed in 1983, and the hospital closed in 1986.   

 

 

George Charles Hawker by artist Thomas Caleb Dalwood c.1890
SLSA: [B 3712]

 The Honorary George Hawker MP (1818-1905) was a successful sheep grazier and politician. George Hawker served in Parliament for 25 years from 1858 until 1883. In that time, he served as Speaker of the House of Assembly 1860-1865, Treasurer 1875, Chief Secretary in 1876, and Commissioner of Public Works from 1877-1881. The town of Hawker in the Flinders Ranges is named in his honour.

 Hawker married Bessie Seymour in 1845. Together they had fifteen children, six sons and six daughters. Hawker was to receive a Knighthood from Queen Victoria in 1895, but died before it could be bestowed upon him. George Hawker died at his home, The Briars, on 21 May 1895, and was buried in the North Road Cemetery.
 His widow appealed posthumously for George’s honours, which were approved by Queen Victoria, making her Lady Hawker. Hawkers’ estate left £305, 800. His art collection was left to his wife, who subsequently donated the collection of paintings and statues to the Art Gallery of South Australia upon her death. A marble bust of George Hawker sits on level one of Parliament House in Adelaide.[4]

 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller, ©2026
#AllenTiller #history #TheBriars #HauntedAdelaide #northroadcemetery 

 

 

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[1] McDougall & Vines Conservation and Heritage Consultants, Heritage Survey Of The Town Of Walkerville, The Corporation Of The Town Of Walkerville, Vol. (2 April 2005) pp. 22-28.

[2] Ibid.

[3] 'MR. R. J. M. McBRIDE.', The Register (10 February 1917), p. 11.; 'McBRIDE MATERNITY HOSPITAL.', The Advertiser, (30 January 1914), p. 10.

[4] 'Hawker, George Charles (1818–1895)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hawker-george-charles-3734/text5873.

Historic Propeties: Fernilee Lodge

 Fernilee Lodge

Address: 569 Greenhill Road, Burnside (corner of Gartrell Street)

Fernilee, located at 569 Greenhill Road, Burnside, was constructed in the late 1870s by local builder Dennison Clarke. Clarke constructed unusually large underground rooms and a water tank as his answer to the hot South Australian climate. Clarke initially lived there with his family before selling it to James Gartrell. Gartrell, a prominent and respected businessman, expanded Fernilee into an elegant 20-room family estate set on four acres of landscaped gardens, where his family resided for 45 years.

From 1926 to 1957, the Stanley Cooper family—part of the Leabrook Cooper brewing legacy—owned and occupied Fernilee. It was later purchased by Hal Morgan, who transformed the property into a reception venue known as Fernilee Lodge.

Fernilee Lodge became a memorable setting for family weddings and celebrations, with many local residents retaining strong personal connections to the site. Despite its significance, the building was controversially demolished in 2003.

 An (alleged) Haunting at Carclew House, North Adelaide

 

The property on which Carclew House is situated was originally owned by George Cortis in 1837, who sold it to William Bartley in 1847.  It was owned by Edward Stephens in 1848, then by the Crawford family from 1849 until 1855 (with a year of possession by H. Mitchell in 1852).
 In 1855, Abraham Scott and Edmund William Wright owned the property for six years before selling it to James Chambers in 1861.
 James Chambers success came from buying a town acre in the first Adelaide land sale.  With his brother John, he imported horses from Van Diemen’s Land. The two men secured themselves a small fortune through their business dealings and became philanthropists in the small Adelaide community.  He opened a livery stable in Adelaide and purchased coaches from South Africa and England. He gained the mail contract to Burra (around 1845) and built a large business carting people and mail to the mining communities in Kapunda, Burra and other towns in the Mid North of South Australia.  James Chambers also supplied the horses and carts for Tolmer's gold escort from Mount Alexander to Adelaide in 1852.[1]

   Mr Chambers had a small house and stable on the land in North Adelaide, which he sold to tobacco magnate, Mr Dixson, in 1896. Dixson demolished the former home of Chambers and commissioned architect John Bruce to build a stately mansion, which he named Stalheim.

  In 1908, Dixson sold his stately home to Langdon Bonython, the wealthy owner of The Advertiser newspaper. Bonython renamed the building Carclew House and lived there with his wife, Lady Marie Bonython, and their children.[2]  The Bonython family lived happily in the newly named Carclew House from 1908 until its sale to the state government in 1965.

 

  There are numerous ghost stories associated with Carclew House, many of which are urban legends.
 The oldest being that Sir Bonython carried his disabled wife, whom he had found cheating, up into the spire and threw her out of a window. Lady Bonython allegedly hit the ground, but did not die, so Sir Bonython carried her up again and threw her out the window a second time! (An addition to this story sometimes told is that Sir Bonython bricked his wife up inside the spire wall. Another telling is that Lady Bonython caught her husband in the embrace of another woman and threw herself from the tower.)  Whether the story is true has not seemed to matter in the annals of South Australian history; some people never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and this is a story that has it all.

From a conspirator's point of view, though, such a tragic murder could easily have been covered up, with her husband’s control of the local newspaper and other media sources, a son in the Mayor’s office, and an abundance of money and power.  Sir Bonython could have easily covered up such an event, but as we all know, the truth has a way of exposing itself, and if such an event did occur, it would find its way into the public forum eventually.   There is no conclusive evidence to prove that Sir Bonython killed his wife; in fact, her death appears to be a natural one that somehow became a conspiracy against her ever-loving husband.  Perhaps the rumours persisted and became an urban legend due to jealousy over the families’ wealth and power?

 

  Other urban legends from Carclew House involve men being buried inside the walls of the house, possibly builders, one near the front door and the other in a wall at the rear of the house. Urban legends have a way of twisting over time, and the story that once involved Lady Bonython looking longingly from a turret window at the outside world has now evolved into that of a young boy haunting the spire and looking out longingly at the city below.

  What is interesting about this is that there is a ghostly tale of a young man at Carclew House, as told by Lady Wilson, the granddaughter of the Bonythons. In the story from her youth, Lady Wilson recalls sleeping in a downstairs bedroom and witnessing the spirit of a young boy.
 The spirit was that of a young man with blond hair, aged about 15, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and black shorts with knee-high socks. The spirit would enter the room and go straight to the dressing table, where he would pick up pins…and while she watched him, he would very slowly become transparent, until he disappeared.  Other reports that have come to me over the years have included phantom smells of perfume that waft through the art rooms, one witness to the phantom perfume followed her nose, and although she could not find a source, she said the smell was strongest in the spire below a trap door.

 Carclew House is one of those locations in Adelaide that every budding Ghost Hunter wishes he or she could have a chance to investigate…

 

This is an extract from my book The Haunts of Adelaide: Revised Edition – for the full story, the book is available here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Haunts-Adelaide-History-Mystery-Paranormal/dp/B08JLQLLC5

 

©2020 Allen Tiller

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[1] Australian Dictionary of Biography, Chambers, James (1811–1862), National Centre of Biography, ANU (1969) http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chambers-james-3189/text4785, accessed 26 June 2017.

[2] Carclew, Our History, (2014), https://carclew.com.au/Our-History, accessed 14 June 2015.

 A Haunting at the Gawler Railway Station

 Is the Gawler Railway Station haunted?  Recently, I have had reports of a spectre haunting the Gawler Railway Station. The first railway station was built here in 1857. The first train arrived on 5 October 1857 and was described in the Register as a ‘train of 13 first and second class carriages, plus three to four open carriages carrying approximately 900 passengers'. The carriages were profusely decorated with flags and banners, and the engine was garlanded with flowers'.
  The train departed at 9:15 am, accompanied by the strains of the National Anthem, and reached Salisbury by 10:00 am, arriving at Gawler at 10:50 am.

  The 1857-built railway station was demolished, and a new one was built in 1879. The new station featured a booking office, waiting rooms, refreshments, ladies' rooms, and station master and luggage departments.

The following is a historical sample of some of the deaths that have occurred at the historic railway station.

  In 1875, Station Porter Charles Woods died at the station after suffering a fit and falling from a train carriage onto the rails and stones below.[1]   In 1896, Porter Donald McAuley tried to jump from the platform onto a moving engine – something he had successfully performed many times before. This time, McAuley slipped and went under the train. His right leg was instantly amputated by a train wheel, while his left leg was shattered at the ankle. Despite medical treatment, McAuley died just a few days later.[2]
 In 1893, the Broken Hill express was leaving Gawler, with Guard Peter Power standing on the footboard of the brake van. As the train left the platform, Power was struck by a water column, causing him to lose balance and fall under the last wheels of the carriage. His legs were almost severed at the ankles. Power was taken to the Adelaide Hospital by train, but expired the following day.[3]  In 1911, George White, an engine driver, died suddenly at the Gawler Station. White was sitting on a seat talking to a fellow employee when he suddenly leaned back and died.[4]

  The reported ghost is often seen sitting on the benches of the station. From the description given, it appears to be male and dressed in an older-style suit. The entire apparition is grey in colour and stares south, as if waiting for the train to arrive. It is not known who the apparition was in life.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2026

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[1] 'ACCIDENTAL DEATH AT GAWLER.', The Express and Telegraph, (15 December 1875), p. 2.

[2] 'Accident at the Railway Station.', Bunyip, (30 October 1896), p. 3.

[3] 'Fatal Accident at the Gawler Railway Station.', Bunyip, (4 August 1893), p. 2.

[4] 'SUDDEN DEATH.', The Register, (18 January 1911), p. 5. 

  Emmy’s Ghostly Photograph

  Novelist, screenwriter, television scriptwriter, playwright, columnist and lecturer, John Pinkney, was one of Australia’s foremost authors on the paranormal. Pinkney wrote the ‘Haunted’ series, the ‘Unsolved’ Series and the ‘Mysteries’ series.
   In 1982, he was approached by Emmy Barnes in Adelaide with a ghost story regarding her deceased husband. Emmy stated that as her husband Jimmy lay dying, he predicted she would remarry after his death. Jimmy stated she would marry a man with the initials B.B.
 Just a few months after Jimmy’s death, Emmy met Bernard Barnes, whom she married. After their wedding, their photos from the day were printed

  In 1982, an Adelaide woman told paranormal writer John Pinkney about how her deceased husband appeared in a photo a year after his death. While Emmy Barnes' husband, Jimmy, lay dying, he predicted she would remarry and that her new husband's initials would be BB. Emmy stated to Pinkney,

‘While my husband Jimmy lay dying,' Mrs Barnes recalled, ‘he made several predictions to me – predictions which later came true in considerable detail. Jimmy's first prediction was that I’d marry again, and that my new husband’s initials would be B.B.  Jimmy said I’d make my first contact with him after being introduced to an Irish woman born in India. I’d know who that woman was, because within moments of meeting her, she'd invited me to look at her new lounge suite which would be covered in bottle green fabric.’^[1]

 Emmy said that her husband promised to be present when she remarried,

 ‘I didn't take much notice. I was too grieved, and anyway, I imagined his forecasts were the wanderings of a dying man. But the following year it all began happening. A friend at the hospital where I worked invited me to a party. I was hardly inside the door when the hostess, whom I’d never met, urged me to the next room to see what her husband had bought her. ‘It was a three-piece lounge suite, covered in bottle green. That was only the start. When we began to talk, I found my new acquaintance was of Irish descent, but had been born in Delhi, India – just as Jimmy had foretold. ‘At that party, Jimmy's dying forecasts kept falling into place. I met a man there named Bernard Barnes and within a few months I was to accept his marriage proposal.'

  As a wedding present, several of Emmy’s friends paid for a professionally shot family portrait. Within the family portrait, a silhouette of Jimmy could be seen in the sideboard mirror. Emmy stated that, ‘I knew then Jimmy had kept his promise.’

 Pinkney inspected the negative of the photograph for tampering or trickery. He said of the photograph,

 ‘I didn't doubt my correspondent's sincerity, but I reserved judgement until the following month, when I was able to study the picture for myself. As an analysis of the negative would subsequently confirm, the dead man's image was indeed prominent in the photograph.’

 

Story and images: John Pinkney's "A Paranormal File" (2000).

Image 1: Emmy Barnes holding wedding photo showing silhouette of deceased former husband Jimmy in mirror.

Image 2: close-up of Jimmy's silhouette in the mirror.

Image 3: Jimmy before his death.

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[1] John Pinkney, ‘A Paranormal File’, (2000). 

 Lost Hotels: Black Horse Hotel, Leigh Street, Adelaide.

 

1926: Leigh Street, Adelaide. SLSA [B 3424]

 The Black Horse Hotel was located on Leigh Street, about halfway between Hindley and Currie Streets. The hotel opened in 1841 as the Foresters Inn and was renamed the Black Horse Inn two years later. It was built by Mr Whyles in 1841, who came to South Australia via Tasmania.[1] During the 1870s, the hotel was known as a place for musicians and actors to congregate.[2]

 In 1897, The Black Horse Inn was at the centre of a smallpox scare in Adelaide. An outbreak of smallpox among passengers onboard the ship Ninevah led to a call for those passengers to report to doctors. Some of the passengers had transferred to another ship heading to Western Australia, and two passengers were missing, Fleming and McPherson. A search in Adelaide was called. The two men were later captured in Port Adelaide by Detective Segerlind when he noticed them walking by the police station.
 The two men had purchased tickets to travel to Western Australia on the Buninyong, using the aliases William Haig and Robert Thompson. Upon their arrest, it was found they had stayed in the Black Horse Inn, which led to staff and patrons being assessed for smallpox. Meanwhile, the two culprits were shipped off to the Torrens Island Quarantine Station for observation.[3]

 

In November 1898, George Sutherland was brought before the courts accused of stealing jewellery to the value of 30 pounds from Jane Bristow at the Black Horse Hotel.[4] Sutherland, who also went by the alias H. Williams was well known to Adelaide police for stealing watches. He was brought before the courts in October 1899, and found guilty, receiving six years imprisonment with hard labour at Yatala Gaol.[5]
 Jane Bristow was the licensee of the hotel at the time of the theft. She had left her bedroom door unlocked, which was not her usual routine, and noticed her belongings missing later that day. Sutherland was arrested in Sydney and sent back to Adelaide for trial. He admitted to stealing the items and selling them in Melbourne.[6]

  It was alleged in 1905 that a fisherman named J. Nelson was accosted at the Inn. Nelson had worked on one of Daw’s fishing cutters and had travelled to Adelaide from Port Adelaide to sell some fish. He received his payment and was readying to leave for Port Adelaide when two men approached him outside the Black Horse Inn asking for a match. Nelson lit their cigarette, and the men invited him inside for a drink, which he refused. The two men hustled Nelson into the bar and ordered three drinks. One of the men then put Nelson in a headlock while the other rifled through his pockets, stealing a cheque for £9 10s, a £5 note, five sovereigns and some loose silver. The men then ran off into Leigh Street, leaving Nelson in the hotel.[7]

 

  The hotel proprietor, Mr M. Whelan wrote to the Advertiser to dispute the Nelson story. Whelan claimed the story was untrue and may have a damaging effect on the reputation of his establishment. He wrote,

On Friday afternoon in answering the bell from a parlor, which is situated a long distance from the bar—there being a long dining-room intervening—this parlor is entered from a side door off the right-of-way on the northern end of the hotel. I supplied one round of drinks, and no more, to four men (all of whom were perfect strangers to me), and in about five minutes afterwards the man, who I presume is Nelson, came into the bar and said he was robbed by those men in his company.
 He was somewhat excited and wanted' to know who the men were. I told him they were strangers to me, as was also himself, and advised him to interview the police. This is all I know of the case, and I consider I am entitled to an apology from your informant.

It is not a nice thing to have it said that a man was robbed in a public bar; it would give the public an impression that the Landlord was a consenting party. I may also state that I heard no noise whatever in the parlor, it being such a distance from the bar.

M. WHELAN,

Black Horse Hotel,

Leigh-street, Adelaide.[8]

 

  When Whelan was the publican at the Black Horse Inn, the property was owned by the Anglican Church, whose head office was directly across the road.[9] In 1906, Newton, McLaren Ltd. purchased the property. They traded under the name J.A. Newton and Co.  In 1921, J.A. Newton made the first radio receiver for commercial sale in South Australia.[10]  In 1907 the old hotel was demolished to make way for a new warehouse.[11]

 

  By the 1930s, the property was occupied by the S.A. Paper Bag Company.[12] Today, the building is known as Aston House, located at 15 Light Street. It contains a variety of shop fronts. The building was significantly renovated by the Ginos Group in 2010 to provide ground-floor retail space and two levels of office accommodation.[13]

 

 Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2025

 

 

Visit the State Library of South Australia to view more photos of South Australia

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[1] 'Correspondence.', The Advertiser, (4 April 1907), p. 6.

[2] 'Bits for Boniface.', Quiz, (18 January 1907), p. 8. 

[3] 'Two Men Quarantined At Torrens Island.', Evening Journal, (11 February 1897), p. 3. 

[4] 'An Adelaide Robbery.', The Advertiser, (15 July 1899), p. 8.

[5] 'The Criminal Sittings.', The Express and Telegraph, (11 October 1899), p. 3.

[6] 'Police Court-Adelaide.', Chronicle, (12 August 1899), p. 15. 

[7] ‘Garrotted in a Hotel.’ The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times’, (10 August 1905), p. 3.

[8] 'To The Editor.', The Narracoorte Herald, (15 August 1905), p. 2. 

[9] 'Our Notebook.', The Journal, (27 May 1916), p. 12.

[10] 'Passing By', News, (29 March 1951), p. 12.

[11] 'Topical Trifles.', Gadfly, (15 May 1907), p. 6.

[12] 'Death of Mr Robert Gillies', Border Chronicle, (30 June 1939), p. 3.

[13] ’15 Leigh Street.’, Ginos Group, (2025), https://ginosgroup.com.au/properties/leigh-street/.