The Haunting of the British Hotel, Port Adelaide

Designed by architect, W. Beattie, The British Hotel opened in March 1847 as a single-story
hotel consisting of 20 rooms, including a bar, taproom, kitchen, three parlous and ten bedrooms.

Its first manager (and possibly builder) was Captain James Wakeling, who had previously owned the Port Tavern, which had been destroyed by a fire that wiped out large sections of the Port in January 1847.
Behind the hotel once stood a two-story building used at the stables for the hotel, in which lived the hotel’s Ostler, a person who looked after the horses in the stables or the hotel owners and guests. Captain James Wakeling worked previously for a South Australian company as Captain onboard the ships Sarah and Elizabeth and was an early pioneer. It is said he was very strict in how he ran his hotels and was very punctual in closing the hotel's doors at 10pm nightly. This led to one incident, where a large Irish Shipmaster, played a trick on the old Captain and changed the clock hands on Wakeling’s clocks, so the pub stayed open an extra hour, until 11pm!

The hotel was sold in 1849 to William Mart. Only a few years later, in 1853, Captain Wakeling passed away at the age of 65 in Rundle Street, Adelaide after contracting influenza. As Captain Wakeling was much respected, in his honour, all vessels in the Port flew the flags at half-mast the day following his death. Wakeling was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.

John Wakeling and Mary Ferrers managed the hotel between 1859 until 1863, when it then fell into the ownership of Henry Ayers, who in 1876 added the second story.
Ayers, then Premier of South Australia, sold the hotel not long after the improvements he made to James Ralph Russell, who had worked in the hotel as its publican since 1863. Russell, in 1878, added a veranda and balcony.
In 1907 the hotel changed its name to McGraths British Hotel to reflect its new licensee, John McGrath and family. McGrath ran the hotel until his death in 1932, when it was then taken over by his two daughters Elizabeth and Esther. Esther would take sole licences responsibility in 1935 after South Australian laws prohibiting single women from owning or running hotels was amended.

The Russell family, who had owned the hotel since 1863, decided in 1937 the time was right to sell. The hotel then fell under the ownership of the South Australian Brewing Company but was still operated under the license of Esther McGrath, who stayed on until 1952.
The hotel had many more licensee’s over the years, but eventually closed for a few years, until being revamped and reopened in 2007.

Over the years there have been many deaths inside the hotel, including in 1905, the death of a hotel worker, Ethel Hammond, aged 39, who passed away in an upstairs bedroom where she lived.
Former publican John McGrath died in the hotel in 1922, and in 1954, Alexander Thompson died in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
It has long been alleged that the hotel is haunted, with paranormal activity experienced across all levels. One spirit alleged to have been seen in the basement area is that of Sir Henry Ayers, five times South Australian Premier and served in Parliament for an unbroken 37 years. Although he lived in, and is said to haunt, Ayers house on North Terrace in Adelaide, it would seem his spirit has been seen here, in the basement on occasion over the years after his death in 1897.

In a 2015 interview, the then owner described poltergeist type activity happening in the basement. It was stated that:
“In the cool room there are stacks of two-litre milks toward the back of the shelves, not on
the edge ... One morning, we came out and there’s one just thrown in the middle of the
floor. How in the hell, that moved ...”

It is not known who the mischievous poltergeist-like spirit might be, and no one is 100% certain why Sir Henry Ayers haunts the hotel, or even if the alleged ghost is actually him, or just someone who might appear like him (or just a case of mistaken identity from an intoxicated witness). Either way, the hotel, like most of the hotels in Port Adelaide, is considered haunted!

References:

Our Port, (2015), The British Hotel, Government of South Australia, retrieved from http://ourport. com.au/content/uploads/2016/04/DiscoveringPort-Adelaide-The-hidden-gems-of-the Portrevealed.pdf

James Hunter, History SA, ‘British Hotel (Port Adelaide)’, SA History Hub, History Trust of South Australia, retrieved from http://sahistoryhub.com. au/places/british-hotel-port-adelaide.

The British Hotel, (2018), History, retrieved from https://thebritish.com.au/about-us

1853 ‘LAW AND CRIMINAL COURTS.’, South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839- 1900), 26 May, p.3, viewed 09 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38463754

1905 ‘SUDDEN DEATH.’, Evening Journal,  29 June, p.1, viewed 09 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208008634

1905 ‘Facks and Roomers.’, The Areas’ Express (Booyoolee, SA: 1877-1948), 30 June, p.3, viewed
09 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224371446

S. R. Parr, ‘Ayers, Sir Henry (1821–1897)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre
of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ayers-sirhenry-2914/text4193, published first in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 10 October 2018.

1922 ‘Family Notices’, The Register (Adelaide, SA: 1901 - 1929), 8 March, p.2, viewed 14 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63582157

1954 ‘Family Notices’, News (Adelaide, SA: 1923 - 1954), 12 July, p.24, viewed 14 Oct 2018,

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134753904

First published in MEGAscene issue 13 2018

Allen Tiller (ALIAtech, DipFamHist) is Australia’s most recognised paranormal investigator,
eminent paranormal historian, and star of the international smash hit television show “Haunting: Australia”.
Allen is also the founder of Eidolon Paranormal, South Australian Paranormal and the author
of book and blog, “The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal”.
He is the winner of the 2017 “Emerging South Australian Historian of The Year Award” as presented by The History Council of South Australia. Employed as “Historian in Residence” in 2016/2017 with the Adelaide City Council Libraries and employed by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield Council to write the popular, “Ghosts of the Port Self-Guided Walking Tour”

You can find Allen online at:
www.AllenTiller.com.au
www.EidolonParanormal.com.au
www.twitter.com/Allen_Tiller
www.facebook.com/AllenHauntingAustralia
https://www.facebook.com/

A Haunting at Ayers House

Figure 1: Ayers House on North Terrace, Adelaide - Photo © 2014 Allen Tiller

Built in 1846 for William Paxton, a Chemist who worked out of Hindley Street, Austral House, as it was known then, was a much smaller residence than the grand house that stands on North Terrace today.

 The original property was bought by Robert Thomber in 1845, who sold it to Paxton. Paxton originally leased the property to Ayers from 1855, then sold it to him in 1871.
 Henry Ayers started making big changes to the property in 1857 with the addition of rooms at the rear of the house. In 1859 he built the ballroom on the eastern side, and in 1871 he added the dining room on the western side, which gave the house a sense of symmetry. In 1874, six bedrooms were added at the back in a new two-story section.

 Ayers’ spared no expense, rooms featured hand stencilled wall and ceiling decorations. The walls were constructed with local bluestone, and it was one of the first properties in Adelaide to feature gaslighting. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceilings, much of which is still present today.
Hand-painted ceilings in the ballroom and dining room were beautifully painted by an artist named “Williams”, who had to lay on his back, on a mattress supported by ladders, for three days to achieve the look.
 In the dining room, Sir Ayers had his family crest painted of three doves and an olive branch above the fireplace.
 The ballroom featured cedar flooring, with folding cedar doors that allowed extra space to be opened up for guests, which in Henry Ayers time, was a regular occurrence, as he enjoyed being the centre of social life from the upper echelon of Adelaide society.

 Sir Ayers’ daughter, Mrs Lucy Bagot gave an interview describing the property when she was a child in “The Mail” in 1928:

 'The property originally extended to Tavistock Street on the west, Rundle Street on the south, and on the east to what is now the site of the East-End Market. Where the row of two-story- houses now stands   next to the Botanic Hotel were two Indian bungalows, one of which was occupied by Rev. John Gardner, minister of Chalmers Church and father of the late Mr. Gavin Gardner, and the other by Mr Wentworth Cavanagh— afterward Cavanagh-Mainwaring, father of Dr. Cavenagh-Mainwaring and Mrs. Arthur Cudmore, of Adelaide. 'On the western side Dr. W. Moore, father of Mr. H. P. Moore, purchased the block on the corner of Tavistock Street and built the house there which is now called Frome House. When my father died in 1897 the house was empty for 18 years with the exception of a housekeeper, maid, and boy, who looked after it. Then in six months, it was let four times.'

In 1914 it was bought by Henry Woodcock and following Mr Woodcock, by a syndicate who built an open-air garden and dancing Palais. They named the previously un-named house “Austral Gardens” and set the property up as a multi-use business, including the RSL who used it as their headquarters until they moved to Angas Street in 1923.

 The property was purchased by the Government in 1926 and used to accommodate nurses from the Royal Adelaide Hospital across the road until 1969.
 The Dunstan Government approved restoration work to the grand old mansion in 1972, which saw some structural damage repaired.
 Around this period the National Trust of South Australia used the house as their headquarters and began public tours through the building.

Today the house is known as “Ayers House” in recognition of Sir Henry Ayers, Minister and President of the Legislative Council, and Premier of South Australia a record 5 times!

It is local legend that Sir Henry Ayers returns to haunt his former abode. A story related to me a long time ago from a then-current volunteer involved seeing the spirit of an older gentleman walking through the house.
The description fitted Ayer’s description, and what is known of his look from portraits, almost perfectly.
 The possibility that Sir Ayers would return to his home isn’t completely “out there”, it's actually a common haunting occurrence for old mansions and homes that deceased owners return to the places they loved most, so why not Sir Henry Ayers, returning to his much beloved home, and the place he died?

 Since the writing of my first book “The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal”, I have since heard that the spirit of Henry’s much-beloved wife, Anne, has been sighted by staff in the grand old mansion as well.

Another spirit is said to be a small child, but as of yet, she has not been identified. Perhaps the spookiest encounter in Ayers house belongs to a staff worker who was working late one evening when all six phones in the house began to ring simultaneously as the lights went on and off repeatedly at the same time!

 

Please use the following when referencing the above information for your research or publication.

© Allen Tiller 2016 – “Historian in Residence” – Adelaide City Council: “History Hub” – “Haunted Buildings in Adelaide” - This work is produced in collaboration with Adelaide City Libraries

 

References:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/48173745/3?print=n

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/48271429?searchTerm=austral%20gardens%20history&searchLimits=l-state=South+Australia|||l-category=Article

http://www.adelaideheritage.net.au/all-site-profiles/ayers-house/

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ayers-sir-henry-2914

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ayers

Books:

Henry Ayers: The Man Who Became a Rock - By Jason Shute

The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal – Allen Tiller

Ghosts and Hauntings of South Australia – Gordon de L Marshall

 

Allen Tiller is Australia’s most recognised paranormal investigator, eminent paranormal historian, and star of the international smash hit television show “Haunting: Australia”.
Allen is also the founder of Eidolon Paranormal, South Australian Paranormal and the author of book and blog, “The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal”.
Allen is the winner of the 2017 “Emerging South Australian Historian of The Year Award” as presented by The History Council of South Australia.

Allen has also been employed as “Historian in Residence” in 2016/2017 with the Adelaide City Council Libraries and employed by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield Council to write the popular, “Ghosts of the Port Self-Guided Walking Tour”

 

First published in MEGAscene issue 12

 © Allen Tiller