Gawler's Hotels

Foundation years of Gawler's Hotels

Golden Fleece 30-10-1839 (Also known as The Old Spot Hotel)

Old Bushman 24-9-1840

Prince Albert 1847 (as the New Bushman Inn)

Gawler Arms 1848

Willaston Hotel 1849

Kingsford (also known as the Globe Hotel ) 1851

Railway Hotel 1854 (also known as 'The Terminus' & 'Overway Hotel) - currently closed.

South End 1855 (also known as The Southern)

Gawler Belt Inn 1857

Engine and Driver 1858 (21st Street - now a private residence)

Wheatsheaf 1859-1873 (now Tikka Talian Restaurant.)

Criterion 1864

Exchange 1868

7 Minutes to 3: The Tragic Deaths of Roy Ayling and Eugenie Armstrong

7 Minutes to 3: 

The Tragic Deaths of Roy Ayling and Eugenie Armstrong.

 June 19th, 1919 was just another ordinary day for engine driver and fireman, John James O’Shea and Harold Sutherland. They went to work at the Islington Train Yards. They fired up Engine 88 to pull Goods Train 72 and set off on route from Mile End out to Hamley Bridge, north of Gawler.
 The train passed through Gawler and out onto the Roseworthy line to Hamley Bridge, then back through Roseworthy heading toward Gawler.
 As the train approached the crossing on what is now Redbanks Road between Roseworthy and Gawler, the engine driver sounded his whistle. As the whistle was sounded, he noticed a motorcycle with sidecar speeding along the road.  The train whistle was sounded again as a warning. The motorcycle appeared to slow down, then suddenly as if racing the train to the crossing, sped up.
 O’Shea sounded the train's whistle again and Sutherland applied the tender brake.

  Due to the incline of the rail line, the airbrakes and tender brakes had already been partially applied, so when the train approached the crossing it was already decelerating.
 The train entered the crossing at 20 miles per hour pulling a 300-ton load. It struck the centre of the motorcycle, dragging it under the cowcatcher and under the train.

 Fireman, Harold Sutherland stated of the incident; “I saw the motorcycle, about a chain away, on the driver's side of the engine. Saw nothing further until the bodies flew out from the under wheels of the engine onto the right side of the line.”

 There were many witnesses to the accident. Farmers on properties around the train line had been out in the fields working had seen the whole event as it occurred. Farmer Hugo Twartz, Martin Twartz, Theodore Bartsch, all gave testimony that confirmed the train driver and train fireman’s testimony.

 Roy Ayling was a quiet young man described as quiet and thoughtful, with a gift for motor mechanics. The 20-year-old was well known and liked around Willaston. He was a successful poultry breeder who made his own incubators and breeders. He had been riding a motorcycle for over a year, and many local people knew the sound of his bike as it came and went from Willaston.

 Eugenie Armstrong was a student at the Gawler Technical School. At only 18 and half she had made her mark assisting at various businesses in Gawler’s main street. She was a valued member of the Gawler’s Congregational Church. Her father, Mr A.P, Armstrong was a well-known Labor Party Member in South Australia. Miss Armstrong was described by friends as; “A sterling and reliable companion, who was very popular among her peers.”

 On June 19^th, Roy picked up Eugenie in his sidecar. He had only had the bike for two months and enjoyed showing it off. They headed out toward Roseworthy to catch a late afternoon football match between the Willaston Football Club and the Roseworthy College students’ team.
 It’s not known exactly what happened on that fateful day. The par sped along Redbank’s road toward the crossing, the train blew its whistle, and Roy slowed down but didn’t stop. He sped up, the train blew a second, longer warning whistle, but Roy didn’t stop, he pushed ahead to the crossing, where the bike was hit, and two young adults were flung from the bike under the train.

 Was Roy overconfident his new bike could beat the train? Was he showing off to Eugenie, or perhaps trying to scare her? Or was he distracted by the young woman in the sidecar, not noticing the noise of the trains whistle over the blare of his bike?

 We will never truly know the exact circumstances of the accident that claimed their lives…

 The police attended the scene after the accident. The young adults’ bodies were badly mutilated, so much so that they were buried before their funerals were held.

At the scene, Miss Armstrong’s watch was picked up by Sergeant Adamson. It read 7 minutes to 3, about the time of the accident.

Roy and Eugenie are buried at the historic Willaston Cemetery near Gawler.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019.

Bibliography

'AWFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.', Bunyip, (27 June 1919), p. 3.
'THE INQUEST.', Bunyip, (27 June 1919), p. 3.
'DETAILS OF THE TRAGEDY.', Chronicle, (28 June 1919), p. 13.
'RUN DOWN BY A TRAIN.', Chronicle, (28 June 1919), p. 13.

Pioneer Park: The Ghosts of Gawler: Part Five

The Ghosts of Gawler Part Five:
Pioneer Park 

At the northern end of Gawler's main street, across the road from the Coles complex, is a very pretty park featuring a rotunda and a memorial garden, it is bordered on one side by a shed owned by the Exchange Hotel and the Gawler Tourist Centre.

The "Old Cemetery"

The park has been a meeting place for Gawlerites for decades, being used annually for local events, outings and picnics.

Having grown up in Gawler, I know the park and the stories associated it with very well. I can remember when a canon used to stand on the north-west facade and was fired during an annual street party, I remember all the youth of the town meeting on the hill during weekends, because there really wasn't much else to do in the town, most of those kids were totally unaware of the bodies buried beneath their feet, but not me, I knew better.

The cemetery was first established when the town plan was drawn by Colonel Light, it is not entirely clear who the first person buried was, but by 1870, the cemetery was closed except for those who had already bought a plot to buried in.

The cemetery sat at the top of the street, pretty much unused, as the bigger Willaston public cemetery had been opened and was being used, as well as the Anglican cemetery in Gawler East and the Loos cemetery in what is now Buchefelde.

It wasn't until the late 1920s that someone decided something should be done with the now decrepit cemetery who's headstones were cracked and falling over, whose fences were broken and unpainted, the “old cemetery” as it was now referred to, was in a state of very bad disrepair.

A Rotunda on the park in 1914

The first idea to clean the place up came in 1925, but it took ten more years before anything was actually done by the councillors.

Work began, the fences were removed, the headstones were taken down (and now sit inside the front gates of the Willaston cemetery), land was levelled, trees planted, garden beds were laid, and a rotunda was built, the name was changed from the much-used “Old Cemetery” to “Pioneer Place” and Gawler's most used green square was born.

Now one would not know a cemetery stood there, other than the large monument on the western side dedicated to John McKinlay, which had to be rebuilt due to a semi-trailer demolishing one side of it. The other clue to a cemetery once being here is the memorial stones with lists of names in the centre of the gardens.

 In the late 1990sa worker was in the shed of the Exchange Hotel next to the park, when two coffins slid through the cracked and broken wall into the shed from the old cemetery, you can imagine the gossip this caused in the town!

The McKinlay monument after being hit by a truck

I have heard many ghost stories associated with the place over the years, even back in the day when it was a cemetery there were stories, one of which was a sighting of Spring-heeled Stephen, but mostly they were the typical ghost stories, ladies with lamps, gentlemen standing in the shadows etc.

One of the more recent stories I have heard is a man in an older styled suit standing looking out towards the Coles complex, who simply disappears. I am sure there are many more stories that I am yet to hear, and I invite you to share them in the comments section below

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au