The Southern Hemisphere’s First Crematorium.

The Southern Hemisphere’s First Crematorium.

Photo note: Crematorium, Adelaide, South Australia. , 1919.Image retrieved through Trove from State Library of New South Wales, digital order number d1_13488,  from http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/36913995

Adelaide can lay claim to many things, but perhaps one of the least‑known is that it was home to the first crematorium ever built in the Southern Hemisphere.

Located at West Terrace Cemetery, the crematorium was constructed a decade after the Cremation Bill was passed in the Adelaide Parliament, making South Australia the first state in Australia to legalise the procedure.

The crematorium was designed by architect A. Barham Black and built by Isley & Co. It featured a chapel measuring 9.75 metres by 5.6 metres, a subterranean furnace room measuring 7 metres by 5.5 metres, a single cremation chamber, and a chimney styled as an Italianate bell tower. The furnace was heated using gas coke and mallee firewood, though in its early days achieving temperatures high enough to fully disintegrate the body and bones proved difficult.

To perfect their methods and reach the necessary temperatures, staff practised using dead animals, such as sheep.

The first human cremation in the newly built crematorium took place in May 1903, upon the remains of Bishin Singh, a Sikh businessman from Hindley Street. As the first Sikh to die in South Australia, debate arose over whether his spiritual and funeral rites—rooted in Brahmanism—could be properly fulfilled. A traditional funeral pyre was not permitted, so the crematorium was chosen as a substitute. To honour the requirement that the body be placed upon wood, Singh’s remains were enclosed in a wooden coffin shell.

The cremation attracted considerable public interest. Local media attended, and around 200 curious onlookers gathered at the chapel. One woman reportedly stated she had come to “see him burnt.”

Six of Singh’s family and countrymen carried his body into the furnace room and placed it on a grate attached to a long chain that would draw the coffin into the cremation chamber. After prayers were recited, the white‑draped coffin was slowly pulled inside. As the body ignited, dignitaries and sixteen Sikh mourners were permitted to watch through an aperture in the furnace door. It took more than an hour for Singh’s remains to be fully consumed, and witnesses saw his fleshless skeleton glowing in the flames.

In its early years, the crematorium saw little use, but demand steadily grew. Before its closure in 1959, after fifty‑six years of operation, it had cremated the remains of 4,762 people.

The building was demolished in 1969. In recent years, archaeologists have worked to recover and preserve what remains of its foundations.

In 2005, Justin McCarthy of Austral Archaeology began an excavation of the site. It was discovered that during the demolition, the furnace—being a basement‑like structure—had remained intact and had simply been backfilled with rubble. Inside, relics were found, including bricks, mallee wood, linoleum, building debris, metal scraps, and a damper for the chimney. The bricks bore manufacturers’ stamps, allowing their year of production to be identified.

These artefacts are now held by the West Terrace Cemetery Authority.

Adelaide Crematorium c.1919, West Terrace Cemetery - photo: History SA

References:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4945278

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=lYSd-3yL9h0C&pg=PA617&lpg=PA617&dq=caste+obsequies&source=bl&ots=aEohCg19ON&sig=jIt86M-2wF3SWn7pw63YfW-ONvY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilj--Z4dnMAhVCjJQKHWhwAyQQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=caste%20obsequies&f=false

http://ayfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/c-is-for-cremation.html

http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/may/4-may-1903-west-terrace-crematorium.shtml

https://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/fms/archaeology_files/dig_library/directed_studies/The%20Archaeology%20of%20Adelaide.pdf

Port Adelaide Torpedo Station

photo: flinders.edu.au

The City of Adelaide’s coastline has long been protected by fortifications such as Fort Largs and Fort Glanville from seaborne threats. In the 1880s South Australia had its own ship The Protector, which safeguarded incoming passenger and cargo ships from seaborne enemies.
The ship was commissioned, in part, because of pirates and pressgangs working from Kangaroo Island and Port Adelaide, but also because of the ever-present threat of war from Prussia, which in those days, was paranoia that hung over the colony from the other side of the world.


 Another form of protection for the colony was the torpedo station situated at the North Arm of the Port River, which operated from 1877 until 1916. This outpost had several buildings and a jetty that extended into the Port River. It was connected to other defence sites by a telegraph line.
  In 1905, an English built torpedo boat was commissioned to the small base, a 12 ton, 63-foot vessel that only saw service for less than a decade, when it was decommissioned and scrapped.

6" naval gun, originally mounted at Torpedo Mine Station 1885-1916 on Port River
Image:
History SA

 Until 1961, the residents of Port Adelaide had believed that the Torpedo station was a myth. That was until a 6-inch naval gun was found by the Port Adelaide Council buried deep in the mud.
The gun was taken to the Birkenhead Naval Reserve, where it lay until 1994 when it was moved to the Council Depot in Tracy Street.

 
  In 1996, the now semi-restored gun was moved to Birkenhead and was placed on Cruickshank’s Corner. In 2012 the gun was moved into the custodianship of the Port Adelaide Historical Society. They moved the gun into the Port Adelaide Maritime Museum, where it still resides today.

© Allen Tiller 2016

Bronte Lloyd’s 1988 UFO Encounter – Spalding, South Australia

Bronte Lloyd’s 1988 UFO Encounter

 – Spalding, South Australia

 Spalding, a “blink and you miss it” town near the Clare Valley in South Australia, is known more for its sheep runs than its UFO sightings, but in 1987-1988, that dramatically changed when local farmer, Bronte Lloyd, reported a UFO sighting and abduction encounter.

 In May 1987, whilst out seeding a paddock, Mr Lloyd and his son-in-law witnessed a group of UFOs hovering over the farm. His son-in-law chose not to hang around and investigate the phenomena, but left Mr Lloyd to finish the job, and then investigate the strange lights by himself.

 The next morning, Mr Lloyd awoke early before sunrise. The following is his description of events, as told to a journalist from the Sunday Mail in 1988. (Mr Lloyd underwent hypnosis to ‘relive’ the experience)

 “I was lying in bed. It was as though Time and space were suddenly suspended: I was suddenly aware of pitch blackness, total blackness, and freezing cold. I couldn’t move, and thought I was having a heart attack. Then I felt myself floating upwards, and felt something being pushed against either side of my cheeks. I battled against whatever it was that was pinning me down, and tried to reach for the light switch, and to brush away the pressure against my cheeks. I knew ‘something’ was close to me, and that it was moving backwards and forwards just out of my reach.”

  When Mr Lloyd awoke a little later in the morning, he did not remember the experience of the night before. It wasn’t until he was shaving that he noticed three sore marks on his cheek and four more on his nose. (It would come out during further hypnosis that the small wounds were from hard plastic tubes that had been forced underneath his skin.)

A month later, in June, Mr Lloyd and his son had been out seeding a field, night was approaching, when a bright red light flew over their heads, and then hovered over some trees about 30 meters from the house, then flew away.

 Mr Lloyd’s son returned to his own home, whilst he himself went back to the farmhouse for dinner. While sitting there, his dogs suddenly went berserk, jumping about and barking, then cowering and howling. He looked out the window to see what the problem was and noticed there was something on the ground at a nearby grove of trees.

Under the nearby trees, he saw an object that at first, he took to be a car, but on further investigation, realised it was an object unlike any he had seen before.
 The object, which he described as being “3.6 meters across and 2 meters high with a circular body and square base,” appeared to be sitting on support legs. The object had portholes at regular intervals around it, and three large “head-lights” at what he considered the front of the object.

  Rather than try his luck entering the object, he retreated to the safety of his house and phoned his family, who were visiting a nearby farm, and told them not to return home that night.

 Mr Lloyd hung up the phone after speaking with his wife, and slouched in his chair, trying to make sense of recent events, when he suddenly heard “footsteps”, which he describes as “short, close together, and sounded like someone was walking in or on plastic.”
  Lights suddenly came on in the house, and Mr Lloyd opened the hallway door to see what was going on. He witnessed two small “men-like” creatures racing about at blurring speed. The next thing he remembers is waking the next day when his wife woke him up.

 The police were called and, upon inspecting the property, found a very large depression in the ground amongst the trees, 30 meters from the house. Unexplained footprints were also found near the tree line where the object had been witnessed.

 Samples were taken from Mr Lloyd by Biochemist Tom Coote, who discovered electrolyte anomalies in Mr Lloyd’s samples. Mr Lloyd’s facial wounds never healed properly, and when one would seem to recede, another would grow larger. Unfortunately, Mr Lloyd passed away only a few years later, before any definitive answers from his bio-testing and hypnosis regression could be found.

For more on this story, please visit the websites below (WARNING: the following websites have conflicting information).

http://www.project1947.com/forum/bctrace2.htm

http://www.ignaciodarnaude.com/ufologia/Creighton,Gordon,FSR,Biography,FSR1991V36N3.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spalding,_South_Australia

Books:

A Paranormal File. An Australian Investigator's Case Book - John Pinkney

Kapunda – “The Hallway To Hell”

Kapunda – “The Hallway To Hell”

 

Interior of the Hallway to Hell - photo by Karen Tiller

If you’ve heard the term “Hallway to Hell” then most likely, you’ve seen Haunting: Australia episode 7: The North Kapunda Hotel, an episode that almost didn’t happen. Originally the production company was looking towards Western Australia for two episode, but when I proposed South Australia, particularly the Adelaide Arcade and Kapunda, the most haunted town in Australia, they changed their minds and went with local knowledge and a hometown story.

 If you didn’t hear about the Hallway, through Haunting: Australia, then maybe you heard about due to the Ghost Crime Tour that Karen and I brought to Kapunda. The majority of ghost tour companies in this State were too scared to touch Kapunda after all the controversy with the Warwick Moss documentary that aired in 2001, and the unaired documentary that was filmed a few years later – let me tell you, the townsfolk still haven’t forgotten who was involved!

 

 Karen and I knew that there was a right way to introduce the town to having a ghost tour, so we set up a meeting between the owners of GCT and the  Light Council, and got the ball rolling. We then invited townsfolk to see what it was all about, we introduced donations to help repair the damaged cemeteries, and slowly, the Kapunda Ghost Crime Tour was not only accepted by the Kapunda Community, but local business began to see a knock on effect from tourism.
 During our time as tour guides, Karen and I entertained Government Ministers, tourists from England who had seen the TV show, visitors from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and right across Australia. We did our best to keep it factual, entertaining and spooky, and to promote the town that everyone forgets!

 No-one is quite sure what year this wing of the North Kapunda hotel was built, but it is estimated to be somewhere between 1848 and 1855. It may have been earlier than 1848 though and built as part of the workers accommodation around the town by the North Kapunda Mining Company. The same company built the original structure that became the North Kapunda Arms Hotel, that in 1865, Mr Crase would build his new hotel around, and reopen as the North Kapunda Hotel.

Behind the scenes photo of Haunting: Australia - photo Karen Tiller

 The downstairs section of the hallway in 1865 contained the first official office of the newly formed Kapunda Council, until they moved to bigger premises on the Clare Road. There were also two large, ornate rooms used by Jenkins and Coles bursars who dealt with the horse sales that were held at the rear of the hotel.

During the late 1880’s, the upstairs section of the hallway was known as “The Bachelor’s Hall”, the following is a poem penned about it by one of its inhabitants 

Bachelor's Hall.

By H. C. DODGE.

Hurrah ! hurrah for Bachelor's Hall;

The Queen's away and I'm monarch of all;

I don't have to hang up my coat or my hat,

And when I get lonely I talk to the cat.

I come when I like, and I go when I choose.

The finest cigars help me scatter the blues;

 No bundles I carry and nothing I buy;

There's no one to care about-only big “I”

 I revel in wildest confusion around;

There isn't a thing in its place to be found;

 My books and newspapers, they litter the room

That' hasn't for weeks seen the sight of a broom.

There's clothing or something on every chair;

My bed's never made, but it's little I care;

I sleep like a top, for there's no one to call

I take solid comfort in Bachelor's Hall.

I've used all the dishes and now it's my fate

To eat, when I'm home, on the back of a plate;

I'm learning to cook, but, alas. I confess

I choose to go hungry than, swallow the mess.

But, Bachelor's Hall with its comfort and quiet,

Is almost too spooky for regular diet;

No children live in it to welcome their dad,

No supper is waiting, no wife-O, so glad.

No! Nothing but ghosts of the loved ones away

Inhabit this tomb where alone I must stay,

Compelled to break silence by having a chat

With my woeful companion, the strange acting cat.

O, gladly I'll yield my crown sceptre and all

The Kingly delights of a Bachelor's Hall

To the Queen of the Home when she comes with her train

To wisely and lovingly over me reign.

First Published in The Kapunda Herald - Tuesday 7 August 1888, page 6

The Bachelor’s Hall saw its own scandal in the 1885 when three of its inhabitants found themselves facing the magistrate at the Kapunda Courthouse for disturbing the peace.

 Murray Thomson, Robert Anderton and James Shakes Jnr. Faced the magistrate on May 12^th, with Thomson and Anderton represented by Mr Glynn, and Shakes represented by Mr Benham.

 The men had been charged because someone had been firing guns in Franklin Street at about 10 past three in the morning.

Exterior - Hallway To Hell - Kapunda - photo: Allen Tiller

 The evening of the event, many people had been in town to see the bellringers entertainment, and had then retired to the North Kapunda Hotel for a supper put on by Mr Crase, which included entertainment including sing-alongs and speeches. The bar itself was closed, but the party went on in the commercial room and on the balcony.

 More than 125 gun shots were heard in Franklin Street in about a 10 minute time frame. The police tried to frame the defendants as being the guilty parties, but witnesses declared they had seen Mr Thomson in a room upstairs, light a candle and look out the window in his night clothes at the ongoing disturbance below.

 Mr Shakes wasn’t even within the town boundaries when the incident happened, so the case fell apart, instead, the Magistrate went after Mr Crase, under the guise of the act happening outside his hotel, he would be responsible for the people there. Mr Benham quickly shot down this argument as Mr Crase was entertaining upstairs privately, and may not have known who these people were, nor had they been inside his hotel drinking.

 The case was eventually thrown out of court.

Interior - Hallway to Hell - Kapunda - photo: Karen Tiller

 Interestingly though, the story that circulated through the town was slightly different to the story that surfaced in court. It would seem a number of young men had been drinking in the hotels, and had gone to the bellringers event. After the event they began walking the town trying to entertain themselves. 
 About 15 of these young men were heard in Main Street, and were asked to move on by William Thomas when they congregated in front of his bookshop, it was within the next hour the gun shots occurred in Franklin Street, which may have come about because these young men were refused entry in the North Kapunda Hotel.

Mickey Finn

Mickey Finn

Port Adelaide, South Australia was a very busy place in the early days of Adelaide, one where some sailors, who had just spent years at sea, would jump ship and live a new life, in a new colony.
 This of course, would lead to a Captain needing a new crew, and if there weren’t volunteers, he would approach (or be approached) by local ‘Crimpers”, teams of men who would frequent bars and pubs looking for future crew members, whether the men wanted to be at sea or not.

 They would often use a “Mickey Finn”, or, ‘slip them mickey’ as we know it today, dropping a drug into the beer they had just bought for their next victim. Most often the barman, or publican would receive a cut of the Captains payment, or be in on it from the start. The gang would often take the sleeping man out through a secret passage down to the water, and use a longboat to take the future sailor to the waiting ship at Outer Harbour.

 The poor man, who had probably woke up with a splitting headache and hangover, would realise what had happened, and then be offered a choice.

“Swim back to shore – or sail the seas as shipmate”

In the late 1800’s, most men couldn’t swim, and with the possibility of dying at sea or being eaten by a shark, they would be forced to stay on-board until at least the next stop, which could be six months away.

 Evidence of the Crimpers tunnels were found in the burnt out ruins of the Clubhouse Hotel, in Port Adelaide. In the 1970’s, a rebuilt of the burnt out shell was undertaken, the builders were deciding on if they would keep an original fire place and chimney that had been sealed up and not seen before. When they pulled out the hearth, they discovered a few steps leading into a tunnel and small room below. The room contained a dungeon with small cells made from iron bars. The tunnel led out under the wharfs, into the Port River.

   Many people use the term “Press Gang” when referring to the action of “stealing” men to make them work at sea, but the original context of that phrase relates directly to the British Navy, with references found for “impressment” as far back as 1664.
 The slang terms “the press” or “press gang” were a shortening, or dumbing down of “Impressment”, which was literally the act of taking men into military service by force, with or without notice, and forcing them to sail on British war ships.

A write up about crimping in Port Adelaide in 1886 - http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45846364?searchTerm=port%20adelaide%20crimping&searchLimits=