Gawler Gas Works - Hidden Secrets

Gawler Gas Works

10 Seventh Street, Gawler.

[Begin Transcript]  In 1868, The Provincial Gas Company was formed to be direct competition to the South Australian Gas Company. The company’s foundation members included local Gawler businesses men James Martin and Sir Walter Duffield (CORRECTION - Walter Duffield was never knighted.). The Provincial Gas Company planned to build three gas works, one in Strathalbyn, one in Kapunda and one in Gawler.

 Parliament granted incorporation of the company in 1869, with equipment ordered from England the same year.

The Gawler Gas Works were built on 7th street, Gawler. Its fires were lit on the 10th of September 1869 with gas commencing through lines from the 14th of October 1869.

 Gawler Council did not wish to outlay money towards lamp lights within the town. It took until 1879, with the donation of a lamp for the northern end of Murray Street, from the aptly named H.E. Bright Junior for Gawler to get its first lamp. The next lamp was situated at the corner of Murray Street and Calton Road, and again was a donation, this time from James Martin. G.M. Hawkes donated a lamp for the southern intersection of Murray Street and Bridge Street.

 A man was employed in Gawler to light and extinguish the lamps. He rode a bicycle with a ladder on his shoulder. Gawler Council refused to light the gas lamps for 6 nights before, and six nights after a full moon. It also demanded all lamps to be extinguished from 10:30 pm to save money.

From 1866 until 1897 Gawler’s lamplighter was Mr Creyghton. Creyghton was replaced in 1897 after a lamp exploded, and he could not explain to the council how it occurred.  Mr Coward started as lamplight in 1898 earning 2 pounds, two shillings and 6d per month for his service. Coward served as a lamplighter in Gawler until 1909. The combined position of Nightman and Lamplighter was advertised in Gawler that same year.

 The new lamplighter D Wells faced considerable opposition from Council and was accused of not doing his job properly, with many councillors wanting the position refilled. Councillor Thorrup opposed stating that, the new lamplighter had not received much training from the previous man employed and needed more time to improve. Wells quit the position in March 1910.

Gawler South appointed its own lamplighter from 1907, Mr Michael Regan. In 1908 the position went to H. Masters.

Electricity generation came to Gawler on the 16th of June 1912. Mayor Reibech flicked the switch to turn on the new electric streetlights at the official opening on the 16th of August 1912.

The Gawler Gas Works continued production, supplying gas in the region, but with the installation of electricity in the town, the demand for gas dropped. The outbreak of World War One added further problems to the gasworks, making the supply of machinery and coal from NSW harder to come by. The Gawler Gas Works officially closed on 30th of November 1917.

  After many years of being empty, the site of the former gas works became a racing stable, with a house built on the property as well. The house was demolished in 2017.
 In 2018 the site has been made available for sale, with real estate agents, McGees property stating on their website about the site:

Approval for a modern, single-storey medical centre of 543 square metres (approx.), 51 car parks and a separate administration building of 390 sqm (approx.)

The rear former gasworks is protected under heritage laws, and can be modified for adaptive use, but must be preserved in future plans. [end transcript].

Researched, written, compiled, filmed and edited by Allen Tiller. [© 2019 – Hidden Secrets]

My thank to McGees Property: https://www.adl.mcgees.com.au/

Find out more about the sale here: https://www.adl.mcgees.com.au/buying/commercial-listings.php?sid=758667&suid=3e3cfc28967fd35712c6761ffe1f9f6e

Gawler History Team: www.gawlerhistory.com

Gawler Gas Works: https://gawlerhistory.com/Gawler_Gas_Works

Mayor Rebbeck: https://gawlerhistory.com/Rebbeck_Charles_George

Shades of Black - Book

Shades of Black

A collection of poetry, prose and short stories written by award-winning historian and paranormal investigator Allen Tiller over three decades. This collection includes many previously unpublished original works written by Allen in his early twenties.

Buy Shades of Black here:

Amazon Ebook

Amazon Books

Book Depository.

Booktopia

Paranormal Research: National Library of Australia’s TROVE (Part 1) - Basic Search

Paranormal Research: National Library of Australia’s TROVE (Part 1) - Basic Search

www.trove.nla.gov.au
Prior Posts related to this Blog:
Paranormal Research: The Manning Index of South Australian History

Trove is one of the biggest public databases in Australia, it contains more than 370 million resources, spread across ten content zones which includes: Books,  Photos, Journals, Newspapers, Government Gazettes, Music, Maps, Diaries and Letters, Archived Websites, People, and Lists.

The focus here is on content in digitised newspapers. (Trove also supplies a specific section with  information about searching newspapers.)

1. In this exercise, we are going to enter the term "Death of the Arcade Beadle" in inverted commas into the search bar. And hit enter, we can see our entry from the Manning index in slot two (see prior blog post The Manning Index <click here> )…

now let’s find it without the inverted commas. As you can see in the example below, we now have a ton of related content spread across all States and various newspapers. What we want to do now is to refine our search

Example 1

2. The easiest way to refine our search: we know that the newspaper we are looking for is from South Australia, so in the first left-hand side drop-down menu we choose South Australia – we then skip the newspapers and go straight to category – we know it’s an article, so we click that option. (see example 1)

Example 2

3. Next, we click "Decade" and scroll down to 1880-1890, which gives us 29 options of newspaper to read through, all from 1887. Our particular newspaper is second on the list, so we can click it and read it if we like. (example 2)

  From here, we can do many things, we can look through the various newspapers, most of which are the same, we could open up our search to the whole nation, which is sometimes useful because you will find that the newspapers in the state where an accident or crime happens will sanitise their stories so as not to offend the family, so an interstate newspaper may have a more in-depth story about the death or crime you are researching.

Because of the layout of Blogger, I cannot add the content of this talk in its entirety in one blog post. This transcript was originally presented as an interactive video presentation at the City Library in Adelaide and does not transcribe well to this format.

 Next week I will look at Advanced searching options on Trove.

© 2017 - Allen Tiller - originally presented by Allen Tiller as part of the 'Haunted Buildings in Adelaide' - Paranormal historian in residence project at the Adelaide City Libraries in conjunction with the City of Adelaide.

Paranormal Research: The Manning Index of South Australian History

Paranormal Research:

The Manning Index of South Australian History

http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/manning/

What is the Manning Index?

  The Manning Index is a database of South Australian history, owned by the State Library of South Australia. The Manning Index is an index of Adelaide newspapers from 1837 through to 1937, together with extracts from the published works of G.H. Manning, and essays written from 1982-2002.
It also contains a list of place names in South Australia.

The index is incredibly useful to paranormal researchers as it allows us to find significant information about crimes or deaths or facts about a location. It gives us the newspaper, the date, and the page of the newspaper so we can then go to the National Library of Australia’s, “Trove” newspapers section < https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?q= > to cross reference our research or find the article in its entirety.

  The index also overlaps with the State Library Of South Australia’s catalogue to some extent, and features many of the newspapers available in the State Library, such as: Adelaide Times, The Advertiser, The Chronicle, The Critic, Express & Telegraph, Frearson's Weekly, The Herald, Illustrated Adelaide Post, The Irish Harp, The Lantern, The Mail, The News, Observer, Register, SA Gazette & Mining Journal and the Southern Australian.

  The index is divided into four folders, which can be found in the top left-hand corner of your screen, these folders are:

1. South Australia: includes coverage of a number of 'State level' topics.
2. Adelaide: includes a number of topics which predominately relate to the city and the metropolitan area as a whole.
3. Port Adelaide:  includes references to Port Adelaide.
4. Place Names of South Australia: an alphabetical list of South Australian place names (including suburbs of Adelaide).

  Each folder contains several sub-folders, which themselves may contain more subfolders.

Some subjects are indexed extensively in more than one section. Generally, biographical references can be found on pages dealing with the place or activity a person is associated with. A few place-names also contain obituaries of people associated with the place name.

ALL place names are inverted, so 'Mount Gambier' will be found as 'Gambier, Mount'.

There are two ways to use the Manning Index:

 You have the option to search via the “Searching folder”, which allows you to search the State Library Catalogue and the Manning Index.

  If you click on the yellow folder, you will see both options. If you click on the Manning Index subfolder, you will see it takes us to a Google search engine.

  If you write Adelaide Arcade in the provided search engine, and press search, you will see that it brings up everything with the words “Adelaide” and “Arcade”.

To make your search more specific we can add inverted commas to the search; “Adelaide Arcade”. We now get three results. If you look to the right-hand side of the screen you will see a drop-down menu that says “sort by” which allows us to look at our findings via relevance or date.

  The second way to use the Manning index, assumes you know a little something about your topic already. We know that the Adelaide Arcade is in Adelaide, and is a building.

  Go to the yellow ‘Adelaide’ Folder and click it. Scroll down the list and find the subfolder, “Buildings” and click on it. Next, we see a list of buildings, written in blue.
 The Adelaide Arcade stands by itself, whereas other buildings are grouped into types. If we click the Adelaide Arcade hyperlink, we are giving a small list of pages where the Arcade is mentioned in local newspapers.

We can make note of these newspapers as a starting point for our next searchable index, the National Library of Australia’s Trove. So you can either write them down, highlight them with your mouse and copy and paste them into a Word File, or screen capture them for later reference:

Adelaide Arcade

Sketches of the Adelaide Arcade are in the Pictorial Australian in
August 1885 (supplement),
January 1886, page 12.

Also see Register,
30 April 1885, page 6g,
1, 14 and 15 December 1885, pages 7a, 4h-5b-6e and 6g, 

Express,
7 May 1885, page 4a,
12 and 14 December 1885, pages 3f and 3g,
17 December 1895, page 4c. 

"Death of the Arcade Beadle" is in the Observer,
25 June 1887, page 27a.

For more info on Geoffery Manning < Click Here>
for a photo of Geoffery Manning: <Click Here> 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2017, for the 'Haunted Buildings in Adelaide' research project at the City of Adelaide Libraries.

J.P. McGowan: “The Railroad Man”

J.P. McGowan: “The Railroad Man”

John Paterson McGowan was a South Australian born pioneer in Hollywood. Born in Terowie, South Australia, John was known professionally as J.P McGowan and acted in over 235 movies. He also directed 257 movies, wrote 31 movies and produced with his company, ‘Signal Film’ 22 movies.
 McGowan is the only Australian life member of the Screen Directors Guild.

 McGowan was born on  February 24, 1880, in the mid-north town of Terowie. His father worked on the trains there, but the family soon moved south to Islington to the railyards where his father worked as a locomotive fire-stoker and labourer.

 McGowan fought in South Africa during the Boer War, and from here was plucked to work in films in America. His first film appearance was in a 1910 silent movie called ‘A Lad From Old Ireland’. McGowan worked for Kalem Studios at this time and went on to star in and direct 33 episodes of the serial adventure movies series ‘The Hazards of Helen’.

 McGowan married Helen Holmes, and together they started their own production company ‘Signal

Films’. They had one child together before their relationship fizzled out. They divorced in 1925.

 In his later career, McGowan directed John Wayne in The Hurricane Express, a 12-movie series produced by Mascot Pictures.

McGowan served as the executive secretary to the Screen Directors Guild from 1938 until 1951 (known later as the Directors Guild of America).

McGowan suffered from heart disease in his later years. He died on 26 March 1952, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. His ashes were interred in a niche at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, California.

J.P. McGowan impressive resume on IMDB; https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0569645/

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

Bibliography

Donaldson, D., ‘The First Australian in Hollywood’, NFSA (2019), https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/first-australian-hollywood

Jaunay, G., JP (John Paterson) McGowan, (2019), http://www.jaunay.com/mcgowan.html

Worden, L., ‘J.P. McGowan, SCV Film Pioneer’(2013), https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2355.htm

The Haunts of Adelaide is 7 Years Old Today!

The Haunts of Adelaide is 7 Years Old Today!

Today, the 22nd of October 2019, marks 7 years since I began writing this blog. So to mark the occasion today, I am going to link back to the seven most popular blog posts

1. Muzyk Murder - Unfortunately the most read blog post on The Haunts of Adelaide is the story of the horrific murder of Tracy Muzyk in 1996. 

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2016/07/muzyk-murder.html

2. Para Para House - the second most popular blog post is a story of a mansion in Gawler West:

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2013/02/para-para-ghosts-of-gawler-part-6.html

3. Woodhouse Activity Centre is the third most read blog post on The Haunts of Adelaide. While the story is brief in this post, a future post or possible book story will go into greater detail about the alleged ghosts

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2014/03/woodhouse-activity-centre.html

4. A former convalescent home for children at Grange is the 4th most popular Blog. Estcourt House was built in 1883 and used as a hospital, today it is a private home.

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2013/06/estcourt-house.html

5. The Adelaide Central Markets make it into 5th spot with a ghost story about a security guard who claimed to witness strange goings-on in the Adelaide icon.

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-ghost-in-adelaide-central-markets.html

6. In the 6th spot, we have a hometown haunt: Dead Man's Pass at Gawler. I grew up playing in this reserve as a child and know its stories, its nooks and crannies, and still to this day enjoy exploring this location.

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2013/01/dead-mans-pass-ghosts-of-gawler-part-two.html

7. The seventh most read blog post is "Sinister by Design: Part 2: Carclew House". Since writing this post way back in 2012, I have visited Carclew many times and learned a great deal more about its history and alleged hauntings! look for new stories in future publications

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2012/10/carclew-house-montefiore-hill-sinister.html

A big thank you to each and every one of you that has taken the time to read, share or interact with this blog. I enjoy researching history, I enjoy telling stories, and I started writing this blog purely for my own interest, so its a blessing for me that so many people have come to read this blog.

Allen Tiller

A Ghost at Nairne

A Ghost at Nairne

 

Nairne 1910 - SLSA: [B 394]

In March 1878, the Adelaide Hills town of Nairne was beset with an unruly and persistent ghost who over several nights was terrifying local ladies. The ghost would appear in the evenings at various locations around the town surprising locals, before vanishing into the night.

One evening a group of young men set about capturing the ghost. They waited patiently for it to appear. When it did appear, the ghost seemed to be very much aware of the plans for its capture, evading the various traps put in place. The ghost was also very fast, outpacing the living. It vanished once more into the night.

 A warning was put around the town that if the ghost was captured, a harsh and severe punishment would be dealt to it. The ghost was not seen around Nairne again after the warning.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

Bibliography

'COUNTRY LETTERS.', Adelaide Observer, (16 March 1878), p. 6.

'COUNTRY CORRESPONDENCE.', South Australian Register, (14 March 1878), p. 6.

'NAIRNE, MARCH 13.', South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, (16 March 1878), p. 4