‘Beans', Bunyip, (17 October 1879), p. 2., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97222241.
This article was published on my Gawler: Colonial Athens blog in 2023. Allen Tiller
'I would like to begin by acknowledging the Kaurna people,
Traditional Custodians of the land on which we the Town of Gawler stands today
and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.'[1]
Before European settlement, the area we now identify as
Gawler was the home to the Kaurna people. The North Para, South Para and Gawler
Rivers are all sacred sites to the Kaurna mob, as is the junction of the three
rivers found at Parridla Taikondi Parank in what is now Lawrence Ave, Gawler
South.
The name Parridila Taikondi; Parri is a Kaurna word for
river and parridla means rivers. Taikondi is the Kaurna word for coming
together.[2]
Kaurna Country Map - Click here.
Town of Gawler - Local Aboriginal Culture - Click here.
Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2021
[1] Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country,
Commonwealth of Australia,
https://www.indigenous.gov.au/contact-us/welcome_acknowledgement-country.
[2] Significant Local Areas, Town of Gawler, (2020),
https://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/about-gawler/aboriginal-torres-strait-islanders/significant-local-areas.
[3] Map of Indigenous Australia, AIATSIS, (2023)m https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia.
As the proclamation, declaring South Australia a British colony was read aloud to the gathered sailors and dignitaries, John Hill raised the British Flag, thus marking his place in South Australian history for all time. He was aged 29 at the time.Deaths of Pioneers.— Our Kapunda correspondent mentions that bluff, hearty old John Hill the boatswain of the Buffalo, who hoisted the flag at Glenelg when the colony was proclaimed, died on Thursday evening, after an illness of four months. He was 77 years of age, and during his life enjoyed the very best of health until recently, when he was attacked by bronchitis. During his illness, he suffered a great deal. He leaves a widow, who is somewhat older than himself.
The original owner, and builder, of the North Star Hotel at Melrose, was William St. George. The North Star Hotel was originally licenced in 1854, operating from a simple log hut.[1] Such were the profits from his hotel, which allowed St George to build his mansion. The house featured cedar fittings throughout and was believed to be the first in South Australia to have a corrugated iron roof. Unfortunately, St. George never got to enjoy his home, as he was killed in an accident at Roseworthy.
St. George was carting furniture from Adelaide to George’s Knob, ten kilometres south of Melrose in the Flinders’ Ranges when his horses fell into an unseen railway ballast pit, toppling his cart and killing him. William St George was buried at Gawler Cemetery, which is now Pioneer Park in 1863.[2]
His house became derelict and was frequented by squatters. A 1904 newspaper article in the Evening Journal detailed graffiti on the internal walls of the house, one stated ‘I can’t sleep here tonight; this great windy house seems to haunt a fellow.”[3]Eventually, the property was purchased by J. H. Angus and became a part of the Willowie Pastoral Company. It was renovated and lived in by a pastoral overseer for the company John Ross and his wife Lyn. The house then became known as Rosslyn Estate.[5]
From the 1st of November 1920, the house was occupied by Ernest Benjamin Pitman.[6]Pitman received the property from the Soldier Settlement Branch. Soldiers who were honourably discharged from Australia’s Imperial Forces and served overseas were entitled to assistance from the South Australian Government purchased land and assisted in erecting buildings, purchasing seeds and general improvements of the property.
In his book, Ghosts and Haunting of South Australia, author Gordon de L. Marshall interviewed Keith Pitman, son of Ernest. Keith stated that in the 1920s his father first witnessed a ghost. During daylight, the ghost came out from the cellar, it was a skeleton dressed in a shroud. According to Keith, his father was sitting near a window when he witnessed the ghost walk alongside the house, through a 3000-gallon water tank, and out to a paddock, some 400 meters from the house. There it stopped.
Ernest went and investigated the location and found the remnants of an old grave, but no headstone.[7]
The family believed that another ghost haunted the old home, that of William St George. They believed St. George would open doors in the house. The family never felt uncomfortable around this ghost. Keith Pitman sold Rosslyn in 2002.[8]
The Goolwa Police Station was erected in 1859. It was designed by Colonial Architect E.A. Hamilton. The police station had its own water supply, via a well. In 1867 the courthouse was erected next door, and in 1874 a store for Aboriginals was built alongside it.[1]
The Goolwa Police Station was closed in 1993 when a new purpose-built police station was opened. At the time the Goolwa Police Station was the oldest operating police station in Australia.[2]
Goolwa Radio Alex FM run a local ghost tour every Halloween. That ghost tour takes in the old Goolwa Police Station and courthouse complex which is now the SA Coast Regional Arts Centre. During one of many tours, a person on the tour snapped a photograph of the front of the building which shows what looks to be a person looking out at them. It is claimed that no one was inside the building at the time the photograph was taken.
“The photo below was taken on a previous Ghost Tour outside the Old Police Station. Witnesses at the event insist there was no one in the doorway when the photo was taken! The figure is thought to be that of a Police Constable who drowned at the Murray Mouth in 1880.” – Radio Goolwa Alex FM[3]
The old timber signal box/switch box at Gawler Railway Station caught fire in June 2005 and was totally destroyed. It was thought to be arson, but another theory was the decades of pigeon droppings spontaneously combusted and lit the old wooden structure on fire.
