The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 14 December 1929, page 14

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141390778

AUSTRALIAN GHOSTS.

By Ernest

rpHOUGH from time immemorial ghost^ stories usually have been wnnoowfatd

with ivy-mantled, crumbled ruins, lordly

Tudor manor houses, or solitary inns on

desolate, wind-swept moors, these settings

do not appear to be essential, and Europeenjoys no monopoly of tales of the supernatural.

In Australia, despite the lack of such con

ventional mfces en scene there is no dearthof weird tales and there are few who havebeen brought up in the bush but can recall having heard uncanny stories of ranges

where cattle would never camp; of hauntedhuts, or of dismal swamps, "silent amid

snags of rotting trees," supposed to havebeen frequented by that terror of .our child

hood's days, the bunyip.But besides such unsubstantial yarns,

there are several well-authenticated tales

of apparitions, that, were one to eliminate

the probability of some undiscovered ex

planation, would almost induce anyone with

a vein of superstition to believe that oc

casionally "graves stood tenantless and thesheeted dead did squeak and gibber" as

they were said to have done in Rome beforethe death of Csesar.

Possibly Australia's best-known tale ofthe supernatural, is the earliest one, thatof Fisher's ghost, in the appearance of whichmany early residents of Mew South Walesimplicitly believed. Though the story hasbeen told often and John Lang has included it in a collection of stories of theearly days of Australia, possibly it is

known to few of the present generation.

One night in the 'twenties of the last

century a struggling farmer named Farley,

going back from Sydney market to hishome near Campbelltown, saw Fisherseated on the fence beside the road. Farleywas amazed, as he knew that Fisher, a well,to-do emancipist, - bad returned to Englandsome months previously, having left the

management of his farm in the hands of a

neighbour, George Worral, who had just an

nounced that Fisher had instructed him tosell .everything .and remit the money toEngland.

„

"Hallo! Mr. Fisher," Farley called out,"I thought you were home in England."Receiving no'reply, he became frightened,

and, whipping up his horse, drove on. Onreaching home Farley said to his wife—'"Fveseen either old Fisher or his ghost." Hiswife ridiculed the idea, accused ner husbandof having taken too much liquor, and admonished him on no account to mention it

to anyone lest they should say he hadbeen drunk. Farley, however, insisted uponthe truth of hiB story.

A few days after, when again returningfrom he had given a lift to two

from .market, he had given a lift to twoacquaintances, one a constable and theother an assigned servant in the employof one of the Cox family. When theyarrived at the spot where Farley had seen

the figure before, the three men were astonished to find it again there and in the same

posture as Farley had described. Emboldened by the presence of his companions, Farley, handing the reins to ona of them, gotout of the dray and walked over to the

mysterious figure. Approaching it, henoticed a gash on the forehead.

"Are you alive or dead?" he asked, but,as on the first occasion, got no reply. Slip

ping up to Hie figure, he courageouslystretched out his hand to touch him on theshoulder. To his amazement the figure badvanished and bis band encountered emptyair. He broke some branches from a sapling, placed them opposite where Hie spectrehad been, and coolly taking out his knife kecut a notch on tbh rail where Fisher appeared to have been sitting.

Satisfied that there had beefi foul play, thethree men drove into Campbelltown, whereFarley informed the Superintendent of Constables of his experience. This officer, knowing Farley's reputation for truthfulness,

next morningtook some blacks to the spotwhere Farley asserted he had seen Fisher'sapparition. Bloodstains were found on thefence and marks of a body'having been

dragged away. The blacha ran the tracksto the edge of a swamp, about three-quarters of a mile distant. It was dragged,when a body was found, which proved to beFisher's.

George Worral, the dead man's manager,was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentencedto death on strong circumstantial evidence.In a section of the community much in

dignation was roused that a man should

have been condemned to death on evidence

purely circumstantial, but the justness of

the jury's verdict was proved by a con

fession made to the chaplain by the unhappy,wretch just before his execution.

An uncanny story comes from Launceston, Tasmania Home years ago;a well

known Victorian civil servant, whose widow

BtlU resides in a Melbourne suburb, had©ccaaion towaae Borne months in the town.Asneither nenor his wifecared for hotellife, he .rented a house. A moid had beenengaged, and the couple had just becomeaccustomed to their new quarters whenone evening the-maid, as she Was about toenter liie dining-room. with ike eveningmeal, emitted a shriek, dropped the tar,and collapsed in a' dead faint.

With some difficulty her master and nils

tress succeeded in bringing the girl round;but die was very agitated, and kept repeating, "I won't Btay here. 1 mnst go home."At length, when she had become somewhatc&lmer, she told themthat,just as Bhe.wasabout to go into the diningproom, ehe'liad

glanced down the passage. The door of a

room at the end, which was usually keptshut, was .open, and within die had seen

distinctly die figure of a little, old man,

distinctly die figure of a little, old man,with a face like a withered apple. He was

wearing a black skull cap, ana was writingin a book, at the same time making extraordinary grimaces.

As the giri insisted on leaving at once,a cab waa procured, and she was senthome.

The couple did not attach much Import-'

mnce to the girl's tale, thinking it had beenmerely an hallucination, and engagedanother girl. For some days everythingwent well, till

one evening the new maid,just as the first had done, shrieked,droppedthe tray, and also'fell fainting in the psis-'

saga On coming to, die tola exactly thesame story as the first one had told, andher description of die man whom she as

serted she had seen corresponded in everydetail with that given by her predecessor.

Next morning Mr. —-— wait to the

agent from whom he had taken the house,

and demanded some explanation. The agent,who had come out of bis office, said:—"You've come just at the right time, forthe owner happens to be here/' and, ushering the indignant tenant into Ms office, heintroduced mm to his landlord. The owner

admitted that the house was rumoured tobe haunted by a forma* occupant, Captain8——. The captain, who had been an en

thusiastic botanist, while living in thehouse had been compiling a work on hisfavourite subject, and, when perplexed, was

in the habit of grimacing in the manner

described by the two maids. Their description of his appearance the landlord also ad

mitted was correct..

'

It may be of interest to state that CaptainS-—, who had served -in South Africaunder Sir Harry Smith, waa responsiblefor the introduction into Australia of seve

ral plants from that country. Includedamongst these waS the boxthorn so oftenutilised for hedges.

Douhtlesc some older readers of "TheAustralasian" have heard of the hauntedwell at Port Macquarie (N.6.W.). There,though no human shape appeared, mysterious sounds,-similar to drum taps, usedto issue from a well in the precincts of theold prison. .These mournful, sounds were

invariably repeated 13 times, and. on occa

sion they were so distinct that several

women in the township became hysterical.The story went -that the tapping was produced by the ghost of an old reprobatecalled TLennedy, who had spent much timein the prison for drunkenness. The reason

why his spirit should have haunted a wellin preference to a public-house, just as easy

of access, has never been satisfactorily ex

plained, nor, it must .be admitted, has thecause of the extraordinary sounds. Fortunately for the nerves, of the residents ofthe old-world township, these mysteriousnoises have long ago ceased.

Another extraordinary tale from NewSouth Wales is of the ghost of PaddyWelsh's wife at the Nine-mile Bend fromTolarno, on the Darling. It was related tome by a well-known and much-respected

me a

Sioneer of the district. In the 'seventies

lere were a stockyard and a deserted hutat the bend. A young man, W——, ran of

a physician, had recently arrived on a

station on the river to acquire colonial ex

perience. Shortly after his arrival he was

sent to take a small mob of cattle to a

squatter in the neighbourhood. Withnight a bank of clouds that had been wortiog up

till day broke in a heavy-downpour,and. having heard that there was an oldstockyard and a hut at Tolarno. he headedthe mob for the bend. When he had yarded

up his cattle and unsaddled and hobbledhis horse he took shelter in the hut. Hewas agreeably surprised to find that some

one, possibly a passing swagman, had stored

dry firewood in the nut. Having made a

fire and boiled his quart pot for a muchneeded drink of tea, he unrolled his blankets and turned in. For some unaccountable reason he conld not sleep, and lay

watching the fire, which he was too lazy toreplenish, gradually die down. Suddenlyhe was struck by the actions of his dog.

Coming over beside him, the poor brutecrouched down, whining and shivering, as

if in a paroxysm. .Thinking it might havebeen, poisoned, young W arose and

threw some bark 'on the fire. As it biased

up he was amazed to see a woman in a

print dress seated on an empty case beforethe fire. He spoke to her, but no sooner

had he done^so than the figure vanished.

Though W was by no means of a ner

vous temperament, this was too much for

him. Rushing from the hut, followed bythe terrified dog, he ran for a mile before

he halted. He spent the night in a hollow

tree.

Next evening when he had delivered thecattle their owner inquired where he hadcamped the previous night.

"At the Nine-mile Bend from Tolarno.""Yon didn't camp in the hut, did you?"

asked the squatter.

"Yes," replied W .

"Well, you're the first man who ever

camped there who hasn't pitched some yarnabout having seen a ghost.""Well," said W , "I didn't intend to

mention it, but now you've brought up thesubject, I may say I did see a woman in a

print dress." And he described his un

canny experience.

"Well, I'm full up of these yarns. ThereHbe no more of them, for I'll have the placepulled down," his host exclaimed.

A few days later when two of the handswere sent out to demolish the old hut theyfound under the flooring the skeleton of

a woman. It was clothed in a print dress,and was later identified as that of thewife of Paddy Welsh, who with his wifehad occupied the hut some years before.

A great number of ghost stories come

from Tasmania, and although many of them

^

tsmiroeitjw belng jnerely 'Wh

» as dreams are made of, two are certainly, to say tire least, peculiar. One is

say peculiar. One isrelated of a xbofleaa, tumble-down twoatoriedfaonse facing tire New^ Norfolkroad, withita back dose to ft peed-grownportion of thfc Dei-wentsome Mies AboveBridgewater. A 'more depressing IooIomplace as ! last saw it, towards the Ondlofa dull, gpeywinter's 'day, it would be hardto conceive,

_Many years ago a newly mar

ried couple lived in thia niw rained abode.Fortune seemed^to smile on the pair. The-young "farmer was. prospering: owing tothe enormous demand for all Tasmaniahproduce created by thenumberfe of minersOn the Victorian goldfickU. and his beautiful young wife was moretnan content Torshe knew that she soon was to 'fulfil

awife's highest duty.' Suddenly the husbandbecame insanely jealous. Whether therewas any real cause for iris doubt ofhiswife sa fidelity is not known, But incessantbrooding on tbepoBsible paternity oftheexpected child drove the unfortunate manto frenzy. One night, some weeks beforethe infant waaio have seen the light, becut. his beautiful -young..wife's throat.Stealthily carrying the body down to an

outhouse, he out it in the woolbale. which,having weighted with stones, he sankamong the reeds. -

At that period - most of the merchandise from New Norfolk was carried bywater, and in addition to the regularsteamers, several small craft were en

gaged in the trade. It was not long afterthe murder before the crews of the riverboats were all talking of a mysteriousblue light that was. to be aeea boveringover the .reeds in the vicinity of thehonse.' An astute constable, connectingthiB story with the disappearance of the

young woman, induced the authorities ' tohave the river- dragged. The corpse of {heluckless wife was discovered. On -beinginterrogated, the husband confessed theterrible crime and was executed in Hobart Gaol. When a boy I have heard fin

old captain of one of the New -Norfolksteamers assert that he often had seen a

bluish ball of light hovering over thereeds as he passed .up and down, theriver.

Another story from Tasmania relatesto the 3——— family ghost.: Zn the'thirties the original B——— took up landin the Midlands.

.In -throe early days

squatting was often a] hard straggle, andat first B—— and his young wife resided ina house but little better than the one provided for Ins hands. As the flock -increased, however; and th$ outlay inseparable from taking up Virgin country ceased,the owner began building a fine stonehouse, which still stands, thoughnolonger in the possession of the family.

Mrs. B—>—- was anticipating the birth

of an heir to. the estate, and asshewatched the building progress she yearnedthat her "child shoutd be born in the new

bouse instead of in the unpretentious cot

tage down by the river.,a

,

The desire soon possessed her entirely.

To gratify ber, though the building had not

been quite completed, she was installed

in one of the rooms, find there her twinswere born. In giving' them birth she loftt

her life. Though many years hgve elapsedsince the house passed from the possession

of her family, the ghost of-the ambitious

young wife is said to linger still in thehome die so ardently desired to occupy.Several guests of the present owner mam

tain they have seen the figure of a womanin a wrapper standing-by the window ofthe room in which she died,*'

while othersassert they have seen it ascending thestaircase leading to an attic.

Old residents of Carlton will recall' <h«

Wend of the Grattan street ghost. In the'fitties,

at the corner of Grattan and Jjei

cester streets, there was a large area of

land enclosed :

hy a high wooden fence.

On* it the 'toverlanders" used_ to yard theircattle before taking them into the sale

yards. In those days many of the droverscarried considerable sums of money, belonging to the men who sent them out

to purchase fat stock. In a house elofce

by a drover was found murdered, and

there are old residents who will tell youthat they recall the time when manypeople in the locality would not venture

out alone at night, especially when therewas a bright moon, as the rumour was

current that at such times the ghost of

the murdered man, booted_

and spurredand stockwhip in band, might he seen

wandering up and down.