A Haunting at the Mount Remarkable Hotel - Part 1.
The Mount Remarkable Hotel can be found on Stuart Street inMelrose, South Australia. According to historian Bob Hoad; the original hotelwas constructed in 1857 and was known as the Mount Remarkable Hotel until1872. It was then known as Moran’s Hotel between 1873 and 1920 when itreverted to the Mount Remarkable Hotel.
Melrose promotes itself as the oldest town in FlindersRanges. Prior to European settlement, the area was home to the Doora people. By1880, the Doora had been all but wiped out by Europeans. The first European tothe area was explorer Edward John Eyre who named Mount Remarkable in 1840.
Copper was discovered in the area with mining operationscommencing in 1846 and closing in 1851. The mines produced no lodes worthy ofcontinued mining. Despite this, the mines were opened again in 1916 -1917.
The Mount RemarkableHotel was completed in 1857, making it the second oldest in the town after theNorth Star Hotel (completed in 1854.) The hotel was opened by Thomas Moran afterhe retired from the Mounted Police.
Thomas William Moran was born in Dorrington WestmeathEngland in 1816. He joined the 11th Devonshire Regiment in AthloneBarracks. He served in Kent before his detachment was sent to Tasmania, thenAdelaide, then Sydney. He quit the military in New South Wales, where he stayedfor a short while before relocating to Adelaide to work as a reporter. Hebecame friends with Captain Bagot of the Kapunda Mines, who had him admitted tothe Mounted Police Force. He served at Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, on the YorkePeninsula in the capacity of Corporal under Inspector Tolmer. Both Tolmer andMoran were involved in quelling ‘black uprisings’ in country districts.
Moran retired from the Mounted Police atMount Remarkable building a hotel. He also took up farmland in the areaerecting one of the district's first woolsheds. After retiring from hotel life,he purchased a farm in Wongyarra, where he lived until his death in 1904.
Ghosts
It is alleged that the Mount Remarkable hotel is haunted by numerous ghosts, and possibly a poltergeist. There are several recorded deaths at the hotel that could beutilised as possible evidence for the alleged hauntings. In the same instance,some of the alleged hauntings, have no correlating historical evidence, whichcould perhaps be used to reclassify the haunting as an urban legend. I will bepresenting some of the historical documentation over the coming weeks. Then theghost stories at the end of the series.
Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2023
[1] J.L. (Bob) Hoad, Hotels and Publicans in South Australia, (1986), p. 389.
[2] Melrose, Sydney Morning Herald, (2004), https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/melrose-20040208-gdkqk3.html.; 'A NORTHERN IDENTITY.', The Laura Standard, (21 May 1915), p. 3.
[3] 'A CHEQUERED CAREER.', The Laura Standard, (19 August 1904), p. 3.
Photo: The Wenmouth Collection: Melrose [B 64310/290], StateLibrary of South Australia, (1969), https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/re....
