A Haunting at the Hamley Bridge Railway Station.
In 2018, the owner of the former Hamley Bridge Railwaystation, Ms Jenny Lee-Justine, decided to sell her property. News coverage inthe Advertiser newspaper claimed the home was haunted!
The original Hamley Bridge railwaystation was further north of the 1880-constructed station located at 9Railway Terrace.Originally, the station was known as Alma Station, but this caused confusion andnumerous complaints were received, which resulted in a name change to HamleyBridge Station.
The foundation stone for the Hamley Bridge over the RiverLight was laid by Mrs Hamley on Saturday, 25th of July 1868.His Excellency, Lieut-Colonel Hamley, Acting Governor at the time, and a smallgroup of Government Ministers travelled from Adelaide to witness the foundationstone laying.
In 1898, 28-year-old William Woods was killed at HamleyBridge Station. Woods had previously worked at Gawler Railway Station, close towhere he lived and was described as 'a careful and conscientious servant of theRailway Department.’
In December 1910, the guard of the 3 o’clock train fromHamley Bridge to Port Pirie, while readying his train for departure, noticedsomething under the train between the station and carriages.Upon closer inspection, he discovered the mangled body of a male. M.C. Hannam ofGawler was called for. Papers on the victim identified him as James Ried. Itwas believed Reid had fallen under the train and lost consciousness, the trainbeing readied for departure had moved further along the platform, dismembering Reid'sbody and killing him.
The Hamley Bridge station closed in 1984 and became privateproperty. The owner of the property in 2018, Jenny Lee-Justine, claimed that sheonce had a lady stay with her in the former railway building who was woken by aghost. The ghost was wearing a railway uniform and carrying a lantern. Ms.Lee-Justine had a few photographs of railway workers at the station from 1911from which they were able to identify the ghost.
Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2023
[1] 'Latest News.', Evening Journal, (14 April 1869), p. 2.
[2] 'TO CORRESPONDENTS.', The Express and Telegraph, (15 January 1870), p. 2.
[3] 'GENERAL NEWS.', The Express and Telegraph, (22 July 1868), p. 2.
[4] 'NEWS OF THE WEEK', South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, (25 July 1868), p. 10.
[5] 'HAMLEY BRIDGE ACCIDENT.', The Express and Telegraph, (20 January 1898), p. 3.
[6] 'MAN KILLED AT RAILWAY STATION.', Daily Herald, (22 December 1910), p. 6.
[7] 'FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.', The Advertiser, (22 December 1910), p. 6.
[8] Lydie Kellner, ‘Historic railway station-turned-home for sale in Hamley Bridge.’, The Advertiser, (Feb 2018), https://www.realestate.com.au/news/hi....
