MEGAscene • Issue 4 - January 2016
SA PARANORMAL
Words and Photos by Allen Tiller A visit to the Clare valley with our good friends John & Deb from Drifter Paranormal (who are travelling the country investigating haunting phenomena) led us to Mintaro’s exceptional Georgian styled manor “Martindale Hall”. The mansion was constructed in 1879 and took two years to finish. It is built out of sandstone and has 32 rooms, including a large basement which contains seven rooms. The house was used as Mr Bowman’s own recreation home, and featured a boating lake, racecourse, cricket pitch (which saw the English 11 play on its pitch on one occasion), and a polo ground. It was also used for fox hunting and other hunting exhibitions. Its’ roof was designed to allow for the lady visitors of the house to sit upon and view the goings on of the sporting achievements of the men folk.
Martindale Hall
was purchased by Mr Bowman for 75 pounds.
The house is now a museum owned by the people of South Australia, and within its walls you can find all its original fittings and grandeur. In the billiard room stands a full It is said that Mr Bowman’s wealth was sized English Billiard table (12 ft x 6 ft). It extraordinary, and that he spared no expense is said the 1.5 tonne pool table was placed in building the house, which cost somewhere in position, then the north facing wall of the around 72 thousand pounds. The extravagance building was finished. is quite evident when visiting the mansion and its extraordinary coach house (which is In 1885, drought overtook Australia, and larger than a lot of people’s entire homes). Edmund Bowman’s finances suffered. This There are long held local legends that back was compounded further in following years in Bowman’s day, when only he and his two with a depression which lowered the price of brothers lived in the home, and later just wool, causing Mr Bowman’s finances further Edmund and his wife Annie, that Bowman had losses. These losses eventually led to the sale fourteen servants, four of which lived on site. Much like TV shows like “Downtown Abbey” or “Upstairs Downstairs” the home had areas purely for the use and movement of servants. This was a man so wealthy, he installed fully flushing toilets for his servant’s use, but insisted on using commodes for himself and his guests, which the servant’s would have to empty after each use. The White Carra Marble Fire Place in the Drawing room at Martindale Hall was entered into a competition in France, where it took first prize at a Paris exhibition in 1873 and 32