A Timeline of events at St. Johns

1849:

• ·       Government grants land 5kms southeast of Kapunda to Catholic Church.
• ·       Father Fallon ordained
• ·       July 1849 Father Fallon appointed to St. Johns
• ·       Father George Michael Williams was born in Mauritius

1850:

• ·       2nd April The foundation stone of St John the Evangelist Church was laid by  Bishop Francis Murphy
• ·       presbytery built

1854:

·       30 April 1854 that the church was finished and officially opened

1857

·       Father James Martin was born in County Galway Ireland

1859:

• ·       School opened

1860:

• ·       25th March Death of Father Fallon, died suddenly aged 40
• ·       Father Michael Ryan appointed parish priest
• ·       All church services moved to a small barn on site of future St. Roses Church Kapunda

1861:

• ·       Lower cemetery opened
• ·       "St. Johns church" graveyard close

1862:

• ·       13th July The Saint Rose of Lima foundation stone was laid in Kapunda
• ·       8th Feb First church service held at St. Roses's newly completed church

1864:

• ·       3rd April Father Ryan performs the wedding ceremony for Horace McKinley and Martha Craig
• ·       10th Oct. Father Carew performs the wedding ceremony for Joseph J. Walsh and M.A. Carley

1865:

• ·       24 August Death of Father Michael Ryan who died from apoplexy
• ·       Father Jeremiah Moynahan appointed parish priest

1867:

·       St Johns post office opened

·       21st December death of Father Jeremiah Moynahan

1868:

• ·       Sisters of St.Joseph start teaching at school
• ·       13 April death of Father Thomas Hyland

1869:

·       presbytery converted to a convent and school

1878:

·  Eugene McMahon Glynne was born in County Galway Ireland

1879:

·       post office closed

 1881:

·       New school built in Kapunda - children from St. Johns school transferred to a new school

1890:

·       James Martin becomes ordained priest and arrives in South Australia

1891:

·       Father Fallon's remains removed from the graveyard and re-interred in Cemetery

·       Ruby Olive Murray Bland was born near " Lake Victoria"

1895:

·       Act proclaimed by State Children's Council to place Catholic State Children in private institutions if they were away from Adelaide.

1897:

·       Mary MacKillop arrives at St. Johns to oversee renovations - stays 3 months

·       Church site opens as Girls Reformatory under the supervision of Sisters of St. Joseph

·       4th June Mary MacKillop installs Miss Mary O'Brien (Sister Helena) as first head matron of Reformatory

1899:

• ·       reformatory extended to include cells

1901:

• ·       Annual Council report states that the reformatory is kept in splendid order, girls well cared for, receiving good religious, moral and practical training.

 1903:

News Story: 'GIRLS' HOME (ST. JOHN'S), KAPUNDA.', Kapunda Herald, (27 February 1903), p. 3., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110275217.

1908:

• ·       June Sister Helena transferred to Victoria
• ·       Miss Mary Coxs (Sister Berchams) appointed Head Matron

1909:

• ·       Aug: Father O’Reilly approves the closure of reformatory
• ·       15th Nov. Ruby Bland admitted to the Kapunda Hospital with a suspected stone in the bile duct from the liver

• ·       Ruby Bland was operated on by Dr Eugene McMahon Glynn, head of surgery at Kapunda Hospital
• ·       16th Nov Mr Gray, the Secretary of the Children's Department arrives at the Reformatory. announces in the "Kapunda Herald" that St. John's reformatory will be closing.
• ·       28th Nov Death of Ruby Bland from Cholithiasis Operative Shock in Kapunda hospital
• ·       29th Nov. Reformatory closed by Archbishop O'Reilly
• ·       29th Nov. Ruby Bland buried at St. Johns cemetery
• ·       Girls transferred to Redruth girl’s reformatory in Burra

1914:

·       death of Dr Eugene McMahon Glynn aged 48 years

1920:

·       13th Feb: Death of Monsignor George Michael Williams (aged 71)

1921

·       Jan: Death of Father James Martin

1936:

·       Headstone erected on Father Fallon's grave

·       4th Oct Headstone revealed by Father Killian

1938:

·       Window removed and placed in St. Rose's church Kapunda

 2001:

·       Sept. Warwick Moss releases documentary "Kapunda: most haunted town in Australia"

2002:

·       Catholic church demolishes Reformatory after constant vandalism

·       Peter Swann, St. Johns Curator, finds a grave monument to Ruby Bland buried under a pile of dirt and begins restoration of her grave

·       Vandals break Father Fallon’s gravestone

2010

·       Curator, Peter Swann erects a memorial to children buried at St. Johns

·       Blessed Mary MacKillop is Canonised to be Australia's first Saint

2011

·       Trees along the fence line, near the entrance are felled

·       Broadband lines are laid along the reformatory road from Moppa to Kapunda

2012

·       New trees planted along the front fence line

·       Graves in rear section restored

2013

·       University of Adelaide Students begin study into the site, including mapping of the former graveyard, Church, and presbytery. They find several interesting artifacts and raise a few new puzzles about the usage of the site.

·       New rear entry gate is installed by the Church, plus fence repairs

2014

·       Father James Martins Headstone Stolen for 3rd Time

·       Ghost Crime Tours at the request of Allen and Karen Tiller begin raising money to help Cemetery rejuvenation.

·       Allen Tiller assists with documenting a Flinders University dig of the St Johns Church ruins.

2015

·       restoration begins on headstones situated in the northwest corner

 

​

 

 

 Many thanks to local historian Peter Swann for all the information he has passed on to me over the years.

Allen Tiller

(please note, this is an edited version of the time line first published in 2010, then updated periodically on the Eidolon Paranormal website - corrections and omissions have been made since that time.)