Kapunda General Cemetery - Clare Road.

Entrance to the Kapunda General Cemetery on Clare Road, circa 1900 [SLSA B 69054/84]

A closer look at the Kapunda General Cemetery Commital Service Shelter within the cemetery ground, circa 1900 SLSA [B 69054/83]

  St John’s Catholic Cemetery – Kapunda: 
Burial Records: Old and Early Section:
 T-Z

Researched and compiled by Peter Swann

I would like to acknowledge the support of local historian and former caretaker of St John’s Cemetery, Peter Swann for supplying the cemetery records, and his ongoing support.

Surname                        Christian Names                        Age            Date of Death       Row/ Location

  St John’s Catholic Cemetery – Kapunda: 
Burial Records: Old and Early Section:
 O-S

Researched and compiled by Peter Swann

I would like to acknowledge the support of local historian and former caretaker of St John’s Cemetery, Peter Swann for supplying the cemetery records, and his ongoing support.

     Surname                        Christian Names                  Age            Date of Death       Row/ Location

  St John’s Catholic Cemetery – Kapunda: 
Burial Records: Old and Early Section:
 J-N

Researched and compiled by Peter Swann

I would like to acknowledge the support of local historian and former caretaker of St John’s Cemetery, Peter Swann for supplying the cemetery records, and his ongoing support.

Surname                        Christian Names                        Age            Date of Death       Row/ Location

  St John’s Catholic Cemetery – Kapunda: 
Burial Records: Old and Early Section:
 D-H

Researched and compiled by Peter Swann

I would like to acknowledge the support of local historian and former caretaker of St John’s Cemetery, Peter Swann for supplying the cemetery records, and his ongoing support. 

     Surname                      Christian Names                      Age            Date of Death       Row/ Location

St John’s Catholic Cemetery – Kapunda: Burial Records: Old and Early Section: A-C

 St John’s Catholic Cemetery – Kapunda: 

Burial Records: Old and Early Section:

 A-C

Researched and compiled by Peter Swann

I would like to acknowledge the support of local historian and former caretaker of St John’s Cemetery, Peter Swann for supplying the cemetery records, and his ongoing support.

 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.)

 

 Scotty's Grave - Allendale North

If you are a taphophile or into geocaching, then chances are you’ve probably already come across “Scotty’s Grave” just north of the Wheatsheaf Hotel at Allendale (near Kapunda).

This unusual little grave, set back in a farmer’s field, with its own access gate cut into the boundary fence, has been a talking point in the local community since 1865 when the first headstone was installed.

There is many a legend about “Scotty”, who he was, and how he came to be buried in the field, some of the stories, no doubt, have been exaggerated in retellings in the local watering hole down the road over the past hundred and sixty-five plus years.





One legend tells of Scotty being in his native Scotland and falling madly in love with a girl, but being forced to immigrate to Australia. He arrived in the Kapunda region and could be heard often in the Wheatsheaf Hotel, singing about his lost love.

One day, the publican entered the bar after being away for some time. He entered with a new wife, who turned out to be Scotty’s long lost love from back in Scotland.

Scotty and his love hatched a plan to run away together and met at the back of the hotel where he had hitched two horses. They rode away together into the night, but Scotty’s horse threw him off, and he died on impact.

His long lost love rode back to the hotel, with her new husband, none the wiser, and the following day, when Scotty was discovered, she took it upon herself to oversee his burial.

The truth about Scotty’s Grave is that “Scotty” is actually a man named James Burnett who was a local Shepard in the Allendale North area. While trying to cross the River Light at Baker’s Flat, on the 2 August 1846, he slipped from his horse and drowned.

The reason he was buried where he is, was stated in The Advertiser in 1903 as being “where Scotty’s hut was located when he was alive”.

His headstone was erected in 1863 via subscription from locals, advertised in the Kapunda Herald. W Flavel, thoughtfully, copied the inscription on the headstone in 1865 for prosperity’s sake.
An ornate fence was erected in 1885, cast in Kapunda at Mellors, and over the years there have been numerous restorations and upkeep projects of the grave.

Believe it or not, there are actually two graves at Scotty’s Grave Road, lying next to Scotty is a man by the name Carrol, who died two years earlier in 1844 – not much, if anything is really known about this particular gentleman.

Sources: 

'The Saturday Express.', The Advertiser, (31 Jan, p. 903), p.6.
'Current Comment.', Kapunda Herald, (18 Jan 1935), p. 3.
Allendale North Scotty’s Grave, Grave Secrets, http://headstones2.gravesecrets.net/allendale-north-scottys-grave.html

First published on The Haunts of Adelaide 19 April 2016. © Allen Tiller

 North Brighton Cemetery

Harold James Buckingham Tremaine and Florence May Tremaine (nee Hazel).

Recently my wife and I visited the graves of my great-grandparents Harold and Florence Tremaine.

 

Florence May Hazel was a daughter of William James Hazel (1860-1932) and Harriet Emma Hazel (nee Cole) (1863- 1937)

Florence was born at Hawker’s Creek, South Australia.

 

Daryl, Harold, Florence and Audrey Tremaine 1959 at Kapunda

Harold James Buckingham Tremaine was a son of John James Buckingham Tremaine (1854 - 1899) and Maria Lucretia Joan Tremaine (nee Datson) (1859-1890)

The Tragic Death of James Bernard Meggins

The Tragic Death of James Bernard Meggins

In 1868, Daniel Meggins (sometimes misspelled Megins), a farm hand at St John's, near Kapunda, married Margaret Haughey at St Johns Roman Catholic Church. The couple had ten children together, 4 girls and 6 boys:

Catherine Meggins (1870–1942)

James Bernard Meggins – (1871–1886)

John Daniel Meggins (1873–1948)

William Meggins (1876–1876)

William Thomas Meggins (1877–1939)

Mary Ann Bernard Megins1879–1973

Rosey Maud Meggins (1882–1885)

Walter Edward Meggins (1884–1885)

James Edward Meggins (1886–1974)

Gertrude Johanna Meggins (1890–1922)

When he was old enough, James, the eldest son of the couple, took a job carting hay in the local area. On December 2^nd, 1886, he was between Tarlee and Kapunda loading hay onto his cart when tragedy struck.

 A storm had brewed, and with it came lightning. One bolt of Lightning directly hit the cart at about 2pm, incinerating the cart, killing both of James’ horses, and James.

 Young James, just 15 years old, was later buried in St Johns Cemetery, near Kapunda.

 It is not known what became of the Meggins family, but 70 years later, Margaret Meggins name appears in the newspapers of the time. A large gathering of 500 people was at St Johns Cemetery to witness the blessing of the ceremony, and the dedication of a new gravestone for Father John Fallon, the first Parish Priest of the area.
 Mrs Meggins was 93 years old on her visit, and stated in the papers, that she remembers Father Fallon very well.

One has to wonder if while there, she wept over the grave of her oldest son, James.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018
Photographs by Allen Tiller © 2011

Bibliography

1886 'THUNDERSTORMS IN THE COUNTRY.', South Australian Register, 3 December, p. 5. , viewed 26 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45848707

1936 'Pilgrimage to Hallowed and Historic Ground', Southern Cross, 9 October, p. 15. , viewed 26 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167080745

Ancestry.com. Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

St John's Cemetery Clean Up April 1st 2017