Last weekend I had the opportunity to take myself to Campbelltown on a ghost hunt with the crew from SIGHT ( Sydney Investigation Ghost Tours )
I visited Quondong Cottage -
St Patrick's, as the building was originally known, was the first catholic school in Australia to be built from private subscription. The Catholic Church acquired the land from Mary Shiels. It had a gabled hall of plastered brick. The veranda across the front was added later, as were the urns on the round-topped pilaster-buttresses. It was built in 1840 and opened on St Patrick's Day.
It remained in use as a school until 1914 when Father James Dunne opened St John's Primary School in Lindsay Street. It was then sold to Mrs Keihone who had it converted to a dwelling, and wishing to give it a truly Australian title, renamed it Quondong. It appears to be named after a Kurrajong tree at the front which was mistakenly believed to be a native Quandong tree.
Local legend has it that at one time it was divided down the centre and that one side was a Catholic school and the other an Anglican school. However no evidence had been found to support this story. Mrs Keihone sold it to her nephew William Thomas Bourke who resided there till the 1950's, after which, Mrs Cyril Seagal of Wilton owned it till 1991.
Quondong is now the Visitor Information Centre and has information on local attractions and events. Also available is a wide range of maps, brochures, historical society publications, gifts and souvenirs. The Centre also features a heritage rose garden and a replica school room.
We spent about an hour in the building having turns in different rooms to see if we could pick up on any ghostly activity.
We were told a few of the recent sightings and experiences that staff have had especially that of a special chair that seems to be the possession of a particular female ghost and if you choose to sit on it while you are visiting then she can get rather irate and throw things at you.
We then moved on to the old Town Hall.
I visited Quondong Cottage -
St Patrick's, as the building was originally known, was the first catholic school in Australia to be built from private subscription. The Catholic Church acquired the land from Mary Shiels. It had a gabled hall of plastered brick. The veranda across the front was added later, as were the urns on the round-topped pilaster-buttresses. It was built in 1840 and opened on St Patrick's Day.
It remained in use as a school until 1914 when Father James Dunne opened St John's Primary School in Lindsay Street. It was then sold to Mrs Keihone who had it converted to a dwelling, and wishing to give it a truly Australian title, renamed it Quondong. It appears to be named after a Kurrajong tree at the front which was mistakenly believed to be a native Quandong tree.
Local legend has it that at one time it was divided down the centre and that one side was a Catholic school and the other an Anglican school. However no evidence had been found to support this story. Mrs Keihone sold it to her nephew William Thomas Bourke who resided there till the 1950's, after which, Mrs Cyril Seagal of Wilton owned it till 1991.
Quondong is now the Visitor Information Centre and has information on local attractions and events. Also available is a wide range of maps, brochures, historical society publications, gifts and souvenirs. The Centre also features a heritage rose garden and a replica school room.
We spent about an hour in the building having turns in different rooms to see if we could pick up on any ghostly activity.
We were told a few of the recent sightings and experiences that staff have had especially that of a special chair that seems to be the possession of a particular female ghost and if you choose to sit on it while you are visiting then she can get rather irate and throw things at you.
We then moved on to the old Town Hall.
This grand old building was our second stop with time to investigate inside.
We did hear footsteps walking behind us in the theatre as we were sitting in one of the back rows. We turned to find no one there.
Also I did feel quite an intense heaviness outside the doors of the toilets. When I spoke to the two ladies who ran this tour, Jeanette and Jen, they told me that others had mentioned this also during other tours and that also a dark figure had been seen inside the women's toilet.
I decided to go in with another lady, Donna, who I had taken the tour with, and we spent about 15 minutes inside the darkened toilet and conducted an EVP session.
But to no avail - not a bag, rap nor squeek.
The Town Hall sits on the land where George Worrill, the man who killed Frederick Fisher (of Fisher's Ghost fame) once resided.
It was a fun night chasing ghosts in Campbelltown.
Pity that in the morning we could not find a place for a coffee until the local shopping centre opened its doors - and you know me and coffee...I just have to have one (or two) in the morning to kill off that paranormal migraine that hits after a hard night out investigating otherwise I turn into a raging lunatic.
More about Frederick Fisher in my next installment of my Ghost chasing diary!
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