The Weekly Times - TWT - 27th March 2019

Wednesday 27 March, 2019 THE WEEKLY TIMES 7
Parramatta News and Views
Is old Parramatta haunted by ghosts of its spooky past?
THE City of Parramatta Heritage Centre is promoting some of
its historic sites as haunted houses, inhabited by some seriously
spooky ghosts.
One of the most reputedly
haunted houses
in Parramatta is Roseneath
Cottage whose
ghostly mist was captured
in this 2014 photo
(pictured) by Caroline
Finlay.
“Frequently it is by
the precision of detail
around its apparition,
rather than its identity,
that a ghost is known,”
the Heritage Centre describes
the Roseneath
Cottage ghost.
“Janet Templeton, a
widow of a Scottish
banker, migrated to
Australia in 1829 with
her ten children.
“She had Roseneath
Cottage built in 1837
and lived there happily
for a few years and then
her eldest child, Margaret,
died.
“The ghost observed
in Roseneath for the
greater part of two centuries
may be Margaret
or it may be Janet.
“But it is always
dressed in grey satin,
usually appears at three
in the morning and is
said to bear an inquiring
expression and has
been known to whistle.”
Parramatta’s ghostly
history can be traced
back to colonial days
with one documented
ghost sighting was recorded
in The Cumberland
Argus on November
19, 1926.
The newspaper report
verifies the sighting of a
ghostly apparition at the
Murray Brothers Building
in the heart of Parramatta
City and that it
was witnessed by locals.
“It does seem there
was enough interest for
citizens young and old
to turn out of an evening,
looking for an apparition
in an upper
window of the Murray
Brothers building,” the
Heritage Centre writes.
“No one convincingly
identified the ghostly
figure and the whole
episode was granted
a natural explanation
involving glass and reflections,
perhaps too
quickly !
“To imagine them
there, on the corner of
Church and Macquarie
Streets ninety odd
years ago, is to sense
the space between that
time and ours.”
By the 1920s, there is
a even tone of nostalgia
in these colonial era
ghost sightings.
“ It seems that there
was only a brief window
when Parramatta could
have generated a ghost,
just as there was a specific
period when it had
bushrangers,” the Heritage
Centre observes.
But ghost sightings
there were and Christmas
Eve was the traditional
time to tell them.
The Argus in 1926 records
a Christmas ghost
tale from the early years
of the colony related to
a Lieutenant Eustace
Darnley.
“Making his way home
from Parramatta in the
dead of night on Christmas
Eve, the sudden
apparition was appropriately
ghastly, dangling
in bright moon
beams from a known
hanging tree, dancing
and gesticulating in a
horribly devilish manner.
“The sole witness,
Darnley himself, was
found on Christmas
morning on the verge of
the Western Road from
Sydney, beneath that
bleached bough of the
tree.”
One explanation for
Parramatta’s Georgian
and Victorian era
ghost sightings is that
local residents back
then were much more
“British” and they reflected
what renowned
astronomer Carl Sagan
described as the British
“obsession with
ghosts”.
Even today there is a
surprisingly widespread
British folk belief that
ghosts are the manifest
souls of the dead who
don’t know they have
passed away.
“These apparitions
seem not to be aware
of – or not able to make
peace with – their own
death,” the Parramatta
Heritage Centre notes.
“ They may be seen
continuing quietly in the
paths of their life or going
about their business
(such as ) Doug Brewer
who worked at the Parramatta
Telephone Exchange
for most of his
time on earth.
“One night years after
Doug’s death, two colleagues,
Bob Palmer
and Russell Scanlon,
were leaving the exchange
when Bob realised
he had forgotten
something and went
back to collect it.
“When he re-emerged
a few minutes later he
was extremely upset
and told Russell that
there was a strange figure
working at the test
desk.
“The next day Bob was
asked to describe in
more detail the figure he
had seen, and the details
he gave surprised
the Exchange staff.
“The man he had seen
in the deserted building,
and whom he was able
to describe by various
DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS
Development Applications
on Public Exhibition
We invite public comment on the following development proposals
before making a decision. The application and accompanying documents
for each proposal (other than internal residential floor plans and
some documents containing signatures or contact details of the
applicant/owner) may be inspected, at:
• Council’s website cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au;
• Electronically at the Development Counter at Council’s Administration
Building, 126 Church Street, Parramatta, during opening hours;
• Hard copy documents may be viewed at City of Parramatta Library
and the Branch Library located nearest to the development during
opening hours.
Submissions must be in writing and received by Council prior to 4.30pm
on the closing day of the exhibition period. A submission by way of
objection must set out the grounds of the objection. Please send your
submissions to City of Parramatta Council, PO Box 32, Parramatta
NSW 2124.
Any submission and respective reportable political donations made in
regard to this Development Application may be publicly available at
Council Offices subject to a request for access to information under the
Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA). The release of
the submission received will include the name(s) and address details
provided. You may request for your personal information to be
suppressed by Council. Council will consider this request. An objection
is an opportunity for public involvement in the decision making
process and does not constitute a complaint.
The exhibition period for the following application is from
Wednesday 27 March 2019 to Wednesday 17 April 2019.
■■CARLINGFORD
DA/669/2017 1 Dunmore Avenue (Lot 26 DP 10342)
Applicant: Design Corp Australia Pty Ltd
Section 8.3 review to DA/669/2017 for demolition works, removal
of 7 trees and construction of a multi-dwelling housing development
comprising 4 x 2-storey town houses over basement parking for
10 vehicles.
distinctive elements of
dress and habit, could
reasonably have been
no other than the departed
Doug who had
died years before Bob
had come to Parramatta
to work.”
Searching through the
local papers for more
accounts of the Parramatta’s
supernatural
history, the Heritage
Centre mentions a letter
to the editor of The
Argus from 1924 that
concerns a haunting in
Wentworthville.
Harking back to his
youth in the 1860s, the
letter writer recalls embarking
on a nocturnal
ghost hunting adventure
with his brother:
“The moon was at
the full and the sky
was cloudless and my
watch pointed to seven
minutes to twelve, the
witching hour !”
“The place around the
(haunted) house was
alive and had I brought
my gun with me, I should
have had fine sport.”
The writer goes on to
say that – with age and
hindsight – he is now
convinced the ghosts
were most probably an
owl and some possums.
“Most persons at the
time of which I write
believed in ghosts but
hardly anyone believes
in them now.”
“This human life has
got to be too practical
for such belief and most
present day people believe
in hardly anything
but what is to them palpable
and patent to the
senses.”
Nonetheless, the next
time you explore historic
Parramatta after dark, it
might be wise to take a
torch with you.
“All it takes is an open
mind for it all to be
brought to life again,”
the Heritage Centre
says.
For more details visit
the website: http://arc.
parracity.nsw.gov.au/
blog/2014/02/06/ghostly-tales-of-parramatta/
Development Applications Determined
Notice is given in accordance with Section 4.59 of the Environmental
Planning and Assessment Act 1979 of the determination of the
following Development Consents and/or Complying Development
Certificates. These consents/refusals are electronically available for
public inspection without charge during ordinary office hours at the
Development Unit Enquiry Counter on the ground floor of Council’s
Offices at 126 Church Street, Parramatta between 8.30am and 5pm
– Monday to Friday – public holidays excluded.
Approved – City of Parramatta Council
■■CARLINGFORD
DA/721/2018 490 North Rocks Road (Lot 1 DP 504957,
Lot 2 DP 242877)
Internal fitout and change of use from florist shop to café.
Decision Date: 6 March 2019.
DA/813/2018 262 Marsden Road (Lot 21 DP 1163988)
Boundary relocation of access way serving the site.
Decision Date: 5 March 2019.
DA/842/2018 752B Pennant Hills Road (Lot 5 DP 212140)
Alterations and additions to a building used for health consulting
rooms, including a first floor addition.
Decision Date: 4 March 2019.
■■EPPING
DA/769/2017/B 10 Dallwood Avenue (Lot 67 DP 17442)
Section 4.55(1) modification to approved DA/769/2017 for demolition
of existing dwelling, construction of a new dwelling-house and
protection works to Council drainage line. The modification seeks
to rectify an error and delete Condition No. 9.
Decision Date: 7 March 2019.
DA/468/2016/C 12–22 Langston Place and part of
10 Pembroke Street (Lot 20 DP 877567, Lot 5 DP 249822)
Section 4.55(1A) modification to approved 3-tower mixed-use
development, specifically reduction in basement carpark footprint
and reduction in car parking provision from 529 to 459 spaces.
Decision Date: 7 March 2019.
Refused – City of Parramatta Council
■■EPPING
DA/786/2018 20 Edenlee Street (Lot 20 DP 8390)
Demolition of existing structures and construction of an attached
2-storey dual occupancy with Torrens title subdivision.
Decision Date: 4 March 2019.
cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au
@parracity, @discover_parra
City of Parramatta, Discover Parramatta
Lord Mayor, Cr Andrew Wilson
Acting Chief Executive Officer, Rik Hart
126 Church Street, Parramatta NSW 2150
PO Box 32, Parramatta NSW 2124
Phone: 02 9806 5050
Fax: 02 9806 5917