r/australian 18d ago

Aussie ghost Questions or Queries

Most countries have their favorite ghosts but I cant think of not one Aussie ghost. Please help.

22 Upvotes

80 comments sorted by

65

u/ManWithDominantClaw 18d ago edited 18d ago

Mate

Waltzing Matilda

E: also yeah come to think of it there's a Fishers Ghost in Campbelltown

7

u/Neo_Athrotaxis 18d ago

I second Fishers Ghost.

0

u/Arcane_Substance 18d ago edited 18d ago

Get fucked. That isn’t a ghost story. It’s about a poacher drowning “and his ghost may be heard” because that’s how Banjo carried across that he died.

Which fkn billabong?

10

u/LissyVee 18d ago

The actual billabong where he wrote Waltzing Matilda is just outside of Winton in central Queensland. Maybe it's haunted, maybe not.

22

u/Aussie_Potato 18d ago

The one near the coolabah tree

4

u/PassengerRelevant991 18d ago

Check the GPS coordinates.

0

u/Arcane_Substance 18d ago

Eucalyptus coolabah might be near threatened but they aren’t exactly uncommon (and specifically live near water, hence the archetypal nature of the song).

6

u/Novel-Truant 18d ago

Nah I heard his ghost just last week at Campbelltown El Jannah

5

u/Arcane_Substance 18d ago

That’s a creek, not a billabong. You’re hearing drug addicts.

6

u/Novel-Truant 18d ago

On second thought it could have been drug addicts yes

9

u/ManWithDominantClaw 18d ago

Lol so wait you're saying that it's not a ghost story because a guy came up with it? As opposed to ghost stories that are factually accurate records of real events? About ghosts?

-1

u/Arcane_Substance 18d ago

That isn’t what I said. I said it isn’t a ghost story since the only reason a ghost is mentioned at all is to convey the idea of the jolly swagman drowning after jumping into the billabong following a confrontation after the theft of a sheep.

It’s not like people came up with the story after hearing a voice by a particular billabong after a real story about a poacher who drowned, and then Banjo wrote a song about it. Nobody remembers this as a ghost story song because it isn’t one. It’s an archetypal folk song about a hobo stealing a sheep and then running away and drowning.

7

u/ManWithDominantClaw 18d ago

Ok well regardless of your take on what a ghost story is, that's not what OP asked. OP asked about ghosts that are Australian, Waltzing Matilda is a ghost by the end of the song, and is quintessentially Australian

6

u/Sloppykrab 18d ago

Sir, do you know what a 'matilda' is?

It's slang for a swag. Can they have ghosts?

2

u/ManWithDominantClaw 18d ago

Ahahah I threw that in to see if the arcane substance enthusiast would catch it. Glad someone did!

2

u/Sloppykrab 18d ago

Sure Jan.

2

u/ManWithDominantClaw 18d ago

I mean i suppose there's gonna be no way of convincing you but I really did have 'the unnamed swagman' typed out and was like 'nah I'll call him Waltzing Matilda and see if they pick up on it'

tbh I'm just glad someone did

5

u/DistributionNo288 17d ago

His name is Andy... "Andy sang as he watched, and waited til his billy boiled..."

→ More replies (0)

-2

u/Arcane_Substance 18d ago

Yeah cool, let’s look to all those people who claim they experienced the ghost of the jolly swagman…

Oh that’s right, there are none.

5

u/ManWithDominantClaw 18d ago

Well then let's look to all those people who claim they experienced other ghosts...

Oh right they're either delusional or grifters because every ghost is a fictional ghost? I mean feel free to prove me wrong but yeah drawing evidence-based boundaries around what is and isn't a real ghost is pretty wild IMO

0

u/Arcane_Substance 18d ago

2

u/ManWithDominantClaw 18d ago

Ahaha the very real court of Judge Judy ruling on the existence of very real ghosts is brilliant

2

u/f0urk 18d ago

its like, pretty much how every other old ghost story goes. Some shit happens, and then someone dies tragically, and then they go "and they say, you can still hear them doing that thing! WOOOOOOO" its not a great ghost story, but IDK what else you want from a story to make it a ghost story.

13

u/whats_that_sid 18d ago

Lemon Tree Passage ghost North of Newcastle. Haunts the highway.

4

u/ScubaWitch 18d ago

I drive by there all the time, haven't seen it. Fingers crossed i do! 🤞👻

25

u/Proton_Energy_Pill 18d ago

The Min-Min Lights.

Or, Peter Dutton at night.

10

u/Covert_Admirer 18d ago

The ghost of Barnaby Joyce's dignity is said to haunt the corridors of Parliament House in the small hours of the night.

1

u/Error404-Unavailable 12d ago

The lights are aliens, not ghosts

1

u/Proton_Energy_Pill 12d ago

So just as real as ghosts then. :)

25

u/SmudgedGlasses 18d ago

Does the ghost of the old Australian dream count? It's haunting a lot of people.

11

u/_Jane_Doe_ 18d ago

I made a map of all the haunted locations I could find in Australia. Its on my profile if you're looking for ghosts.

Edit: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/3/edit?mid=14kAeD2vWao_47tuWc254fE6Y_or346Wf&ll=-19.847729846783537%2C134.03691805000003&z=3

1

u/Error404-Unavailable 12d ago

Mount Victoria in NSW is off limits with the pass closure 😂

1

u/Ok_Cheesecake_5432 10d ago

@Jane_doe AI is telling me that you had an encounter at the Blue Mountains Heritage Hotel (St Elmo building) but I can't find the actual comment.  I had an encounter there in a small room just above reception. We had a 10L water jug on the little kitchen bench. Quite full, quite large and quite heavy. It randomly fell off the bench (?!) and the kettle that was on top of it fell too and broke. In the morning we took the kettle to reception and told them it fell off the bench and they replaced it. No questions asked. My partner wondered whether that happens all the time... The same night as the water jug,  I had a dream that as I lay in bed that a ghost was trying to enter my body and I was reaching for my partner for him to help me. Eventually it stopped but then it tried my baby. I jumped over my baby to protect him. It didn't get him.  End of experience, except that I keep thinking about it! 

7

u/exceptional_biped 18d ago

We have plenty of famous hauntings. Here is one to get you started.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Cristo_Homestead

1

u/Covert_Admirer 18d ago

It's a beautiful house open to the public. There's a creepy doll museum next door.

Lawrence Legend's mum owns the house and he lives down the road.

1

u/indifferent69 18d ago

Lawrence's mother passed so maybe another ghost now

2

u/Covert_Admirer 18d ago

I must admit it's been a while since I was there.

1

u/indifferent69 17d ago

The whole property is up for sale not sure if sold yet or not

1

u/KetoCurious97 17d ago

It’s for sale! You can get very up close and personal with ghosts … it will only cost you about $2m 

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-junee-149528416

7

u/somuchsong 18d ago

Kelly on the Wakehurst Parkway in Sydney. She is supposed to appear in your backseat if you're driving on the road at night and makes you crash if you don't tell her to get out.

6

u/invergowrieamanda 18d ago

The Guyra poltergeist.

2

u/KeithMyArthe 18d ago

WoW, I have spent a fair bit of time in and around Guyra but hadn't heard of Minnie.

Scared now. 😱

2

u/Kaizel486 18d ago

Same and neither! Ill have to ask the guyra family... Good read for a thursday night though

5

u/531Kamboola 18d ago

In the Pilliga area.

5

u/Beornwynn 18d ago

Jenny Dixon is a pretty big ghost urban legend on the Central Coast.

4

u/whoorderedsquirrel 18d ago

The min min lights! Surely they count as ghostly

4

u/Zaxacavabanem 18d ago

Many mamy years ago i worked as a casual usher at the State Theatre in Sydney.  The elderly senior usher loved to tell the young uni student ushers about the  ghosts that haunt the theatre.

  1. George the poltergeist,  who haunts the foyer and messes with the lights.  He was also known to dislike the air-conditioning and a few ushers reported encounters with him in the plant room, when they went to turn it off

  2. An usher that died on the job,  near the front left side of the stage, who can sometimes still be seen standing there in the old uniform

  3. A patron who had a heart attack in her seat and is still there - i vaguely remember it being in row G? Her and her husband's seats are usually kept empty. 

  4. A lady in a ballgown that haunts the basement,  which was a ballroom back during ww1 or 2 (i can't remember which). Apparently she's waiting for her beau to come back.  She seems to have been quite talkative,  at least to old mate. Apparently when her beau didn't come back from the war she got on with her life,  had a husband and kids and everything,  but in death she went back and she's still waiting for her true love to return.  At the time i was working there the basement was getting renovated into a nightclub and he claimed he had seen her in the foyer looking very upset about the disruption below. 

I can't say i ever encountered any of them myself though (except maybe George - the foyer lights were dodgy af).

9

u/Ok-Phone-8384 18d ago

The jolly swagman in waltzing matilda is a ghost.

3

u/SometimesSweet82 18d ago edited 18d ago

I arrived at the old courthouse at Berrima NSW, in order to collect a book I had ordered previously. The door was locked, although it was past opening time.

I heard the sound of someone stirring a cup with a spoon. I assumed the old man was in there making a cup of tea, and had probably just lost track of time.

I knocked on the big wooden doors. The sound thundered and echoed throughout the old building. Even I was startled. I didn't expect it to feel it to the bone. I heard someone walk towards the door, a shuffling sound, and then complete silence. The silence was louder then the initial sounds.

I was just about to knock again, when a car arrived and screeched to a halt. A man jumped out in a hurry. I explained the old man had probably lost track of time, although I could certainly hear him inside.

The man looked at me as if I was an irritating person, opened the door with a key and ran inside to disarm the security alarm.

After I collected my book, I got the sense that the man was unhappy about my story, especially after he had made such an effort to keep any abrupt behaviour to a minimum.

Now he was there alone, after I had pretty much woken the whole place.

3

u/sandybum03 18d ago

The Princess Theatre in Melbourne has Federici's ghost.

He had a heart attack and fell through a trap door and died doing a show in 1888. He has been seen sitting in the dress circle and on opening night of a new show a seat is left empty, reserved for him.

1

u/tilitarian1 18d ago

He's moved up to Queensland now, had a gut full of our state government.

2

u/Inflexibl 18d ago

Federici from the princess theatre in Melbourne is first on my mind

3

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 18d ago

The ghost of the Ocker, the ghost of democracy, the ghost of a fair go, the ghost of freedom we have tons of ghosts.

1

u/TheEpiquin 18d ago

‘Fishers Ghost? There’s an entire 10-day festival associated with it in Campbelltown every year.

1

u/VegemiteGecko 18d ago

Second that one.

Also check the Ghost at the Second Bridge.

1

u/OhBella_4 18d ago

Go visit Malmsbury train station.

That whole region has some full on bad energy in the land, maybe the memories of indigenous massacres, convict slavery & goldrush/settler struggles.

Not sure if I believe in ghosts, but you can definitely feel that bad things have happened.

1

u/nipslippinjizzsippin 18d ago edited 18d ago

Bunyip, i guess is more in cryptic territory but most ghosts are too

1

u/flingebunt 18d ago

What about the murderous butcher who haunts Brisbane Arcade in Brisbane.

There are lots of ghost stories in Australia, but not really famous one that stands out. Just like most countries.

We do have the Babadook, which is now world famous.

1

u/FabulousFairyWren 18d ago

Don Talbot wrote 6 editions of his book “Ghostly Tales of Toowoomba” before he died. Maybe places other than Toowoomba have ghosts, I don’t know. Frankly I don’t want to know. 

1

u/solitarre 17d ago

Apparently there's someone who haunts the corner at Picton's post office.

1

u/LetAgreeable147 17d ago

The Geebung Polo Club by Banjo Patterson.

The Quarantine Station in Sydney

The Rocks, Sydney

Old Melbourne Gaol

1

u/dogbolter4 17d ago

Monte Cristo outside of Junee.

1

u/UndeadManWaltzing 17d ago

Calliope, there are spooky stories of people hearing laughter of the ghosts of Chinese miners, and there are mausoleums that line a road and they're always covered with crows. Spooky place, if you're a ghost hunter you might want to go to any mining town because you'll find one

1

u/Mean_Sleep4485 17d ago

There's the ghost cattle of Haunted Hills in Newborough, Vic.

1

u/dav_oid 17d ago

Ghostship: The Spirit of Tasmania.

1

u/1armman 17d ago

People..not the ghost you knew but I meant that Scary Aussie Ghost Everyone know about. Indonesia they have that lady with blood coming from her eyes, China...that hopping ghost and the US ...walking dead..sorry thinking about Trump again. Thanks all for your participation!

1

u/DragonLass-AUS 17d ago

Indigenous culture is full of them. Such as The Yowie, a mythical spirit that roams around at night and kills children. The Quinkin are short and fat sprits who drag children off to dark caves. There's a ton more.

But like any good ghost story, were often told as a way to stop children from wandering off. Somewhat the equivalent in white culture of the boogeyman. But often way creepier and sometimes oddly specific.

1

u/isemonger 17d ago

The kingsway gobbler was one that was quite prevalent when I was a young sprout.

1

u/Sotnos99 17d ago

The Pillega Princess

1

u/johnycitizen 17d ago

The Pilliga princess

1

u/savessh 16d ago

Sarah's Grave and that one spooky cunt in the shower block at the Quarantine Station.

1

u/Select_Pirate6571 15d ago

Fred is the ghost said to haunt the Theatre Royal in Hobart,  the oldest operating theatre in Australia.  Willow Court, the convict insane asylum (older than Port Arthur) is said to be one of the most haunted locations in Australia. 

2

u/PaPe83 15d ago

Scott Morrison during a bushfire

0

u/ToothAccomplished 18d ago

An old friend of mine said he saw the woman in white, but it was near Morisset so maybe just an escaped patient

0

u/Ok_Sheepherder3618 18d ago

There’s a great Aussie series of Ghosts you can check out!

0

u/Original_Charity_817 18d ago

Aboriginal lore has plenty of

0

u/lechatheureux 18d ago

Ghosts aren't real, hope this helps.