The Evil Within: Antwerp VIC

[Simon2]

What a Post KANACKI, it sounds like there could be a continuation, but in another direction.

If there is an evil presence KANACKI it may emanate below the ground, under the house waiting to invade any house built in place of the old one.

This really warrants "physical investigation" KANACKI to once and for all find and eradicate the evil presence; also does someone lye buried beneath the house?

[KANACKI]

Hello Simon

The location of the now demolished house sat on spot were an aboriginal women was murdered by early settlers in a grove of trees. Some versions of story says she had a child?

Horatio (you radiate sunshine and light)burn Ellerman, an early settler who established Antwerp Station, suggested the site where the mission station was established rather than the three sites suggested by the Government. The site selected was known as "Banji bunag", and had traditional meaning for the Wotjobaluk, being a corroboree ground according to elder Uncle Jack Kennedy, and also contained the grave for an Aboriginal woman shot dead, the mother of William Wimmera. That mission is nearby.

Perhaps an admission of guilt by Horatio (you radiate sunshine and light)burn Ellerman?

The area was first settled by Europeans in 1846, when George Shaw and Horatio Ellerman applied for 130,000 acres (530 km2) for sheep grazing. Ellerman named the area after his birthplace, the Belgian city of Antwerp. However at first when Aborigines not understanding ownership hunted sheep for food.

Landholders had retaliated by killing Aborigines.In 1858 two Moravian missionaries, Reverend Friedrich Hagenauer and Reverend Spieseke, arrived in the area. By 1859 they had built a church, and in 1860 they baptised their first Aborigine. But by then the local aboriginal population was decimated. It is said the husband of the murdered aboriginal women put a curse of those who defiled the murder site to see through the eyes of victim as a reminder of the callous act.

The site of the grove of trees became farm and a house built over the site where the murder took place.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Hello Simon.

William Wimmera was the son of this aboriginal women who was murdered.

In 1846, following reports of sheep stealing, white settlers by the Wimmera River  launched an attack on the campsite of the local Wotjobaluk  people. During the conflict a woman was shot dead and her child,  a boy of about six , was later found huddled by her body. 

Leading the attack was Horatio Ellerman, who owned a large station in the area. He  had named the property Antwerp, in memory of his Belgian birthplace. Rumour had it that Ellerman himself  had fired the fatal shot.  Instead of returning the child to his people, Ellerman took the little boy home and named him William Wimmera. William later referred to the squatter as ‘my master’ so presumably his position at Antwerp  was that of a servant.

Here is a picture of him below...

For those who cannot see the picture OI suggest you try to join this interesting forum.

His descendants claimed Ellerman, pictured below, was haunted by the shooting of the woman. 

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

William Wimmera made his way to Melbourne where he was befriended by a group of children who found  him wandering the city lost and in tears. The children took William along to St James Anglican school, where he came to the attention of  the  Rev. Septimus Lloyd Chase.   See picture of him below.

The Rev. Chase  was about to return to England, and  saw an  opportunity to extend God’s work. He felt that if William were to be completely separated from his people and given a religious education he could eventually be returned to his Aboriginal  community with the aim of  converting others.

 In 1851  the minister left Australia with young William in tow. Prophetically,  their ship, Sacramento,   left Melbourne on April 1st – All Fools Day.

William, now aged about ten,  had the run of the ship. He thoroughly enjoyed  chattering to the sailors and clambering up and down the Sacramento’s  masts. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived in England it was  September, and the  days  were already closing in. There was little time for the boy to acclimatize before facing his first northern  winter.

The Rev. Chase took William back to his hometown of Reading, in Berkshire. According to  a pious Victorian tract  published anonymously some years later, his sister  assumed the role of  the boy’s teacher. Initially  Miss Chase was delighted with her pupil, who showed a natural  talent for art. He was keenly observant and could produce  drawings of fully rigged sailing ships as well as detailed pictures of Australian native birds and animals.  However, when William  rebelled against the discipline of the schoolroom    Miss Chase became less glowing in her reports;

There was but little evidence of a work of grace in his heart, and it was painful to see his want of gratitude, and frequent sullenness of temper.’

Two months later William was removed to the home of  one of Septimus Chase’s relatives, a schoolmaster who lived further down the Thames.  Lessons continued and the boy was also given instruction in various vocational skills such as shoe making and basket weaving. He returned to Reading in time for Christmas, though not to the  Chase family. Septimus’ sister had lost interest,  and Chase himself  was pre-occupied by matters of the heart;  he married Eleanor Purvis  on January 8 1851 at St Giles Church, Reading.   

William was fostered out to a worthy couple who lived  nearby. When a marked change in the boy’s behaviour  took place, the Rev. Chase’s missionary zeal was revived. Apparently the child’s defiant attitude had completely disappeared;

‘He was  willing to give up his will to the will of others; was grateful for any kindness shewn to him;  in a word, he became a new creature.’

The  transformation was attributed to the power of God, though in retrospect  it was  due to a broken spirit, and  serious ill-health. The English winter  had a devastating effect on William’s lungs  and soon doctors were urging Chase to return his small charge to the drier climate of Australia.  Travel plans were made but by now the boy was fading fast and in March a baptism was hastily arranged . To the Rev. Chase, the most important issue was that William did not die ‘a heathen’. Sadly,  the stimulation of visitors  attending the ceremony worsened his condition;

Several of Mr Chase’s family were present; they described it as a solemn and interesting occasion…as it was, the excitement was too great for him  [William], and his pain returned with fearful violence.’

William survived the harshest months of  winter,  but died on March 10th. 1852.  He was interred in Reading Cemetery. Here is a picture of his headstone below.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

 The headstone read.

Sacred To the memory of

WILLIAM WIMMERA,

An Australian Boy,

Who died in Christ,

March 10th 1852

Aged 11 years.

Such a tracic tale....Kanacki

[KANACKI]

In 1859 a group of German based missionaries known as Moravians  arrived in West Wimmera. They were  intent on  bringing Christianity to Australia’s indigenous people by establishing a Mission, and chose an area well insulated from areas of ‘ungodly’ European influence.

The availability of fresh water from the  Wimmera River must also have influenced their choice of site. Strangely enough it was William’s old master, Horatio Ellerman, who donated land at Antwerp  to the Moravians.. Ellerman was now a prominent member of the Presbyterian church and strongly supported the  idea of a mission.

Initially  a simple  hut  was built. Perhaps by chance, though more likely by design,  it was located in the middle of the Wotjobaluk tribe’s corroboree ground. Not surprisingly, this caused a great  deal of cultural conflict.

To the Moravians, the Christian conversion of  a Wotjabaluk child William wimmera had been converted to chritianity,  had been  a sign they had miraculously chosen the perfect site for their mission.

Full of   confidence in the future they erected a complex of buildings, and replaced their rough hut with a church. Present at its consecration was Squatter Ellerman, who had been responsible for the death of William’s mother. The  service  was led  by the Rev. Chase, the man indirectly responsible for the death of William.  And in final ironic twist, the boy’s  father was said to have been among the congregation.

You can see a picture of the surviving missing buildings below.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

In 1863 Septimus Chase presented a paper to the annual meeting of the Society for Promoting Moravian Missions to the Aborigines of Victoria. He spoke of the difficulties being encountered in the Lord’s work at Ebenezer.  It seems that, despite his own powerful testimony  regarding ‘little Wimmera’s’ conversion at Reading,  there had been  difficulties in turning others to God,

Certain young men had been candidates for baptism during the past year, but they did not give sufficient evidence of faith to justify the administration of that ordinance.

Ebenezer Mission closed in 1904.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

In 1860 The Melbourne Argus printed a letter from the mission leader  Fr. Aug. Hagenauer to the Reverend Chase. Clearly the  missionaries were still attempting to replace the Aborigines cultural heritage with Christianity;  Fr. Hagenauer wrote;

Late at night, when I was in bed, I heard in the distance the blacks singing a song of the corroberee, so I prayed and went to it. They made a corroberee. I went into the midst of them, and said I was very sorry  for this and so on. One of them said, “Oh Sir, it is no harm in it, and the whites do just the same when they have a dance.” My heart was moved in compassion. We sat down and I spoke to them of the great love of Jesus Christ..

The missionary’s letter also proved that following the attack on the Wotjabaluk people in 1846,  Horatio Ellerman had removed William Wimmera  from close relatives;

‘His  [William’s] old  grandmother is here and very sick. The poor woman is very much afraid for ganta-galla (hell) and cried one time fearfully. I spoke to her of Jesus Christ . Corny his brother goes on well. ‘

 Horatio Ellerman murder of William Wimmera's mother had horrible effects on the Wimmera's Family ot only he was traumatized taken away from his dead mothers arms. He ended up sick and dying in a foreign country. His tribe decimated and those who survived was indoctrinated in Christianity.

Horatio Ellerman perhaps wracked by guilt gave land to build a mission in which he supposed would quell the restless spirit of the murdered mother who was buried underneath the mission. However Wimmera's mothers restless spirit was not quiet. Because her spirit was not at her physical grave where the mission was built. Her spirit lurked near the grove of trees where she was killed.

But Wimmeras's mother restless spirit seems to have awoken from a long slumber....

to be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Hello Simon

In answer to your questions

If there is an evil presence KANACKI it may emanate below the ground, under the house waiting to invade any house built in place of the old one.

This really warrants "physical investigation" KANACKI to once and for all find and eradicate the evil presence; also does someone lye buried beneath the house.

While the physical body was buried near the mission. In many aboriginal tribes culture when a perceived murdered victim has been wronged there needed to be justice some form of blood letting. An un-avenged victim would be deemed a restless spirit seeking justice. Tradition custom buried such un-avenged victim in a grave between four trees. The trees would be marked in tribal meanings that trapped any restless spirit within the four trees.

However 13 years later the mission built over the grave site and cut the trees down thus releasing the un avenged restless spirit. However the restless spirit had a connection to her point of death the grove that once stood where she was murdered.

As time went on the great estate by Ellerman was broken up into smaller farms and eventually the grove of trees was replaced or to the un-avenged despoiled by placing a house over the murder site. Perhaps where the aboriginal women died was in the bedroom of the present house.

Now a restless spirit perhaps now only a manifestation of negative energy could not do anything until it had found the right host to possess?

Joan Vollmer was 49 and second wife of Ralph Vollmer. Ralp Vollmer a rather naive character ,in descending into uncompromising christian zeal drove Joan deeper into depression. Thus vulnerable in her metal breakdown the negative forces was able  to channeled through her, having outbursts of the once murdered spirit of aboriginal women. A classic example of this was Joan running around naked...was that Joan or the spirit of this murdered aboriginal women who at the time was natural for them not to wear clothes.

Strange enough Joan Vollmer was born in 1946 exactly 100 years to the day of 1846 murder. Both Joan and the later Leanne both had schizophrenic personalities and troubled past. Both were susceptible through personality disorders to be possessed by the built up negative energy at the 1946 murder site. While this manifestation on negative energy present itselfs in the form of the restless spirit of the murdered aboriginal women.

To cultivate this negative energy was actions of overt religious beliefs fueled the fire of this negative energy. It began to feed on the fears of John and the others leading to Joan's death.

Years later it fed to a lessor degree on the young women Leanne young during a visit and susceptible to the same negative energy once again became over whelmed by the encounter. Although she lived but no doubt has suffered mental trauma from the experience.

Indeed this negative energy is dangerous as you say perhaps now still present even after the house is demolished?

Perhaps indeed Simon. There needs to be a traditional smudging ceremony performed by the local aboriginal community. The person guides the smoke towards their body with their hands, inhaling as it comes their way. When a room or place is being smudged, the smoke is directed around the location, while the person conducting the ceremony prays for the negative energy to leave and for positive energy to remain at the site of where this tragedy occurred.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

One thing can be learned from all this. When hunting monsters one must not become one.

Kanacki

[Simon2]

Wow KANACKI, a lot to take in and absorb but absorb I did.

I find that this has all the hallmarks of Europeans settling in such areas and trying to convert the "natives" indigenous to the area to Christianity, rather than trying to learn about the indigenous beliefs and customs.

As you point out this is not an evil presence rather a much stronger spirit (that of a mother), the mother of William, seeking peace and to be with her "family", who have since passed on.

Thank you KANACKI, a very detailed tale and one that affords a number of reads.

[KANACKI]

Its my pleasure.

[Christine]

What a sad story. Energy can definitely travel through the ground.

[KANACKI]

Maybe a story to remind us that perhaps there is a little evil in us all?

kanacki

[KANACKI]

Could a presence of murdered aboriginal women possess the body of a women well over hundred odd years later? Could multiple souls inhabiting a body be the reason for schizophrenia in people. As far as I know multiple personalities is not fully understood even in a clinical studies?

Kanacki