Ladies Pavilion Ghost: Sydney cricket ground: Sydney: NSW

[KANACKI]

Greetings in this wet day stuck inside. Old Kanacki has a yarn for you as the fire of lost ghost stories has many stories to tell. Once again Headless has found some extremely interesting stories. So a big thank you out to Headless.

It has been said even in the most public of places there has been ghosts. The following location thousands have visited nearly over 100 years.

An article on the Ladies pavilion below tells of a haunting.

The Sydney Cricket Ground is mostly quiet tonight as the crowds have gone and Indians flock to the curry houses around the world to celebrate their male cricketers first ever series win on Australian soil. The 4th Test at the SCG ended today in a final day wash-out handing the visitors a historic 2-1 win, their first in 71 years since they first played Tests here. But there maybe one part of the arena that could be active this evening, as it supposedly is many nights, and that’s the 122-year-old Ladies’ Pavilion.

One of the most picturesque and best spots to watch cricket at the SCG was built to accommodate the ladies who couldn’t get into an overflowing members stand in 1896. It was designed by a Sydney architect John Kirkpatrick with tearooms on each of its three floors. Here the ladies whose husbands were enjoying the match in the adjoining Members stand could relax and socialize and maybe watch some play.

Tours of the SCG grounds and stands are available and the Heritage Council of New South Wales mentions the chance to meet “the resident” ghost and another website promoting tours of the ground talk about “its friendly ghosts”. As it transpires, they are talking about supernatural activity that is reputed to occur in the Ladies Pavilion. A Daily Telegraph article in October 2016 for Halloween mentions the following:

“As darkness falls over the Sydney Cricket Ground, it is said you can see an old woman in a veil, forever watching for her son. The story goes that her cricket-loving son died in WWII, and the widow would religiously attend the SCG, reminded of him by the young men out in the field. After her death, her ghost is said to have remained in the Ladies Pavilion.”

To be continued....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

The rest of the article talks about the ghost tour but what is intriguing is that no NSW cricketer of note died during WWII. It is more likely that the spirit is related to a lost son of the first war. But who was it and who is the spectre that manifests itself through poltergeist activities?

A January 2018 interview with SCG Heritage Trust staff about the history of the Ladies’ Pavilion mentioned various spooky occurrences. One junior staffer just repeated that unusual stories and things happened regularly, but then his manager elaborated a lot more:

“The Sydney Cricket Ground is monitored 24 hours a day by our security guards, and often they’ll tell stories of switching off the lights and leaving the doors locked down here at the ladies pavilion only to come back some hours later with the doors open and the lights back on.”

He went on to say that some new employees have handed in their keys and walked off site after only one day’s work. Also some long-serving security guards have a tradition of, when they arrive at work for the night shift, they say hello and introduce themselves to the spirits that may be around. That apparently seems to quell any unsettling activity.

So, who might be around?

To be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Here is a picture of the ladies pavilion below. For those who cannot see the picture I suggest signing up to this wonderful forum to get a fantastic insight into haunted places in Australia.

to be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

The building was opened by Viscountess Lady Hampton, the great-great-grandmother of Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson. The pavilion has long been a favourite of the royal family but Lady Hampton just visited once. After WWI, as first-class cricket re-started after a six year break, it appears that a number of women returned to the stand to socialize, reminisce and grieve. Three NSW fits-class cricketers died during the war – Gother Clarke, Norman Callaway and Albert “Tibby” Cotter. The latter was the most well known as he played 21 Tests between 1904 and 1912 and took 89 wickets with his Mitch Johnson-like sling action.

Cotter was killed in action on 31 October 1917 and his brother John also died on the front four weeks earlier. His mother Margaret would seem a prime candidate for a grieving spirit.

Here is a picture of Tibby cotter below from 1905

To be continued......

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

But there is one other possible candidate  … that of Emily Callaway. Her son Norman was a diminutive batsman born in Hay, 720 kilometres west of Sydney. He was an extremely promising up-and-coming batsman and made his first-class debut against Queensland in February 1915, the last major Australian cricket match before the war impact.

Callaway batted for four hours and made 207. He was the first of only three Australians to score a double century on first-class debut. His mother Emily was watching. This was an amazing effort that until this day is revered in Hay, and pure statistical terms, Callaway has holds the highest first-class batting average to this very day, even though he played only one match.  Soon after, Norman went to war and was reported missing-in-action in May 1917. His body has never been found.

His picture is below.

Suck a tragic waste of human life and such talent that was never full filled. One cannot imagine grief and revealing of powerful emotions at the tragic loss of so many loved one. But one can see all over in cities and towns memorials to the fallen from WW1.

A sad apparition of grief finding eternal solace in reliving a moment of a lost sons glory?

It is hard to know the identity of this alleged ghost  Emily Callaway or Margret Cotter?

To be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

My guess for the spirit of the Ladies’ Pavilion is Margaret Cotter. Her son played matches there a lot and the family lived in Sydney. The loss of two sons in the war, plus another two in railway accidents in Australia in the 1920s must have completely devastated her. Going to the cricket as the other of a well-known departed cricketer probably offered her some condolences and it appears that her grieving spirit decided to stay there forever to remember her famous son.

Such is the eternal sadness of a tragic loss can haunt the soul even after death?

Kanacki