Sydney’s Ghostly Past
Historic Quarantine Station, Manly, Sydney, Australia

By Susan Miles - If you were one of those kids whose favorite part of a campout was being scared out of your wits with campfire ghost stories, (and you haven’t quite grown out of it), have I got a tour for you!

A short ferry ride from the landmark attractions of the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House is the beachside suburb of Manly. This is where Sydneysiders head for a Sunday outing to enjoy a surf, a swim or a stroll along the picturesque boardwalk of Manly beach. However for those with a ghostly fascination, Manly becomes all the more interesting just after sunset. For just a short 10 minute cab ride from the Manly Wharf, within the Sydney Harbour National Park, is the Historic Quarantine Station. From 1828 until as recently as 1973, the crews and passengers of arriving ships into Sydney Harbour who carried infectious diseases, were held in Quarantine at Spring Cove, on Sydney Habour’s North Head. Starting as no more than a rough camp where passengers were required to pitch their own tents, the station evolved over time to include separate hospital, accommodation, stores and quarantine facilities.

During this period, over 11,000 people passed through the Quarantine Station, with sadly over 500 never to leave. The site is home to 3 separate cemeteries where the victims of cholera, smallpox and plague epidemics that made their way to Australia’s shore during the 1800’s are buried.

In order to save the occupants of the Quarantine Station from the distressing sight of their fellow shipmates being laid to rest, burials were completed under the cover of darkness. Fear of infection saw these burials completed in haste and due to the quarantine laws in place, no visitors were allowed into the station, this included member’s of the clergy. These clandestine burials, without the tradition of a religious service, committal or last rights for the dying not surprisingly created legends and myths of unreleased souls in and around the Quarantine Station. It is these stories that provide the backdrop to the gas lamp lead nightly ghost tour over the grounds and through the historic buildings of the Quarantine Station.

The ghost stories come not just from the stations sad past but also from recent tours. But be warned, this not a special affects enhanced, “out of work actor” lead tour. The guides are members of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, who service not just the Quarantine Station but a range of historic sites in and around Sydney Harbour. Given the Australian predisposition to a healthily suspicious nature, the stories are shared in an honest, straightforward yet attention grabbing manner.

One of the first stops on our walking tour is in front of the former Chief Quarantine Officers residence. Repeated sightings have been made of a tweed dressed gentleman standing on this buildings second floor balcony. Tour guides with their back to the residence note how an eerie silence suddenly falls over groups, with all eyes darting to a single spot on the balcony. A regular sighting is also known to occur at the nearby Gatehouse cottage. A tall man in a black hat and cape is often seen in the shadows of the cottage verandah. One of the stations Chief Officers, was a Dr. Reid, a dapper gentleman with a fondness for tweed suits. He was also fond of the Opera, and would prepare for a concert in Sydney by donning an Opera Cape and matching black top hat. On these evenings he would wait for his handsome cab in the shelter of the gatehouse cottage’s verandah. While not a victim of the plague or one of the infectious diseases brought to the Quarantine Station, Dr. Reid lost his life during a collision between a ship and the ferry he was a passenger on one misty evening crossing the harbor. He has also been known to appear in the station’s Morgue, but I will save this particular tale for the end!

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