The Ghost Gate Owl

Along the somewhat degraded and aptly named “Ghost Gate Road” that connects Glengallan and Goomburra, there is a lovely piece of sculpture produced by the artist David Blomfield. Funded by the Allora Action Association the sculpture was installed in 2005. It is located in a logical place (as you will see), and yet it is sufficiently off the beaten track it seems appropriate to bring it to the attention of my readers.

Photograph by Simon Hamlet (June 2017), converted to black and white to give a 'moonlight' effect.  Heart shape of the owl's face suggests that the sculpture was modelled on a barn owl.

The ghost gate story is discussed by ‘Beachcombers’ in the Sunday Mail magazine of 1941 [1], and by John Christopher in the children’s section of The Telegraph (Brisbane) of 1939 [2]. Both writers were running article series on the ghosts of Queensland at the time.  The extracts below are from the article in the Sunday Mail.

Article header from the Telegraph (1939)

Article header from the Sunday Mail (1941)

One evening many years ago a little rouseabout named Daniel Hartigan left Goomburra to ride the 12 odd miles to Glengallan. A certain amount of disquiet always descended upon the other hands when Daniel went off to Glengallan. He would return roaring drunk and challenge any or all of the men to fight him. So after a yarn in the kitchen all hands turned in and barricaded the doors and windows, leaving it for Daniel to fight himself or talk himself to sleep in a shed whensoever he should happen along.

Shortly after midnight the drumming of hooves in the home paddock announced that someone was coming as if the devil rode behind him. Peering from the hut the men saw that it was Daniel Hartigan. Johnny Boake, the only man game to face Hartigan when the latter was drunk, went out to see him, for he was clearly distressed.

He explained to Boake that he had seen something at the boundary gate that had left him a shivering wreck. Thinking that Hartigan's mind had at length failed under the strain of too much bluestone rum, Johnny Boake got him to bed.

Next morning Hartigan was brooding and silent. A day or two later he explained to Boake that after drinking a prodigious quantity of colonial rum he set off for home. His mount carried him, to the accompaniment of many warlike songs, to the boundary gate which stood between Goomburra and Glengallan.

Daniel was endeavouring to dismount when the shadowy something pushed past him and simultaneously the gate swung open. In a flash Daniel became cold sober, with every hair on his head tingling and every nerve tense.

However, he had no time for a few seconds to think about apparitions or gates which swung open of their own accord. For his horse had bolted back along the Glengallan track and Daniel was half out of the saddle. Only superb horsemanship got him back into the saddle and permitted him to regain control of his mount.

He turned it and edged his way back along the track towards the gate. With horror he saw that the gate had closed again, and as his horse approached it the animal was shivering with dread.

Calling all his reserves of courage to his aid the frightened bushman dismounted and walked his shrinking horse the last 20 yards. Pushing open the gate he leapt into the saddle and the horse bounded away at full gallop for home. As he went Hartigan saw out of the corner of his eye the shadowy something fluttering in and out among the trees which stood close to the lonely gate.

The cause of temperance received a sinner to its fold. Until he left the station, because he found the ridicule of his mates intolerable, Hartigan drank nothing stronger than tea, we are told!

That was by no means the end of the Ghost at Goomburra Gates. Opinions of the departed rouseabout underwent a sudden change when other night riders reported having seen a something and the gate swinging open as they approached. To add to the hair raising experience, the gate would open on occasions when not a breath of wind stirred the leaves of the ghostly trees nearby. It was all very mystifying, and the nocturnal riders found other ways of returning to Goomburra except by the main gate.

Not a soul on the Downs but believed that Goomburra gate was haunted when the story got about that the Reverend Henry Davidson had seen the gate swing wide open and an indistinct form flitting through the trees. Afterwards the clergy man denied this supernatural experience, but he only complicated matters, for a man who rode with him on the night in question repeated that they had both seen the gate open and the ghost go flitting away!

Curiously, a Warwick Daily News article from 1940 will tell the same story but with the famous Rev. Benjamin Glennie as the frightened clergyman. [3]

Then came the experience of William Robey, a fencer on Goomburra jogging quietly along in the twilight he had almost reached the gate, a shadowy something detached itself from the top rail and approached him. Thoroughly startled, his horse reared franticly and then bolted. Despite his fine horsemanship Robey was thrown heavily when his horse struck a tree.

For some time Robey lay unconscious and when he regained his senses the moon had risen. Struggling to a sitting position he saw a phantom figure leaning on the top rail and watching him.

With his scalp twitching the bushman edged back into the shadows and stared with horror at the gate. As the moon rose higher he saw more clearly. Suddenly the figure rose and floated towards him. He saw that it was disembodied. There was just a ghastly head and arms waving slowly in the moonlight.

He heard the gate creak and open as if gently pushed by an invisible hand. The spectre passed over the trembling man who suddenly [....] laughed and fainted immediately. It is not wise for men with [...] to laugh uproariously.

But it was cause for laughter. The Goomburra Gate was laid for. [...] It was a great white owl [...] perched habitually on the top bar of the gate. The gate was so finely sprung that a latch was unnecessary. It would open at the slightest touch, but would always close again instantly. This was considered a safe barrier between Glengallan and Goomburra, because the presence of boundary riders reduced the chance of stock drifting from one run to the other, even if a strong wind blew the gate open. When a nocturnal horseman approached the owl flew away, and the slight push he gave to the top rail in doing so caused the gate to swing open!

References

[1] The SWINGING GATE (1941, February 23). Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954), p. 5 (Supplement to The Sunday Mail). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98260961

[2] Some Celebrated Queensland Spooks (1939, December 16). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 10 (LATE WEEK). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184754947

[3] Unveiled To-morrow (1940, June 8). Warwick Daily News (Qld. : 1919 -1954), p. 4. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190423381