Since writing the first part of this story, which you can read here Folklore and magic in Western Australia-revealing a lost history I have come across more accounts of shoes and other hidden objects being found than I could have imagined.
I will be focusing on the port town of Fremantle for this piece, as it is not only where my family has its own long and rich history, but it is one of Western Australia’s three oldest cities, being founded in 1829. In those days Fremantle was named the Swan River Colony, with which I will be referring to it when discussing prisoners, brought into Western Australia as convicts and for labour.
Finding recorded information regarding folklore and magic brought to Australia by European settlers, has been a challenging task. Which is not surprising given the archaic laws and beliefs of the English regarding witchcraft, and Australia being an English penal settlement, with most of the new convict arrivals in Western Australia, being predominantly of Protestant and Catholic religious belief.
The Protestants and Catholics were particularly bothered by anything associated with witchcraft, which would explain why it is so difficult to find historical written records relating to folk magic in Australia, but it should be noted that the “cunning folk” of England, many of which identified as Christians, practiced low magic, which entailed the making of charms, healing the sick, and also using magic to break spells and enchantment, they were seen as different to the evil witches that were so feared, and if anything, were seen as useful in combating malevolent magic and sorcery.
Even still, there were authority figures within the church (through different forms of Christianity), that still viewed the cunning folk as dangerous, and not apart from the evil witches, it states in the bible that “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”, so I cannot help but wonder if the ways of old, and connection to nature runs so deep, that the shaman and healer, just had to find new ways in which to adapt. The practitioners of magic, forever changing and shifting, even within the world today.
Tied up in low magic, there will always be folk magic and folklore, old sayings you remember from your grandparents, or superstitions that we still hold, regardless of what we believe in, all hold roots in some kind of magic, whether or not is named… magic… how many of you still avoid cracks in the footpath?
While it can be argued that the evidence of folk magic within Western Australia (and Australia as a whole) is just all coincidental, a shoe that just so happened to be left under the floorboards, a coin that fell through the cracks, the amount of similarities in these finds, such as there only being one shoe for instance, and they are all found within similar locations, it would not be outrageous to conclude that they are indeed of folklore.
It also well documented in England, that the practice of concealing personal items within homes and buildings, to protect the inhabitants, ward of witches and to bring wealth and luck, is widespread. Why would it be so hard to believe that these folkloric practices were brought to Australia by early settlers? who mostly arrived from England, and would have been on the highest alert, in a new completely foreign landscape with wild animals that would have seemed fantastical.
I also feel the need to mention that most of the Swan River Colony were of low class by Victorian standards, with little literacy. The convicts were not the murderers and monstrous criminal figures that may be evoked by the imagination, but were everyday working-class people in poverty, doing what they needed to survive, for instance in 1850-1851 only 4.3% were convicted of crimes against a person (out of a population of 979, only three were convicted for murder and eleven for rape).
While I feel that it is slightly derogatory and dismissive, it has been noted that folk magic is very much a part of the lower class, why do I feel this is dismissive? Because I think that it downplays the importance of ritual and magic, it insinuates that it is only believed by the uneducated, who have no other way to make sense of the world.
A thought that is not levelled at other beliefs such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any other major established religion in the same way, when abiding by dogmatic rules and only engaging in accepted practices (all of which have their own variations of magical and occult traditions interwoven into their religion, whether officially noted and acknowledged or not).
While researching archaeological observations in Fremantle, during demolitions and renovations, I came across the “Documentary and Site Investigation of Former Site of Saint Joseph’s Convent and College, Adelaide Street, Fremantle” for Hocking Planning and Architecture from June 2006.
I found it quite interesting to see a history of the convent and the founding sisters (founded in 1863 before being purchased by Coles for $250,000 and being demolished in 1969, making way for the supermarket giant), it was claimed by a former boarder, that she had been cured of a tubercular lump with a running sore on her neck, by Mother Julie Cabagniol.
The account is as follows.
“For two years a doctor treated it without success, so pronounced it incurable. Mother Julia was delighted when she heard he had given up the case as she said she could cure it. Prayer, Lourdes water and an ointment she made herself, were her remedies. At the end of three months, the trouble had completely disappeared, leaving only a scar, the sister is now nearly eighty years of age and has never since been troubled with anything of the kind”.
I find this interesting because I do not see this as any different from the work of “witches” or shamans, maybe just with some red tape and extra rules added. This miracle cure comes from water that flows from the rock of Massabielle in France; these are the claims made for Lourdes water.
“The spring was discovered by St. Bernadette Soubirous during one of the apparitions, on February 25, 1858. Bernadette was told to by Our Lady “go drink at the spring and wash yourself there”. Shortly after the first pilgrimages began Louis Bouriette was cured. He had lost his vision and washed in the miraculous water where he regained his vision.
On April 24, 1858 work was carried out to build a pool to capture the miraculous water. Later water was channeled and a 450,000 liter reservoir was built below the basilicas, this now feeds many small fountains. During pilgrimage many pilgrims follow the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to “and wash there”.
The baths at Lourdes were built in 1955, today hundreds of people immerse themselves each day in the Lourdes Water, including both the sick and healthy.
As many as 2,500 unexplained healings have been recorded since the first healing, of Catherine Latapie on March 1, 1858. However this is just a small percentage of the unexplained healings which remain unrecorded”
With the story of its beginnings beginning as follows.
“Lourdes apparitions of Our Lady began in 1858, when a 14-year old peasant girl from Lourdes called Bernadette, was visited 18 times by the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Bernadette told her mother about the enchanted first vision and how wonderful it was to such a beautiful lady. Bernadette’s Mother questioned her in disbelief, Bernadette answered her mothers question by saying I have seen a “lady” in the cave of Massabielle.
The day Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary for the first time was on the 11 February 1858, while gathering firewood with her sister and friend.”
I also stumbled across this macabre story in The Western Mail newspaper, Perth from Friday the 12th September 1913.
“An Extraordinary story of superstition comes from Dijon, in France. In a village in the neighbourhood there died six years ago an old lady. Mlle. Sauvestre, who claimed to have the power of healing, given to her, she said by Saint Philomene. A large number of inhabitants of the district believed in her implicitly, and when she died, she was informally canonised and spoken of as the “Sainte de Magny.”
Her fame grew greater even than during her lifetime; picture postcards of her tomb sold in thousands, and a brochure containing special prayers had equal success. In spite of the prohibition of the bishop of the diocese, the cult of the “saint” grew and grew, recently several of the more fanatical of her worshipers conceived the idea that the body of so holy a person must have remained intact, and they succeeded in obtaining an authorisation to open the grave.
The opening was made the occasion of an imposing ceremony, at which over 400 persons were present. Two doctors attended, and the devotees’ carried crosses and chaplets. When the grave was opened the pilgrims were astonished and disappointed to find only a portion of the skeleton remained.
Then an extraordinary scene took place. Several people jumped down into the grave and began to rub their crosses on the bones to give them magical healing properties and all the sick people present were touched with the crosses to restore them to health.
Finally in an excess of fervour, several of the devotees crushed the bones and other parts of the remains and mixing them with water drank the horrid mixture in ecstasy.”
Apparitions, feminine unity, and wisdom, healing from the earth, gifts bestowed by otherworldly beings and drinking human remains in trance like lust… that all looks like witchcraft and magic to me.
These open and outward accounts of magic are easy to find when they are within the acceptable narrative, but what I want to know, has required digging, and trawling through piles of papers, old books and speaking to the older generations, who still remember the folklore and traditions of their parents and grandparents (something I recommend you all do, before you lose the opportunity).
Even when these attitudes to folk magic and the blanket term “Witchcraft” used by those with little understanding of the occult, started to morph and shift, it was not entirely for the better, it went from witchcraft hysteria to absolute denial of its existence all together.
I will elaborate below.
Like England, Australia had to abide by the Witchcraft act of 1735, which could put the perpetrator in prison for up to one year and/or receive a considerable fine (in earlier times, the punishment was hanging and to hunt and torture a person accused of witchcraft). This discrimination of occultists, fortune tellers and anyone deemed to be dabbling sorcery and magic, has been a crime in Australia, up to as recently as 2013.
Over time throughout Australia, the individual states adopted their own versions of the witchcraft act, such as the vagrancy act, which states that “It is a criminal offence to practice any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, conjuration, or to pretend to tell fortunes.”
While there has never been a recorded conviction for witchcraft in Australia, it has landed people in court, such as Margaret Hansen, who was entrapped by an undercover police officer in 1929, for reading tarot cards, palmistry and crystallomancy, this case eventually went to the high court of Australia. Where they accused her of “pretending to tell fortunes”, while accepted religion was seen as legitimate, those who walked in the realm of the esoteric, were seen as fraudsters and charlatans.
In 1951 infamous artist and occultist Rosaleen Norton, dubbed the “Witch of King’s Cross” was also taken to court for a variation of the witch act of 1735, which was vagrancy. A charge usually thrown at people who have unstable employment and no means of support, but commonly abused by the police to charge anyone who did not fit into the norm, often persecuting artists, musicians, and those practicing the occult.
It was also claimed during a raid of Rosaleen’s art exhibition, that her works could “deprave and corrupt the morals of those who saw them” with the police saying that they inspired by medieval demonology, with the Catholic police officers having a particular dislike of her.
Rosaleen’s friend and consort, composer Eugene Goossens was also targeted by Australian authorities in 1956, while travelling through Sydney airport, for having pornographic images hidden in musical scores, along with ritual masks, incense, and occult books, with the officers slamming him with section 233 of the customs act, which guarded against “Possession or importation of blasphemous, indecent, or obscene works or articles”.
It may come as a shock to some that these laws were still in place up until recently, in varying degrees depending on the state.
While Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT have no laws that I can find against witchcraft (even though I have found numerous news articles landing West Australians in court or fined for occult practice), the other states did and still do, some of them until the 21st century. These laws fall under the vagrancy act, which is the last law against witchcraft.
New South Wales.
The Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed in 1969, yet the offence of fortune telling as outlined in the Vagrancy Act, was not repealed until 1979.
South Australia.
Laws surrounding witchcraft were abolished in 1991, but it is now a crime inSouth Australia if “A person who, with intent to defraud purports to acts as a spiritualist or medium or to exercise powers of telepathy or clairvoyance or other similar powers”.
Queensland.
Until the year 2000 it was a crime in Queensland to pretend to exercise witchcraft or tell Fortunes, pretend to exercise witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, to tell future fortunes, pretend skill or knowledge of occult science, and to discover where certain goods supposed to have been stolen, or lost might be found.
In 2005, the acting Attorney-General of Victoria, Rob Hulls repealed the vagrancy act, which made it an offence to profess or pretend to tell fortunes or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration.
Northern Territory.
It was not until 2013 that Attorney-General John Elferink repealed the witchcraft Act of 1735. The Act was then replaced under the Summary Offences Act of 2016. For a person to “tell fortunes, or use any subtle craft, means or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive and impose upon a person” is still illegal in the Northern Territory.
The amount of newspaper articles in Western Australia alone, gives a window into just how seriously the vagrancy act was taken regarding people practicing the occult.
Notice how magic and “witchcraft” laws are only taken away if it is treated as completely false, and as something that does not exist. Interesting given that the religious discrimination bill that was being proposed a few years back, would go as far as to allow discrimination of people in order to “preserve religious ethos” which would include doctors refusing to give treatment to some patients.
I suppose it is only acceptable for certain beliefs to have a voice, or be acknowledged at all…
Just take this article from a 1920 NSW newspaper for example.
“SPIRITUALISM SCOURGED”
A LOGICAL AND SCRIPTURAL INDICTMENT OF A SPECIOUS SNARE.
By Mis. Commandant Butt (Fremantle)
in the ‘War Cry.’
Curiosity and unbelief lost Eden to the children of men. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in the garden, but our first parents were commanded that they should not eat of it. God hangs the veil between these mortal eyes and the spirit world. God has given us His Holy Word, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. What a legacy! Spiritualism supposes the receiving of messages from those who have died, communicated through a medium, or the discovery of obscure and secret things through alleged converse with supernatural powers.
One of spiritualisms champions declares the phenomena exist. The phenomena of evil spirits possessing and making a human being their mouthpiece existed in Bible times, and still exist. But that a spiritualistic medium calls up our beloved dead is a fallacy and fraud; Tho dead can only be awakened by one voice, for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the- graves shall hear his voice (the Son of God), and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.’ (John v. 28, 29.)
It is true that a great number of imposters and sharpers make the unwary their prey in this direction. The poor demoniac (in Acts xvi. 16) brought her master’s much gain’ by soothsaying! We must bear in mind, when speaking of’ spirits, that there are good spirits and evil spirits, and in the instance of the demoniac it was a combination of a real spiritual agency and mental disease; Also -observe that while the spirit which possessed this woman was evil — was a spirit of divination — yet it spoke the truth; it declared Paul and Silas to be the servants of the most high God, which they were. And grasp the fact that though the message was correct, the avenue was evil. And when Paul commanded the spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to come, out of the woman, and he came out, her masters were enraged, not because their religion was shattered, but because “the hope of their gains was gone”
A combination of the powers of darkness and material interests. ‘If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign and a wonder, And the sign or the wonder comes to pass, where of he spoke unto thee, saying, let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken. unto the words of the prophet, or the dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut, xiii. 1-3.)
How strange it is, that the minds of some turn so readily to false and superstitious teachings, when all around is a wealth of peace and consolation and service in the old-time religion. Some who did very little for their great-grandmother while she lived, are quite anxious to get a message from her after she dies. We read in-the Bible of a soul in Hell, who wanted a ‘message’ sent back to earth, to his brethren, per the medium of a redeemed soul, and it was not allowed. ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though thou rose from the dead.’ (Luke xvi. 31.)
The phenomena existed in the days of Pharaoh. When Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and wrought wonders in the sight of Pharaoh (to demonstrate their holy calling), Pharaoh sent for the wise men and sorcerers, and for a little way the magicians of Egypt were able to follow Moses and Aaron in working wonders. But only a- little way; the
magicians were able to perform three of the wonders, but when it came to the fourth, they could not perform it. And the magicians declared: ‘This is the finger of God.’ (Ex. viii. 19.) The whole of the powers of the spiritualism of that day were consulted and enchanted, but all their resources and power were at an end, compared with ‘the finger’ of God.
Christian, take courage in thy God against the enemies of thy faith. The love and power of our God is unlimited to shield His people and to put to confusion His enemies. This spiritualism is antagonistic to our most holy faith and righteousness. When the deputy, Sorgius Paulus, sent for Barnabas and Paul, that he might hear the word of God, Elymas the sorcerer withstood them, ‘seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.’ Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes upon Elymas, and spoke, and how terrible was his denunciation: ‘Thou child of the Devil,’ thou enemy of all righteousness”.
Such is spiritualism. Not one place in Holy writ can be pointed, out where this kind of thing received Divine sanction. Further, it is among, the list of practices recorded as an abomination in the sight of God and is absolutely forbidden. ”When, thou. art’ come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that used divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer or a consultor with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord; and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with thou Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners; but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered for thee ‘to do so.’ (Deut. xviii.
9-15.).
These nations were driven out of their possessions, broken, destroyed, unknown, because they turned from the counsels of God; and (2 they observed and followed the counsels of diviners, or spiritualistic messages, by whatever name they may be called. This so-called spiritualism either in attitude of imposture, or evil communication, can have no influence upon one unless they voluntarily place themselves beneath, or within, its power, The name of Jesus is above every name and the throne of his love all absorbing. At his call the dead awaken, and his name makes the devil fly.”
-The Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser (NSW : 1904 – 1929) Tue 14 Dec 1920
Page 7
SPIRITUALISM SCOURGED
Makes sense why folkloric practice was so well hidden now, doesn’t it? It is so interesting to me that there is such a level of pushback from historians and some of the people I have spoken to, during this research, given that during the same time these folkloric practices were brought into Australia by settlers, such as leaving coins for instance, new halls, masonic lodges and churches were also leaving coins in their foundation stones along with other objects, this information is well documented with endless West Australian articles from the 1800’s and early 1900’s available, outlining exactly what was left.
I did have a little chuckle at the line “And when Paul commanded the spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to come, out of the woman, and he came out, her masters were enraged, not because their religion was shattered, but because ‘the hope of their gains was gone.” Given that the biggest religious institutions are all about tax free gains! I recently found out that my great, great, great grandmother on my mother’s side (I come from a long line of Irish Catholic immigrants) had given all her land to the “St John’s college, Woodlawn” on her death (Go ahead and google it, it is as elitist as religious schools get!), with her husband and parents also donating all their land to the church in Mullumbimby NSW… turns out my great grandmother burnt all the family photos, which is a mystery I’d love to uncover one day.
Maybe I will have to do some…” sorcery” to get those answers.
As mentioned previously, Abrahamic religion has always had a love affair with power, and what is a “forbidden” practice or magical object, is in the context of Christianity, totally acceptable if it is church sanctioned.
I will refrain from adding every article on the witchcraft act written in old Western Australian newspapers, but I am going to add some of the relevant ones I have come across.
The contrast between the letter “What is a Witch” By Cecil Owen, for the Daily Mail in 1927, addressing vagrancy laws and then this article below from 1923, really brings light the war on occultists, but the total acceptance and praise for Christian “Miracle workers” of which are mostly men.
“EVIL SPIRITS EXORCISED.
The following telegram dated Fremantle -17th instant appeared in the
” Sun “:” Coincident with the advent of Mr. J. Hickson in Australia comes the news by the passengers of the Benalla, which arrived in Fremantle last night, of amazing cures in connection with the Church of England mission of healing conducted in Graaf Reinet South Africa by him. One of the cases quoted was that of two blind natives who walked 40 miles to find Mr. Hickson. They were treated in the customary manner-by the laying on of hands and. prayer for the relief of their affliction-and were cured of their blindness. Another case was that of a child who was dumb, and who, after treatment, was able to speak. An elderly European was cured of dropsy and paralysis of the arm, wonderful cases were cited in which.
evil spirits were banished, and the diseased bodies, minds, and souls made whole.”
-The Queanbeyan Age and Queanbeyan Observer (NSW : 1915 – 1927) Tue 20 Feb 1923
Page 2
EVIL SPIRITS EXORCISED.
The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 – 1955) Thu 20 Jul 1944
Page 7
Fortune Teller Fined
“Fortune Teller Fined Admitting a charge of having pretended to tell fortunes, 61-year-old Mrs. Annie Clues was fined £1 with 5/costs in Fremantle Police Court today. Her counsel, after admitting that Mrs Clues had a previous conviction for similar offences, assured the magistrate that his client intended to discontinue the practice.
Plainclothes Constable Griffiths said that with a policewoman he went to a house in De Lisle Street, North Fremantle, at 8.15 p.m. on July 13 and was admitted by a girl in a WAAF uniform. The policewoman was admitted to an inner room and on looking, through a window he saw Mrs Clues study “her palm with a magnifying” glass and then give her a pack of cards which she shuffled.
After the policewoman came out, he questioned Mrs Clues, asked her whether she had told ‘the police
woman’s fortune and also those of six girls in WAAF uniform who had been there earlier.
Mrs Clues refused to answer questions, but later admitted that she had told the policewoman her fortune and
she received payment of 2/ Counsel said since the death of her husband many years ago Mrs Clues
had been in serious ill-health, and as a result of which a leg had been amputated. Instead of applying for State aid she indulged in this harmless form of amusement. She did not give women any tragic forecast.
Magistrate Read said that, unfortunately, some women believed in fortune tellers, sometimes with tragic results.”
Well… Mrs Clues should have just gone down to the church and been healed of her illness… rather than the age-old traditions of fortune telling.
I also begin to think of how folk magic is associated with women, how it is the women who tend to the garden, care for the children, cook and mend. It is women who are associated with magic the most, and it is women who are hit the hardest with accusations of sorcery, or enchantment, who are belittled or patronised, and who have the most to lose.
I know that I, as a woman in 2023, have come to hear that some men refer to me as “The witch” (I am yet to have them say it to my face), it seems as though this word is still used as a means to describe a woman that is considered threatening, outspoken or untamed.
I am drawing on my own personal experiences, when I try to imagine how it must have been for the women of the past, and it brings me back, around ten years ago, when a herpetologist from Indonesia was visiting Australia with his family, from memory he found me through other reptile keepers, as at the time I was a circus performer and dancer, regularly dancing with South Western carpet pythons, which was an Australian snake he especially wanted to see.
This young herpetologist (who was very progressive and open minded, given his deeply Christian and conservative upbringing) was experiencing friction with his family, over his decision to me meet with me, to view the snakes I owned. His older brother in particular was very vocal with his thoughts on who he thought I was, and had been searching for information on me, which at the time was easy to find, with volume of shows I was performing in at the time.
Given that the advertising would have shown me in burlesque style clothing, and with occult themes, he concluded that I was a “whore” and someone of low moral character, and evil, which was also echoed by the rest of his family travelling with him on holiday to Australia. I have seen first-hand how these views of women accused of practicing sorcery in Indonesia can affect their lives, and how easy it is, especially for men who for some reason or another, feel that their ego has been damaged, to therefore resort to the age-old slur.
Of calling said woman… a witch.
Of course, those from the past would hide something that could bring about lawful action, or being ostracised, something that would of in those days been a hefty punishment in itself, let’s not forget that women were also not protected from family violence, and had very little in the way of rights and means to survive, especially with children.
Speaking of the survival of women, the majority of those prosecuted for fortune telling and sorcery were widows with children, women who were deserted by their husbands, and elderly women with illnesses that prevented them for labour work. Some of the rational around these ridiculous fortune telling laws, were because women would become addicted to visiting fortune tellers because of their “neurotic impulses” with the media of the 1900’s claiming that police were only trying to protect “members of the weaker sex” from themselves.
There had also been some distain at women of working class backgrounds, being able to make a decent income, and even though the laws state, that it is illegal to “pretend” to be able to read fortunes, or have knowledge and skill in sorcery, the wording of the legislation was so absolute, that is could not even be argued, that a person has, or believes they have this power, a judge would simply rule it as fraud.
Fortune tellers were also accused of providing women with information and council, regarding abortion and contraceptives, along with being blamed for marriage breakdowns, when confirming the infidelity of husbands.
I sit here and think to myself, that there has not only been a centuries long war on witchcraft and magic, but also on women.
You may wonder what I have delved so deeply into laws surrounding magic in Australia, but with occultism being increasingly monetized and normalised, from media to collections at Dangerfield clothing, I think people do not realise that until recently, it was a criminal offence. There was also the satanic panic of the eighties and nineties, which I personally found myself caught up in around the year 1999 or 2000, after pentagram graffiti I may have done, and being caught out with occultist material at school. It may sound laughable now, but this was serious back in the day.
Now, it is almost mainstream to wear dresses covered in demons and tarot card imagery, with pentagram leggings… with which I did not have the reaction you may expect, I felt as though something that by its very name “occult” meaning hidden, is now on full display and being profited from, it seemed to become another label, another way to identify people for targeted marketing.
I feel this discussion surrounding the legislations and stigma of magic in the past is relevant, as it outlines why it is so hard to quantify folk magic within Western Australia from the 1830’s up until early 1900’s… and really…even the decades that followed.
During my search for personal accounts of folklore and superstitions even, within the Fremantle area, I was searching through the archaeological collection at the library and made an appointment to view a few pieces of interest. I was thrilled to come across a crudely made and bound book, called “The Northites”, written and complied by Joan Smith and Camilla Morgan 1994.
It appears that it may be the only copy and was donated to the library, it was a real pleasure to read this personal account, of what life was like growing up in Fremantle, specifically North Fremantle, during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
What was most interesting though, in this personal account of sisters Joan, Camilla and Shirley Kirkwood, were the stories regarding their mothers’ superstitions. Some of which were shared by my own mother and her family, who are from N.S.W, namely the rules that you never put new shoes on the table (I elaborate more on this in my first story about folklore in Western Australia), that peacock feathers are bad luck, as is wattle (and also Australian Christmas tree) and should not be in the house, and that opals are especially bad luck.
I remember all these from my childhood in the bush, and I still feel the same way about opals, as a metalsmith and jeweller, I often say how much I dislike and refuse to work with them. In fact, I did for a time, and went through a bout of terrible luck!
The sisters also remember their mother saying that dropping scissors was bad luck. Which rings bells in my mind, as to the almost universal nature of folkloric beliefs, I remember in Indonesia, that I should not sew after sunset, as using sharp objects was considered dangerous during times that the veil was thin.
The other “superstitions” start falling into the realms of fortune telling, as many of them tend to do, such as if a cat washed behind its ears, a visitor was coming, if a comet appeared in the sky, it heralded misfortune or disaster, and that dropping a knife, meant a cop was coming to the door.
The sisters also never would open an umbrella in the house or cut their nails on a Friday or a Sunday, interestingly it is also stated in the Mahabharata, that cutting nails or hair on a Sunday will only bring destruction and war.
An Irish rhyme also states,
“Cut them on Monday, you cut them for health;
cut them on Tuesday, you cut them for wealth;
cut them on Wednesday, you cut them for news;
cut them on Thursday, a new pair of shoes.
cut them on Friday, you cut them for sorrow;
cut them on Saturday, see your true love tomorrow;
cut them on Sunday, the devil will be with you all the week.”
The sisters continued to adhere to these rules and beliefs throughout their lives.
I had also contacted a lovely lady named Nancy Marchesani, who remembers very clearly superstition surrounding the placement of coins in the home, from her childhood.
This is what she had to say.
“The burying of coins in the foundation of a new home is a very old one, the coins are to attract prosperity and health to all that live in the house. Much same as the old custom of crossing a newborn baby’s hands with silver. The second home I brought the previous owner who built the house told me there are coins in the foundation. I built three houses and buried silver in four corners of the foundation, the last house was in Yunderup, and I watched the foundation pour, when it was complete told concreter about the silver he had covered, he said that he had heard of that custom from his father, but mine was a first for him. The only other coin custom I’ve experienced was when I was born in Norfolk st Fremantle 1942 there was a lady that worked for an insurance company that went door to door insuring babies, basically sold a savings account for further education, one shilling a month from memory was collected at home and when I turned 14 the policy was paid out. So, when I was born the sales lady, whose name has slipped my memory (but well known in Fremantle well-dressed always made up wore some spectacular diamond rings) she came to Norfolk st and crossed my palms with two silver florins that I still have.”
It makes sense to cross the palms with silver, as it is said that the devil cannot posses or touch a body when the hands are crossed with silver, which forms part of the custom of paying a fortune teller, as if their hands are crossed with silver, the fortune being told is genuine, and not trickery by evil.
I had also spoken to a long time South Fremantle resident, named Larry, who lives right around the corner from my great-grandfather’s 1898 home on South Terrance, and where the silver coin featured in my first story on Folklore and magic in Australia, was found.
Larry still lives in his childhood home, which was built in 1912 and has been mostly preserved in its original state, he still remembers when the wind would howl through the sand dunes and tumbleweeds would blow down the main street, before south Fremantle became the concrete jungle it now is.
During renovations Larry found pennies under the floorboards in the front hall passage (a typical place to find coins, as well as the four corners of rooms) along with a single shoe! Also found in the front passage, near the front door.
This is the resounding similarity with these finds, usually one shoe, and somewhere like liminal spaces, under floorboards, in ceilings or in walls. As shoes carry our very essence (along with clothing and other personal items) it was thought that evil spirits and “witches” would be tricked and target the decoy items instead of the actual person.
These finds are not at all unusual in the Fremantle area, with many residents finding these shoes concealed within their heritage homes. The “Warders’ Cottages Artefact Recovery from under Verandas W3” by Dr Kelly Fleming in 2017, also notes finding single shoes, three of which belonged to children and one to a woman.
I was especially interested in this paper, as my great, great, great, great grandfather William Hardman, was one of the first occupants of the warders cottages W1 and W2, and my oldest daughter’s grandfather lived in the block of cottages W3, back when they were still government housing, I spent a lot of time in his home, and he would sell his paintings out the front of his gate, right in front of the Fremantle markets… the warders cottages are now high end accommodation, and this was before Fremantle became, dare I say…a gentrified shadow of its former self.
Fremantle has also been home to the discovery of another of the mummified cats I spoke about in my first story on the topic, which were entombed in walls or under floors to guard from evil spirits. The old Fremantle Literary Institute built in 1899, had a mummified cat found within a wall, During its conversion into a Dome Café.
The Katanning Flour mill, built in 1891, now known as the Premier Mill Hotel, also discovered their own mummified cat affectionately known as “Pharoah” which can be seen on display within the building. Pharoah was discovered during renovations and was encased in mud and concrete also within a wall.
With cats throughout history being linked with the spiritual world, with their ability so see and sense things completely out of our range, it is no wonder they were employed as sacrifices to protect buildings and its inhabitants.
It also makes sense to open one’s mind, to the overwhelming evidence of folk magic and folklore brought into Australia by English and Irish settlers, most of the people arriving were of working-class background, which as mentioned earlier has a strong link to “low magic” not to mention the enduring hardships they would have faced in a harsh landscape like Australia, would surely foster the practice of protective magic.
There are also a number of newspaper articles from the late 1800s/early 1900s that discuss traditions brought to Australia by the Irish.
In the book Transforming the Colony by Sean Winter, it states that the British people of Western Australia in the 1850’s, due to the majority of immigrants coming from rural backgrounds, coupled with the isolation of Western Australia, was fundamentally still in the 1820s. They were completely unaware of the rapid changes happening within their British homeland.
This immediately makes me think again of the old rituals held dear, and how in context they would have been, in such challenging circumstances.
While not in Western Australia, I did uncover another little gem that I think is worth adding to this story. Tasmania has had a large number of apotropaic markings found within buildings, such as hexafoils, not to mention ritualistic burn marks in stables, to protect the structures from fire and the horses they contain. Aswell as many shoes concealed in buildings, one occupant found a shoe from every member of a family, within their roof. I had kept a mental note of so many finds within Tasmania, and so I really enjoyed the below article, with a firsthand account written in 1908, he also makes mention of people holding on to folklore of the old country.
“Stories of the Occult.
THE REAL AND THE FALSE.
(by J. Moore Robinson.)
In the course of a varied career, I have come across some strange incidents, which are of interest in this age of psychic development. Many and blood-curdling are the ghost-tales which may be heard, told principally by old men and women, and generally on cold winter nights, when the wind-blasts are sweeping round the corners, and moaning down the chimney. The incidents which follow, however, are those that have come within my own personal experience and are told without the external aid of the fearsome elements.
I was in Perth (W.A.) some six years ago, when a somewhat extraordinary thing happened. The commodore boat of the W.A.S.N. Co.’s fleet—the Karrakatta—was lying at the Fremantle wharf unloading cargo brought from Singapore and the North-West coast ports, one was one of the four steamers—the Sultan, Saladin, and Australind being the others—with which the company ran its Singapore service. One morning, while she was slinging her cargo over-board, a rumour got abroad in Perth that she was wrecked on the coast, and a number of hands and passengers lost.
Dozens of interested persons called at the company’s office, as well as at the offices of the “Herald” and “West Australian” newspapers, to get particulars of the wreck, and great difficulty was experienced in persuading people that the unprecedented rumour was incorrect, and that the Karrakatta was snug in the river. A week later she left on her usual trip. She reached King’s Sound, on which Derby is situated, on a beautiful clear night, and in rounding its southernmost headland, ran ashore on Swan Point. Owing to the tremendous tide-range—the rise and fall being about 27 feet—the crew had some difficulty in escaping, and the ship became a total wreck.
By what mysterious agency the rumour of her wreck got spread about ten days before it happened, has always been a puzzle to me. Tasmania is perhaps the most favoured haunt of ghosts and such uncannies. It abounds in queer stories of the cruel days of old Van Dieman’s Land. It has dark mountain chasms, and mysterious, swirling rivers, and possesses a population still at least partially soaked in a weird folk-lore from the old country.
My parents in the early ‘eighties lived on the Tasmanian north-west coast for some years, and there I came across the most extraordinary experience of the occult that I have ever heard personally vouched for. The story is in this wise: Some 50 miles from Launceston. On the main Nor’-West Coast-road, and a few miles west of the Mersey River is a small township called The Forth. A mile or so west again of the town is the creek from which it took its name. Now, the Forth Bridge was reputed to be haunted, and the spectre was said to be a man without a head, who rode on an old-fashioned “ordinary” bicycle.
History, so far as I ever heard, was silent as to the origin of the alleged ghost, but it was solemnly asserted that in the 20 years prior to 1884 two men had seen the dread spectre, and both within 48 hours had met with violent deaths. And the general belief consequently was that who saw the headless cyclist should also die within the two days. At that time two coaches ran each day between Latrobe, the railway terminus, and Emu Bay, where we were living. A coach left each terminus twice a day, in the morning and evening.
The coach proprietor was one Jesse Wiseman, who lived at Emu Bay, and the driver of the “night coach” was a man named Leach. Now Leach had a delicate wife and three or four small children, and my mother, being a clergyman’s wife, was wont to visit Mrs. Leach and assist her in every possible way. Thus I got to know the following facts at first hand.
One spring evening Leach started away from Latrobe with his coach and the mail. Four horses spanked along under the driver’s guidance, and foam-flecked for the Tasmanian coach-horses were notoriously good in those days—they flashed past the Don, the Mersey, and into Forth township. Here they were changed, and Leach, wrapped up in his heavy coat, rattled on to the Forth Bridge.
According to his own story, as Leach crossed the bridge, he saw the headless cyclist. A crescent moon was flitting behind some clouds, and Leach almost doubted his senses in seeing the vision. He whipped up his team, and gradually almost reached a gallop, but never a foot nearer the spectre could he get. He pulled up into a walking pace, but still the headless stranger kept the same distance ahead. And presently the visitant suddenly disappeared from sight as mysteriously as he came.
Leach was much perturbed, knowing the story of the ghost, but at midnight arrived safely at the Bay with his coach and mails. I should mention that he had no passengers on board. Early next morning the story of how the headless man of the Forth Bridge had been seen again got abroad, and there was much excitement in the town. Leach refused point-blank to drive the night coach back to Latrobe, and Jesse Wiseman by no inducement could persuade anyone else to take his place. Of course, the mail coach had to go, and Leach was at last persuaded to do his duty.
So certain, however, was he that something was going to happen, that he made all provision for his wife and family. He laid in a stock of provisions and firewood. He drew his wages and settled his accounts. He had his supper and kissed his wife—who was bed-ridden at the time—and children “good-bye.” and at 6 o’clock quite a crowd assembled to see the mail coach off. The great round lamps gleamed as the mail rattled down the main road, and half an hour later the vehicle disappeared behind a distant headland known as Roundhill.
The rest of the tale can be told in a few words. At a spot some three miles westward of the Forth Bridge a bullock team had camped. The driver lay asleep under his wagon, and the bells on his bullocks tinkled as the latter grazed along the roadsides. Leach’s team came trotting smartly up. His leaders saw the wagon, snorted, and shied at it, and ran the coach at a quick pace up the side of the road and over a small stump.
Apparently, Leach was thrown over his foot-board, and fell behind the horses, the reins dropped to the ground, and the four horses, accustomed to the locality, and with dragging reins, trotted into and along the road, and pulled up—later on and driverless—at the Forth Hotel. A party was sent back, and poor Leach was found dead. One of the coach wheels had passed over his chest, and the other across his neck. Two days later the
The unfortunate coach driver was laid to rest in the Emu Bay cemetery, whither, some few months later, his wife followed him. Such is the true story of the—as far as I know—last appearance of headless cyclist of the Forth Bridge.
Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924) Wed 28 Oct 1908
Page 25
Stories of the Occult.
While first thoughts might invoke feelings of “how ridiculous” when it comes to stories of headless ghosts, or Victorian women in white gowns it is also worth mentioning Zeitgeists, and how they fit into a particular time or geographical location.
I too used to be rather put off by stories that encompassed what feel like very stereotypical themes, but then I put aside a lot of time to contemplate the egregore and how collective thought can bring ideas, energies, theologies, religious ideas and yes… headless bicycle riders to life.
Which has brought me a new perspective in how I see the beliefs of others, and as I talk about quite often, how anything given enough energy or collective thought is brought into our perceived “reality”.
I truly hope that we can keep these traditions alive, to keep one foot in a world not so blind with sanitizing the human experience. Since taking a break from full time metalsmithing, I have been designing a series of talisman coins, for everything from love to attracting wealth and healing. I intend to place one in the street every so often… or under some decking, or in the space between brick walls.
Because what is the potential of a little bit of wonder?
I would like to give a special thanks to,
Stewart Alger from the Fremantle Library.
Darcy from The Premier Mill Hotel, Katanning.
Larry Stringer.
Nancy Marchesani.
The Fremantle Prison.
Source material-
Transforming the Colony- Sean Winter
The Northites- Joan Smith and Camilla Morgan in 1994
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/93659958
https://directfromlourdes.com/lourdes_water
https://directfromlourdes.com/apparitions_at_lourdes
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44876183?searchTerm=the%20bones%20of%20a%20saint
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120230722?searchTerm=spiritualism%20scourged
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria-clears-witches-for-take-off-20050721-gdlq66.html
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/83070363?searchTerm=%22what%20is%20a%20witch%22
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/31679354?searchTerm=evil%20spirits%20fremantle
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78313115?searchTerm=%22fortune%20teller%22%20fremantle
PB77 Warders’ Cottages artefact recovery from under rear verandas W3- Dr Kelly Fleming.
Stormbornwitch (Tumbler) Witchcraft and the law.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/211424131?searchTerm=Stories%20of%20the%20occult
