| Ghost stories, death threats, and a final resting place at Bendigo's Fortuna |
Once a lavish home to a mining magnate in the 19th century then a covert map-making location during WWII, Bendigo's Fortuna Villa is filled with tales. Six people who have a long association with its history talk of the mysteries and celebrations surrounding the place.
The 40-room Fortuna Villa bought by mining entrepreneur George Lansell in 1871 has a rich history. Starting off as a family home it was eventually occupied by the Department of Defence from 1942 to 2008 and was an important map-making facility during WWII.
Scheduled to be demolished, it was saved and is now in the hands of a private owner who has opened it up to the public after being closed for 65 years.
The gardener
Ken Maes was the head gardener at Fortuna from 1980 to 1992. Ken took great delight in looking after the extensive gardens at Fortuna and took a particular liking to the flowers. He loved making floral arrangements, a skill he picked up at the local churches in Bendigo.
Pink campions, grannie bonnets, roses and camellias would often fill the bouquets he would make up for the captains to take home to their wives.
"They wanted to make themselves very popular," he said.
Ken would also create the floral arrangements for the main foyer, decorate the ball room for weddings and make the odd bridal bouquet. He recollects one bride arriving by horse-drawn coach.
The disposer of ashes
Jeff Willey worked at Fortuna for nearly 30 years, first as a driver then as a lithographic printer when it was occupied by the Department of Defence. Jeff, like many of his colleagues, loved his time at Fortuna and felt a strong connection to the place. He said it had become a final destination for some of his former workmates.
Many funeral services were held at Fortuna and a few people even requested their ashes to be scattered over the property, although it wasn't approved practice. He remembers being approached by the son of one of his colleagues wanting his father's ashes scattered over the lake.
"It becomes part of your life," he said.
"A lot of the time it's where your heart is."
The cartographer
Rosemary Bowman worked as a cartographer from 1943 to 1945. During the war there was a fear that Melbourne would be bombed by the Japanese after the Germans bombed the map-making facility in Southampton in England. So the army decided to move the map-making facilities inland to Fortuna.
Rosemary was 21 years old when she began drawing intricate maps by hand, an elaborate process involving drawing in rivers and mountains. All the symbols had to be cut out of sheets of cardboard and glued onto the map.
She remembers being given the map of Meekatharra in Western Australia and being overwhelmed by the hundreds of bores.
"I was confronted with all these tiny little windmills, which I had to cut out and paste on," she said.
Years later when she returned to Fortuna she was aghast at people sitting in front of computers making maps with the press of a finger.
The party planner
Gary Warnest has spent about 30 years at Fortuna starting off as a soldier in 1970 and eventually becoming a captain. Although people worked hard when employed by the Department of Defence and sometimes had to work a 24-hour shift in an emergency, about once a year there was time for celebration.
"It was the perfect setting for holding flamboyant and really ornate balls and functions," Gary said.
Decorated lights around the lake were reflected upon the water and a quartet on the balcony greeted local dignitaries and army personnel dressed in their military finery as they entered the building. Downstairs, beneath the turret, in the parquetry-floored ballroom with velvet wallpaper a band played while people danced or gathered around the buffet table loaded with silver and seafood.
Presiding over the festivities was a picture of the Queen that now hangs in the Bendigo Art Gallery.
The ghost researcher
Patrick worked at Fortuna for nearly 30 years from 1980 to 2008 in various jobs from mapping to security for the Department of Defence. He is currently working on recreating the infamous Fortuna Ghost Book that was last seen in the 1970s.
From 1942 when the Department of Defence occupied Fortuna a duty patrol officer was required to write down any disturbances that occurred during the night. When the stories accumulated and started to fill the official record book a separate book was started, which became the Fortuna Ghost Book.
"The place just seems to breed those stories and people love telling them and re-telling them," Patrick said.
Patrick recalls one of the stories when a particular officer during the 1970s was making his usual night rounds when he saw a glowing rotating object near the kitchen, which disappeared after a few minutes only to be seen rotating again around the corner of the building. According to Patrick the officer watched it again until it stopped. It then just disappeared through the walls of the kitchen as if it had never been seen.
After some research it was found that a soldier had committed suicide in one of the old huts that was located at the same spot.
The relative
Beverly Carter is a distant relative of mining entrepreneur George Lansell who owned Fortuna. Her grandmother was George Lansell's great niece so she grew up hearing stories of Fortuna and has become interested in its history.
A pivotal moment in Fortuna's history was when George Lansell woke up to find a coffin near the stables with his name written on it. Shortly after he left for England and didn't return until eight years later.
The mystery remains as to who actually left the marked coffin by the door of the stable. But it was suspected at the time that it was the work of some disgruntled miners who after negotiating their conditions with the mine owners were met with an unfavourable outcome.
"George Lansell hadn't come out of those negotiations smelling of roses, he had some people who didn't like him a great deal at that time," said Beverly.
George eventually returned to Bendigo at the request of the city
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