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Ghostly ghouls of Manly

by Hallie Donkin | 20 Jun 2013

Spooky stories abound at Q Station, on the site of Sydney’s 19th-century Quarantine Station. But even when the ghosts and ghouls don’t come out to play, Manly has plenty to offer travellers seeking intriguing histories, good food and gorgeous surroundings.

Fear of contagious disease was suitably high in mid-19th century Sydney. When ships carrying passengers suspected of having contagious diseases reached Sydney, they anchored near North Head so that passengers and crew could be quarantined.

While some enjoyed a leisurely stay in the First Class section of the Quarantine Station, down the hill others did not fare so well. After enduring horrible treatments to ‘sanitise’ themselves and their belongings – think carbolic acid showers and fumigation – they were packed into one of the Second Class, Third Class, Asiatic or Hospital wings.

Luckily, when I visit, guests are accommodated in First Class fashion. Rooms are bright and breezy and many open onto wide decks with views high over the water. Fridges in common rooms are a great place to chill down a pre-dinner bottle of bubbles before toasting the sunset as the ferries glide by.

Dutch courage

Those sunset bubbles are not just for pleasure. When we head out for our Ghosty Tour, we need enough Dutch courage to grab our lanterns, don our walking shoes and traipse around the station listening and watching out for ghouls, ghosts and all things spine-tingling.

In the Shower Block, the most I could muster was an eerie, uneasy feeling – not helped by the guide’s refusal to come inside and the other people on the tour trying their best to make everyone shiver.

According to the history, this was certainly a horrible place, and other visitors have reported being terrified by lights and showers switching on and off, footsteps, banging and even an exploding light bulb.

In the Hospital Wing, said to be the scariest spot on the station, beds are set up as they would have been when the rooms were in use.

We are told that the Hospital is still haunted by a territorial former matron. Guides report seeing people in the beds, feeling or hearing ‘presences’ and walking through ‘cold patches’, apparently a sure sign of a ghost.

In the end though, the best the Hospital Wing could offer my little band of spectre-seekers was a light shining in a window high up on an abandoned building. Surely, it was just someone wandering around the attic of an abandoned building carrying a lantern, right?

Feeling like a through-and-through sceptic, I follow the ghoul-hunters to the mortuary.

Stories abound about the room where autopsies and experiments were performed and bodies stored but apart from the harsh smell of phenol and the amount of spine tingling I would expect when looking at an autopsy slab, there was no excitement to be had there.

Telling tales

It turns out ghost-hunting is a bit like fishing; the small spine-tingles, recounted over a drink at the Engine Room Lounge, grow larger with each telling, and it seems there may even have been a ‘cold patch’ or two wandered through along the way.

Over dinner upstairs at the Boilerhouse, some admit to seeing lights and feeling the occasional eerie ‘something’.

None of us really had a scared-out-of-our-skin moment, but it was a creepy, fun jaunt before dinner and a great talking-point.

Although we didn't meet any face-to-face, the tour was also an engaging way to take in the sometimes-gruesome history of 19th-century Sydneysiders.

While you’re there

Paddle

Setting out in a kayak from Q Station is simple; the hotel can arrange for one to be brought to the shore for you and, from there, you can paddle around in the relatively calm waters, keeping an eye out for the many little penguins that call North Head home.

The super-prepared who bring a dry-bag with picnic supplies will be rewarded with a private harbourside lunch on one of the small, sandy and mostly deserted beaches. 

Ride

Cycling tours of Manly cater for riders of all levels of experience.

Two-hour guided tours run daily, taking in the Sydney Harbour National Park and beaches, and along the way riders hear all about the history of one of Sydney’s favourite coastal spots.