Garth House

Garth House today

The Ruins of Garth House

The grave of Ann Peters
with Lois Hayes (Nee Peters) and grandson Josh.
Lois is a decendent of Charles Peters

 Video of the Historical Society's trip to Garth recently.

“The Ghosts of Garth”

Story: Jim Haas
Photos: Peter Troode

On Sunday July the 19th 2009 thirty odd adults and children, led by members of the St Patricks Head & Esk Valley Historical Society, visited one of the most noted haunted houses in Tasmania. The building was once a solid, two storey, sandstone house perched on a hill overlooking the South Esk River between Avoca and Fingal. The original name of the property on which the house stood was named “Garth”, but has since been incorporated into Scott and Jan Marshall’s “Rostrevor”.
Time has reduced the old house to a mere ruin today, but apparently, the darkness of night still brings out some strange happenings. So much so that many a person in search of the “Ghosts of Garth” has fled the ruins long before the safety of the dawn light.
Legend has it that “Garth” was granted to a young unknown Englishman around 1830. Leaving his fiancée in England he came to Van Diemens Land and with his allotted crew of convicts began to build a two storey, sandstone house. It had a shingle roof, large rooms, servants’ quarters, courtyard and was approached by a gently curved driveway lined with imported English trees.
When the house was almost complete the young man sailed back home. He was full of excitement and anticipation when he set foot back on English soil. He could finally marry and take his bride back to his beautiful new home at “Garth”. But alas, the love of his life had found the long wait too much and married another.
Devastated, the young man returned immediately to “Garth”, but on arrival the disappointment of not being joined by his bride was too much and he cut his own throat in the courtyard.
Around that time a Scotsman, by the name of Charles Peters, was granted 320 acres of land adjacent to “Garth” and it appears in the mid 1830s he took over the property and moved into the homestead. This was soon to have sad consequences for the Peters family, too. The story goes that on the 20th September 1840, Ann, a spirited two year old daughter of Charles Peters, ran away from her convict nanny and fell down a deep well which had been dug only yards from the house. In desperation, the nanny tried to save the girl, but she too fell to her death at the bottom of the well.
There is no conclusive evidence as to whether this story is true or not. It has, however, along with a number of variations, stood the test of time, even though the inquest into Ann Peter’s death states she died from burns caused by her clothes catching fire. The small grave and headstone, situated in the bush some four hundred metres from the old ruins, bares evidence of her death, but gives us no clue to the real cause.
Charles and Susan Peters left “Garth” in 1845 and built the Talbot Arms Hotel in Fingal, which is now the Historic Fingal Hotel. The running of “Garth” was left to their oldest son James, who remained there until the house was leased to James Grant Junior of Tullochgorum in 1851. But only a short time after he moved in with his new wife Charlotte, the building was badly damaged by fire. The Grants then moved into a house on the the neighbouring “Melrose” property.
Another of Charles Peter’s sons, Thomas, then moved into “Garth”, but no sooner had he restored the house from the fire damage when fire struck again in 1866. Thomas was a determined man, it seems, he once again repaired the house and remained there until 1880, when he handed the running over to his younger brother David. Sometime later David leased the property to a Mr McKenzie, who it appears was the last resident of the “Garth’ house.
The Peters family sold “Garth” to J. M. Davies in 1922 and it passed into the Marshall family in 1959 where it remains today.
In daylight the old ruins is a tranquil place with stunning views of the South Esk River and Fingal Valley. They also display a perfect example of how hard our early settlers worked in primitive times to build their homes. One can only but wonder why the mournful moans of the jilted young Englishman and the terrifying screams of Ann Peters and her convict nanny can still be heard by so many who are brave enough to visit when darkness closes in on this breathtaking part of our valley.

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