This is the latest article in a series written by Nicole Jenkins, on behalf of the Deniliquin Historical Society. Each will cover stories from our town’s history, and those born in our town who have interesting stories of their own. This article is on Ben Whatley and the haunted house in Russell St, Deniliquin.
Benjamin Whatley was the man who built the two-storey house in Russell St, known to the locals as the haunted house.
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This house still stands today, and there are a number of descendants of Benjamin’s living in Deniliquin.
There are several theories why locals call it a haunted house
1. It was erected on the site of an Aboriginal burial ground. Apparently, a boy saw a number of bones dug out of the ground near the old mulberry tree growing on the north side of the house
2. After Benjamin Whatley’s death, old timers told of the days and nights where screams and groans were heard from the house.
3. A Chinese man hung himself from the verandah. Other stories say he hung himself from a limb of an apple tree on the property
4. The house was unoccupied for many years after Benjamin Whatley’s death and swagmen occasionally camped around it.
5. When the Daniels family lived in the home, they would see a man climbing the outside staircase with a candle.
6. The Greaves family would see goats climbing the outside staircase and hearing tapping noises.
The most probable story was that one of the swagmen stole a sheep from the saleyards, which were close to the house.
After he slaughtered the sheep, he hung it up on the front verandah, and it swayed in the evening breeze.
In the moonlight people mistook the carcase for a dead body.
Up until the 1920s, not even the newspaper delivery boys would go near the house.
Benjamin Whately was born in Sutton Veney, Wiltshire, England on April 2, 1820.
He was the son of John Whately, a market gardener, and Mary Patrick Canning Ryall.
Benjamin married Ann Todd in 1846, in London.
By 1851, they were living in Monmouthsire, Wales, where Benjamin was a head railway police constable.
The family, including five children, left Southhampton, England in February 1858 on the ‘Parsee’, and arrived in Australia on May 14, 1858.
By June 1859, they were living on the Sand Hills in North Deniliquin, where their next children - twins Ann and Thomas - were born.
Ann died only 15 days after the twins were born, of puerperal fever (an infection after birth), on July 4, 1859, leaving seven children under the age of 12.
Ann was described as an affectionate mother who was much respected by those who knew her.
On September 13, 1861, Benjamin purchased land in Russell St, Deniliquin and built his home and ran a dairy.
In March, the following year he advertised the dairying land as blocks of land for sale in three sections - between Macauley and Fowler Sts, and Henry and Harfleur Sts - but it seems the blocks were not purchased straight away.
A man named Campbell built the home, and he would later become his son-in-law.
Campbell worked in stages, based on the payments he received.
The house was built in an area that was vacant land, described as being on a ‘western plain’.
But Benjamin believed a two-story house was necessary to cater for his large family, and it was cheaper to raise the walls than double the roofing costs.
The initial build did not include a verandah and was seen by locals as unnecessary and ostentatious, hence being coined by locals as ‘Whatley’s Folly’.
Benjamin then married Tabitha Evans, a Welsh girl, on December 15, 1863 at the Church of England in Deniliquin.
In 1864, they were listed in the local paper as boarding housekeepers.
On January 20, 1866, Tabitha made news as she was bringing in the dairy cows from the Common, and she became lost after heavy rainfall.
The next morning Benjamin organised a search party and found her eight miles away.
Benjamin died outside his home on December 3, 1876, which was reported as follows:
“One of the oldest inhabitants of the town, Benjamin Whately, was found dead on Sunday morning outside his gate fence, a few yards from his house.
“The deceased had resided in Deniliquin for about 20 years and latterly became the town bellman.
“It is supposed the death was caused by heart disease, accelerated by intemperate habits.”
There was a coroner’s inquest at the Royal Hotel the day after his death.
The bookkeeper of the Royal Hotel last saw him at the hotel about 7pm or 8pm.
He said he was getting tobacco when he left. It was said he seemed in good spirits and was sober.
The bookkeeper said Benjamin was in the habit of coming to the hotel daily, and was of “intemperate habits but latterly had appeared more sober than usual”.
Tabitha deposed that her husband came home on horse, and “was the worse for liquor”.
Her account was reported as follows:
“At half past seven I saw him lying under the fence in front of the house.
“He frequently slept in the same place, as I have warned him not to wake me up, as he might get a passion and do me harm.
“I covered him with a double blanket. I heard him snore heavily and he appeared fast asleep.
“I checked on him constantly - the last time at 3.30am. At this time, I could not hear him breathing and his hands and feet were cold.
“I sent Ann, my step-daughter, to get Dr Clarkson. Dr Clarkson’s announced him dead.
“I am his second wife and have been married to him for 14 years.”
Daughter Ann told the inquest she last saw her father at “half past seven on Saturday night lying under the fence”.
The account was reported a follows:
“I asked my mother if she was going to take him inside, and she said ‘No, he will get up presently and come inside himself’.
“I then went downtown and returned at 9 o’clock, and he was in the same position, covered with a blanket.
“I went to bed and my mother called me up, saying she thought father was dead.
“I went for my brother-in-law Mr Robertson, then to Dr Clarkson, then I reported the occurrence to the police.
“My mother was sober. My father used to be violent if he was interfered with when he was the worse for liquor.
“That was the reason my mother did not move him into the house that night.
“My father was 57 and a dairyman and had a serious illness two months ago. He had drunk as much since as he did before.”
The jury found that Benjamin died from “an attack of apoplexy brought about by intemperate habits”.
His ‘haunted house’ was auctioned on January 12, 1877.
It was promoted as a “well known two-storey house in Russell Street, recently repaired, plus one acre of land. Six rooms”.
More about Benjamin and Ann’s children.
Charles Todd Whatley was born August 5, 1847 in Maplus, Monmouthshire, Wales.
In 1901, he was living at Hillston, NSW, but by 1913 he had returned to Deniliquin working as a labourer.
He died in Deniliquin on August 1918, aged 71, and lived with his nephew. He did not marry.
Emma Whatley was born on August 5, 1849 in Wiltshire, England.
She married Edward Tipping - a carpenter, builder and contractor - when she was 22 at Bandura Station, on March 21, 1871.
In 1891, they were living in Junction St, Deniliquin and later lived in Crispe St.
Edward died in 1899 in Deniliquin. By 1917 Emma was living at West Drummoyne NSW, which is where she died in 1923 aged 74.
They had six children. Two daughters were formerly teachers at Deniliquin Public School.
Isabella Whatley was born on July 1, 1851 and married Edward Robertson in Deniliquin in 1874. They had five children.
Isabella conducted a nursing home in Deniliquin for 30 years before moving to Wagga.
Isabella died in Wagga in 1933, aged 82.
Robert Stairmond Whately was born in Lllantharman, Wales on July 1, 1853.
When he was 13, he absconded from his home and was last seen near Maude, NSW when he intended to ride at a Wagga Wagga race meet.
He was since supposed to be in the Murrumbidgee or Lachlan district, milking or stock driving. He had his father’s horse with him.
He married Evangaline Matilda Reynolds on March 3, 1884 at Willandra, on the Lachlan River.
The marriage certificate interestingly does not mention which family Robert belongs to, but says he is a selector at Gum Creek on the Lachlan River.
They had six children, with only one surviving childhood. The five all died between 1888-1892, three of them from diptheria.
Things continued to be challenging, as Robert was living at Lake Cargellico when he declared himself bankrupt in July 1892 and in September 1892, Evangeline died from heart and lung disease. Charles applied again for bankruptcy in March 1893.
Charles remarried in August 1897 at Hillston, to Ruth Brown, when his only surviving child, Henry, was six.
Ruth was 20 when she married Charles, who was 44.
Charles and Ruth had one daughter, Gladys May, in 1898 at Sunny Corner Queensland. By 1907, Ruth must have separated from Charles.
In July 1907 Robert shot at a married woman, Amelia Hussey, at Hillston and then shot himself fatally. Amelia was shot through the breast and the bullet luckily came out from her armpit.
Mary Whately was born in Llantarnam, Wales on August 8, 1855.
Mary married Thomas James Arthur Campbell on June 28, 1880 at the Church of England in Deniliquin.
Thomas was a constable with the Deniliquin Police and was called away during the wedding reception to be informed that the Kelly Gang had been captured and a state of emergency no longer existed.
They had 11 children, and Thomas later became a carpenter.
Thomas died in Deniliquin in January 1903, of pleurisy and bronchitis and aged only 45.
Mary died at her home in Cressy St, Deniliquin in May 1908, aged 52, of pneumonia. Her youngest child, Percy, was 11 at the time of her death.
Ann and Thomas Whatley were the twins of the family, born on June 20, 1859 in Deniliquin - 15 days before their mother’s death.
Ann lived in Elsternwick Victoria in 1928 and died in East Malvern on May 2, 1931 aged 72.
She did not marry. Her death was recorded in the local paper stating she was one of the oldest natives of Deniliquin.
• The next generation of the family that lived in Deniliquin are explored in episode 46 of Nicole Jenkins’ podcast, ‘Family History Mysteries’.