Martindale Hall Revisited: Clare Valley in the Mid North region of South Australia
Dawn…and as the sun rises on this jewel of the midnorth…the scope of one man’s vision becomes ever clearer.
John Maguire is the current lessee of Martindale…and since we last visited the Hall five years ago…the grand old dame of the midnorth has been given a new one-point-six-million dollar lease on life.
“This was all slat damp, so they had to replace the whole base of the building.”
Here you can enter another world…an ascent into fabulous wealth…and the aspirations of a young man Edmund Bowman who was determined to be noticed.
“He was twenty one when he started this building. he actually had sixty workers here. fifty were brought out from england. they were camped in tents out the front here. there were sixty altogether coz there were ten local carpenters and they built the entire building with hand tools of course in about twenty three months…just under two years…quite an amazing feat.”
That was back in 1879…now latter day artisans have recently completed another $25,000 showpiece for Martindale Hall.
“So this is the grand entrance hall…where they would have done all their dancing and so on and our most wonderful new addition is this gasolier and this went in in august last year and it’s a full replica of the original gasolier here in the early days.”
The Bowman’s made their money as pastoralists but young Edmund was eventually forced to sell all this following the devastating 1885 drought and subsequent depression.
In 1891 William Tenant Mortlock purchased the property. The Mortlocks were merchants with banking interests in England and fabulous property holdings around the State. In fact they once owned half of Eyre Peninsula…including what is now Coffin Bay National Park. William exported brumbies to the British in India. It was all part and parcel of their diversified approach…which allowed them to indulge themselves in the good times and ride out the bad.
And indulge they did. Like William’s son Ranson.
“He was known to walk at times into the local pub…the magpie and stump and slap a sovereign on the bar which bought a parcel of land in the area at the time and challenge all the lads to drink the pub dry..so he was popular for many different reasons.”
“Unfortunately he died at 35 he fell off a cruise ship in Columbo bay dead drunk and drowned.”
JT Mortlock was…shall we say…more conservative. He expanded the Mortlock empire and is responsible for much of Martindale’s impressive art collection. Over the years many visitors have fallen under Martindale’s spell including film maker Peter Weir.
“A lot of the filming took place in here…peter weir’s film…if you can remember..it’s 1975 like it’s 27 years ago that he made the film..a very important film that launched him on his career it revived the australian film industry and indirectly saved Martindale hall.”
Even now, John says this landmark in Australian cinema is the main reason many visit our landmark in nineteen century architecture and design on the outskirts of Mintaro.
But why experience it from the distance of the silver screen? At Martindale you feel a part of all this, as you enter JT Mortlock’s smoking room…preserved exactly as it was on the day he died in 1950. It’s a timecapsule containing trophies and momentos from a man who’d spend years at a time travelling though darkest Africa or the jungles of Sri Lanka. From four hundred year old ceremonial Samurai suits to Persian swords and spears from New Guinea…it’s all here in this gentleman’s retreat…as the coat of arms attests.
“It says the armorial bearings of John Andrew Tenant Mortlock of Martindale Hall, Mintaro, South Australia comma, gentleman.”
“He was a gentleman, that was his profession…wouldn’t that be wonderful.”
“But what makes Martindale hall unique…is it the fact that it was built in 1879. well not really…that’s quite young by Australian standards… is it because it’s big. no…other young tycoons have built equally impressive monuments to their wealth and ego.”
“No martindale hall is unique because you can use and enjoy it…and become lord or lady of the manor for a day.”
Cheers
To book a night at Martindale Hall contact John on +61 (0)8 8843 9088. A range of bed and breakfast and dinner options are available.
Martindale Hall
Mintaro
Clare Valley
Contact
John Maguire
Phone: +61 (0)8 8843 9088
Email: marthall@chariot.net.au
Web: www.martindalehall.com.au
Tours available daily
Adults $7.00
Concession $5.00
Children $2.50
