Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Monte Cristo: Australia's Most Haunted House and The Legendary lost sovereigns
Monte Cristo Homestead has been explored by many ghost hunters - it has also been featured on the world famous Castle of Spirits website as one of their favorite haunts. The Australian Ghost Hunters Society regularly holds ghost hunts at Monte Cristo and have had some very interesting experiences there on occassion.
Monte Cristo: Australia's Most Haunted House.
Legendary lost sovereigns
Back in 1898 Monte Cristo's owner, Christopher Crawley, sold the large Loftus Hotel in Junee for £10.000 - an immense sum in those days - and not trusting banks, cheques or paper money he insisted payment be made in gold sovereigns.
So the buyer, Mrs O'Donnald, had to deliver half a sugar bag full of the heavy coins, which Mr. Crawley poured onto the dining table and duly counted before signing the papers transferring ownership of the hotel over to Mrs O'Donnald.
No one knows what became of the sovereigns, no existing records detail their deposit in local banks and many historians believe they were buried somewhere on the property, which was a common practice in those days.
The house being the most obvious place a thief would look vegetable gardens, under wood piles and greenhouse floors became popular areas to hide money. Away from nosy servants and in a location no one would think it odd to see someone lingering or digging about, however if its existence or location were kept a guarded secret and the depositor were to die it could be lost forever.
Monte Cristo's original vegetable garden is located under todays' Knot Garden, if the gold coins were stashed outside they could also have been buried under the old Fernery. The most likely location in my view as unlike the vegetable garden where farm laborers could stumble over the secret, the Fernery was a more private place.
The legend of the lost sovereigns was almost the death of Monte Cristo, the vandalism which virtually destroyed the homestead was largely inflicted by local treasure hunters who left no stone unturned in their search - although they appear to have been too lazy to dig up the old vegetable patch or look in the Fernery and confined their energies to smashing the interiors of the house.
Monte Cristo Homestead has been explored by many ghost hunters - it has also been featured on the world famous Castle of Spirits website as one of their favorite haunts. The Australian Ghost Hunters Society regularly holds ghost hunts at Monte Cristo and have had some very interesting experiences there on occassion.
Monte Cristo: Australia's Most Haunted House.
Legendary lost sovereigns
Back in 1898 Monte Cristo's owner, Christopher Crawley, sold the large Loftus Hotel in Junee for £10.000 - an immense sum in those days - and not trusting banks, cheques or paper money he insisted payment be made in gold sovereigns.
So the buyer, Mrs O'Donnald, had to deliver half a sugar bag full of the heavy coins, which Mr. Crawley poured onto the dining table and duly counted before signing the papers transferring ownership of the hotel over to Mrs O'Donnald.
No one knows what became of the sovereigns, no existing records detail their deposit in local banks and many historians believe they were buried somewhere on the property, which was a common practice in those days.
The house being the most obvious place a thief would look vegetable gardens, under wood piles and greenhouse floors became popular areas to hide money. Away from nosy servants and in a location no one would think it odd to see someone lingering or digging about, however if its existence or location were kept a guarded secret and the depositor were to die it could be lost forever.
Monte Cristo's original vegetable garden is located under todays' Knot Garden, if the gold coins were stashed outside they could also have been buried under the old Fernery. The most likely location in my view as unlike the vegetable garden where farm laborers could stumble over the secret, the Fernery was a more private place.
The legend of the lost sovereigns was almost the death of Monte Cristo, the vandalism which virtually destroyed the homestead was largely inflicted by local treasure hunters who left no stone unturned in their search - although they appear to have been too lazy to dig up the old vegetable patch or look in the Fernery and confined their energies to smashing the interiors of the house.
