Ep. 53 - The Legend of Fisher's Ghost

There is a town Down Under with a very peculiar annual festival. This event is called The Festival of Fisher's Ghost. And not only is this a week long celebration(?), honor(?), commemoration(?) or whatever one wants to coin it about a ghost, but the Fisher referred to, was murdered.

Campbelltown is a big city in New South Wales, Australia. The town was founded by Governor Lachian Macquarie in 1820 and he named it for his wife, Elizabeth Campbell. The Dharawal People were here long before that and they gravitated to the area because of the Georges River. Before Campbelltwon was founded, the area was referred to as the Cowpastures because a herd of wild cattle was discovered here in 1795. Apparently, they had descended from a herd of cattle that escaped their ranch in 1788. Governor Macquarie was described as a craggy old Scot and he apparently had a penchant for appointing ex-convicts to high positions of trust. He was also very generous with land grants and London wasn't happy about this and within two years, he was removed and returned back to London. This man had had big dreams for Campbelltown, but none came to fruition and the next Governor didn't do anything, so the town floundered. The year 1827 finally brought some order and planning and building. The Gold Rush in Australia brought the railway through many areas and Campbelltown was a major railhead by 1858. After World War I, the first major residential estates started to develop and the town has flourished.

Our story about Fisher's ghost goes back to even before the beginnings of Campbelltown. Frederick George James Fisher's life began in London in 1792. He was the son of bookbinders and booksellers and would find himself in Australia for the same reason many early settlers of the country would, he got in trouble with the law. His crime was obtaining forged bank notes through his shopkeeping business. He was arrested and tried at Surrey Gaol Delivery in 1815 and sentenced to 14 years and shipped off to Australia aboard the Atlas. The Atlas set sail on January 16, 1816 and arrived in New South Wales in September 1816. Now generally, convicts were set to hard labor when they arrived, but when officials learned that Fred could read and write, they decided to put him in the government and he was recommended to TJ Campbell who was the colonial administrator at the time. Fred did so well, that within two years he was given the position of superintendent to the Waterloo Flour Company, which was the most successful business in NSW. And it was run by all ex-convicts. 

On the side, Fred had partnered with two other men to start a company that manufactured paper. This endeavor started in 1818 and several men in the area financed the business by buying shares. This gave Fred and his partners enough money to buy their first waterwheel and open up their mill. The mill was on the land of John Hutchinson and he kept diverting water away from the mill, which was really making Fred angry. He appealed to Governor Macquarie, who hadn't yet established Campbelltown, to stop Hutchinson from doing this. Several magistrates were share holders, so Fred was granted free rent for many months. Unfortunately, all of this was for naught because the paper business just didn't flourish and Fred went back to work for the government. He was frustrated and figured that since he had served half of his sentence already, that he would apply for a Ticket to Leave. This didn't mean he was looking to leave Australia. In fact, a better name for this would be parole. 

A convict applying for this had to stay sober, work hard and stay out of trouble. A local magistrate had to endorse the convict and this ticket would allow the convict to work for himself as long as he checked in regularly with what we would call a parole officer, attended church regularly and stayed in a certain area. Fred got his Ticket of Leave and he had heard about the founding of nearby Campbelltown and he thought he would have good prospects there as a farmer. So he went there and started a farm and by 1824, he was supplying wheat to the government in Liverpool. He was the only person in the town to be doing that and he prospered so much that he obtained three more farms. These farms were in three other towns, but in total, he had 165 acres of land. 

But Fred found himself in trouble with the law again. In 1825, Fred got into a fight with a local carpenter named William Brooker over money. Brooker was building an inn for Fred named the Horse and Jockey Inn. Fred pulled a knife during the altercation, which was not only a no-no just on its face, but he was basically on parole. Brooker wasn't badly hurt, but Fred ended up with a priosn sentence. He was obviously worried about his land and what would happen in his absence, so he looked to his honest and successful neighbor, William George Worrall, for help. Now, I should point out here that this seemingly squeaky clean neighbor had arrived in NSW with a life sentence. But Fred had every reason to trust Worrall because he and his employees all lived in Worrall's house because Fred's farm in Campbelltown had no house on it. Worrall suggested that Fred sign over Power of Attorney to him while he was imprisoned. Fred served out his sentence and returned to Campbelltown.

Now I'm not sure what kind of agreement Worrell and Fred had hammered out together, but Worrall was heard declaring after Fred was sent off to jail, "It’s all mine now…all that was Fred’s…he give it to me ‘afore he went to prison." Things seemed okay at first after Fred returned from his six month sentence. He set to building a new business and was finding success again. And then June 17, 1826, Fred Fisher disappeared. Of course, everyone turned to Worrall, Fred's friend, for answers as to where the man had gone. Worrall claimed that Fred had sailed for England because he was worried about getting in trouble for another crime. He pointed out that someone had made a forgery charge against Fred. But this didn't make sense because Fred was doing real well and he was still on parole. He risked going to prison for being a prisoner at large. People got suspicious when Worrall started selling off all of Fred's stuff and when people asked questions, he said that Fred had sold him everything before leaving. When resident James Coddington bought Fred's horse from Worrall, he noticed that the papers for the horse were not in Fred's handwriting.

On top of this, Fred's brother Henry lived in town and he said that Fred didn't tell him of any plans to return to London. When local officials checked into whether the ship Worrall had told them Fred had sailed away in had actually sailed and with Fred on board, they found out that there was no record of this ship. So on September 17, 1826, George Worrall was arrested on suspicion of Fred’s murder and the man quickly claimed that he hadn't murdered Fred, but he knew the four men who had. These four men were arrested and jailed at the Liverpool Gaol. They just sat there though because without a body, there was no way to conduct a trial. The government put out a notice in the papers that read, "“Whereas Frederick Fisher, by the Ship Atlas, holding a Ticket of Leave, and lately residing at Campbell Town, has disappeared within the last Three Months; it is hereby notified, that a Reward of Twenty Pounds will be given for the Discovery of the Body of the said Frederick Fisher; or, if he shall have quitted the Colony, a Reward of Five Pounds will be given to any Person or Persons who shall produce Proof of the same." And this is when a legend began that inspired a unique festival. 

John Farley was a very wealthy farmer in Campbelltown. Everybody respected him, so when he ran into a local hotel four months after Fred Fisher disappeared, looking white as a sheet, in a state of shock, and mumbling about seeing the ghost of Fred Fisher, everybody was willing to believe him. Farley explained that he had been walking past Fred's farmstead when he saw the figure of a man sitting on the fence whom he recognized to be Fred Fisher. But something was different about Fred. He had an unworldly glow about him and as Farley got closer, he could see blood running down from a wound on Fred's head. The apparition was intelligent and moaned at Farley and then pointed to a creek back on his neighbor George Worrall's farm. Farley didn't stick around for anymore and ran off into town where he ended up in the lobby of this hotel, quite shaken. The local officials were told, but they didn't investigate Worrall's farm.

A few days later, two young boys decided to take a shortcut through Fisher's farm and they noticed blood stains on a fence. They also noticed that there was some hair and even a tooth. They went to the authorities who came out with a couple of men, but they were unable to find anything. They decided to ask a local Aboriginal tracker named Namut for help. He walked the land and when he came upon some muddy puddles he said, "White fellow’s fat here!" The search group followed the puddles onto Worrall's farm and by the creek they found a shallow grave with what they believed were the remains of Fred Fisher. He was very decomposed, but they recognized his clothes. It wasn't lost on anyone that Fred was buried where his spirit had pointed. The body was given a proper burial in St. Peter’s Graveyard. 

Now the authorities could have a trial and George Worrall was put on trial on February 7, 1827. Worrall claimed that he had accidentally killed Fred mistaking him for a horse in the wheat crop. Which makes us all wonder why he would've been killing a horse anyway. In just 15 minutes, the jury found Worrall guilty and he was sentenced to be hanged. This was carried out three days later. Clearly, Worrall had enjoyed having Fred's property for a time and believed it was rightfully his now. Interestingly, John Farley's tale about Fisher's ghost didn't come up at the trial. At the time, any tales of the supernatural were not permitted in a Court of Law and could not be used as evidence against the accused.

That one appearance by Fred as a ghost wasn't the only time he has shown up. The Campbelltown Town Hall was built on what had once been part of his property and part of Worrall's property. People believe that Fred haunts the building. It would be in 1956 that it was decided that Fisher's ghost needed a festival. This annual celebration was first dreamed up as a way to raise funds for new facilities and services in Campbelltown and so it was first called the Campbelltown Commemorative Festival. Somehow, Fisher's ghost started to get really popular at the same time and people started gathering along Fisher's Ghost Creek in hopes of spotting the specter. They started calling that the "ghost watch" and literally a thousand people would join in. Campbelltown Councilor, Greg Percival, suggested combining the festival and the legend and in 1960, the Festival of Fisher's Ghost was born. The festivals website says, "Every year locals and visitors alike come to Campbelltown to enjoy this great event which aims to: enrich the social and cultural fabric of our community and present an opportunity for all to unite and share creative energy, spirit and pride and deliver a range of enjoyable, free, family focused, safe and accessible events, through community participation that highlights the significance of the Festival relevant to today´s community."

The festival has had different themes through the years including: The Ghost with the Most, The Spirit of Campbelltown, the International Year of the Volunteers, the Centenary of Federation, The Legend Lives On, and most recently We Could be Heroes. There is always a large street parade with elaborate floats, marching bands and community groups. And I love that they have incorporated an annual Fisher’s Ghost Fun Run. Com out for the carnival rides and games and greasy food and maybe, just maybe, you might see Fred Fisher's ghost! (Fisher's ghost poem)