Martindale Hall: a South Australian historic treasure

Edmund Bow­man was a big fan of extrav­a­gance. A wealthy gen­tle­man with a gen­er­ous land­hold­ing, a pen­chant for polo and an inher­i­tance burn­ing in his pock­et, Bow­man spent up big in rur­al South Aus­tralia in the 1880s.

Bow­man was a wealthy bach­e­lor who com­mis­sioned a Lon­don archi­tect to cre­ate a plan for an impos­ing Geor­gian man­sion on a sheep prop­er­ty near what is now the renowned Clare wine region.

Build­ing the dream home

Bow­man import­ed 50 high­ly skilled Eng­lish trades­men to help build the man­sion on gen­tly-ris­ing ground that com­mands wide views across the countryside.

The trades­men set to work, installing impos­ing black and white mar­ble floors, chis­elling the mansion’s stonework and hand carv­ing a mag­nif­i­cent Tas­man­ian black­wood and oak stair­case amid metre-thick walls and five-metre-high ceilings.

Almost 2 years and £30,000 lat­er and Mar­tin­dale Hall was ready, com­plete with a pri­vate horse train­ing track and sta­ble, a pack of fox­hounds and a crick­et ground for enter­tain­ing Eng­lish cricketers.

The end brings a new beginning

Bow­man moved in, but alas, the par­ty was over in 1891 when drought and his extrav­a­gant ways con­spired against him and he was forced to sell Mar­tin­dale Hall to the Mort­lock family.

The Mort­locks lived in Mar­tin­dale Hall for 60 years, fill­ing it with trea­sures from around the world before John Ten­nant Mort­lock died in 1950.

The sting in the tail of the Mar­tin­dale Hall sto­ry came when Mortlock’s griev­ing wife Dorothy gath­ered her per­son­al pos­ses­sions, locked the mansion’s doors and nev­er returned. The prop­er­ty and its con­tents were left to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ade­laide and were lat­er trans­ferred to the state government.

For the pub­lic to enjoy

Today Mar­tin­dale Hall still stands con­spic­u­ous­ly on its gen­tle rise, still hold­ing the trea­sures of its pre­vi­ous owners.

The her­itage-list­ed hall and sur­round­ing land is open to the pub­lic for self-guid­ed tours. It boasts 32 rooms and has a 7‑roomed cellar.

It’s the per­fect start­ing point for a Clare Val­ley dri­ving tour and is open to the pub­lic from Wednes­day to Mon­day from 10 am to 4 pm (closed Tuesday). 

Dur­ing school hol­i­days Mar­tin­dale Hall is open 7 days from 10 am to 4 pm, exclud­ing Good Fri­day, Christ­mas Day, Box­ing Day and New Years Day.

The future of Mar­tin­dale Hall 

The Mar­tin­dale Hall Con­ser­va­tion Park draft man­age­ment plan is cur­rent­ly open for com­mu­ni­ty feedback. 

Improved vis­i­tor expe­ri­ences and enhanced pro­tec­tions of her­itage, cul­tur­al and nat­ur­al val­ues are at the cen­tre­piece of this draft plan.

It also pro­vides scope for the Hall to be used for a greater num­ber of pur­pos­es, including:

• sen­si­tive enhance­ments inside the Hall, includ­ing inter­pre­ta­tive sig­nage, that allows vis­i­tors to immerse them­selves in the his­to­ry of the property
• tem­po­rary events, such as wed­dings and cor­po­rate events on the grounds
• upgrad­ing facil­i­ties to ensure the prop­er­ty is acces­si­ble and inclu­sive e.g. ramps and car parks.

You can share your thoughts by vis­it­ing Your­SAy by 23 Octo­ber 2024.

Once finalised, the man­age­ment plan will set the strate­gic direc­tion to ensure all South Aus­tralians can con­tin­ue to enjoy Mar­tin­dale Hall and glimpse a bygone era of South Aus­tralia grandeur.