9 Of The Most Haunted Places To Visit In Australia

Here are the most haunted places in Australia to spook yourself silly (or avoid, if you’d rather not).

Eerie noises, unexplained breezes, doors that open without reason. There are many haunted places in Australia where a dark past seemingly carries into the present. From sites of tragic accidents to places that lay witness to mass killings, there are plenty of ghost towns and locations where you can do ghost tours in Australia, or simply visit to see if your hairs stand on end.

1. Princess Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria

Melbourne’s Princess Theatre’s ghost is so prolific a seat is reserved for him on the opening night of performances. In 1887, Frederick Baker, known as ‘Federici’, took a leading role in the opera Faust. In his final scene, Federici fell through an on-stage trapdoor after suffering a heart attack and soon died backstage. Onlookers were none the wiser, assuming it was part of the show. Some even say he came out to take a final bow when the performance ended.

Over subsequent years, there were many reports of strange light flickering in the theatre and a number of people have said they felt something brush past them in an empty corridor. Strangest of all are the reported sightings of Federici himself in the theatre, often at night, where he is reportedly seen to be watching shows and critiquing performances.

the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Victoria — Princess Theatre is reportedly haunted by its own phantom of the opera named Frederick Baker.

2. Port Arthur, Tasmania

World Heritage-listed Port Arthur served as a convict settlement for almost 50 years, and more than 1000 people died at Port Arthur during this time.

people touring around Port Arthur with lit lanterns — Lanterns brighten up Port Arthur as darkness falls. (Image: Tourism Tasmania & Simon Birch)

A series of unexplained events at the site have been reported since the arrival of free settlers and have been noted by soldiers and other visitors in more recent times. The old punishment cell in particular is known to be a hotspot for unusual activity.

Take a lantern-lit ghost tour at Port Arthur after dark and read about the experience here.

people holding lanterns on a guided ghost tour in Port Arthur — Join the lantern-lit ghost tour at Port Arthur after dark. (Image: Alastair Bett)

3. Aradale Lunatic Asylum, Ararat, Vic

This abandoned lunatic asylum (which we would now more appropriately call a psychiatric unit or mental health hospital) in Ararat is believed to be haunted, with many deaths occurring in the facility during its 126 years of use.

People have reported being pushed and tickled and have heard strange banging noises. Along with patients who died in the facility, the site is also said to be haunted by a former nurse. Ghost tours are offered at Aradale.

4. North Kapunda Hotel, South Australia

The North Kapunda Hotel has a solid reputation for being haunted. Kapunda, a one-hour drive north of Adelaide, was a busy mining town in the early 1800s and the pub opened in 1849 to service the region.

Many stories of crime are linked to the hotel, including a few murders. A ghostly woman, thought to be a sex worker killed in the pub, and a little girl, thought to be her daughter, are said to haunt the halls. Apparently, the ghost of a miner who died after having his leg amputated in the hotel can sometimes be seen cycling along nearby streets.

Ghost Crime Tours offer a ‘paranormal lockin ’ at the hotel, where you’ll be kitted with equipment to try to get a reading on paranormal activity in the building.

the property exterior of North Kapunda Hotel, South Australia — North Kapunda Hotel is one of the most haunted pubs in Australia.

5. Monte Cristo Homestead, Junee, NSW

The Monte Cristo Homestead was constructed by Christopher William Crawley, a farmer whose fortunes changed when he built a hotel near a new railway line in the 1800s. Crawley and his family members lived in the homestead… and some of them also died there. This includes Crawley himself and his wife, both from illness. Apparently neither of them have left the building since.

an old fountain fronting the Monte Cristo Homestead, Junee, NSW — The historic Monte Cristo Homestead is a two-storey late-Victorian-style manor. (Image: Destination NSW)

More tragically, it’s said one of Crawley’s maids threw herself off the balcony (or, was pushed) when she discovered she was pregnant with Crawley’s child. Another of Crawley’s illegitimate children, also born to a maid, is thought to haunt the property too. He’s supposedly joined by a stable boy who burned to death in an arson attack.

cobwebs covering old objects inside Monte Cristo Homestead, Junee, NSW — Creepy cobwebs cover the antiquities of the late Crawley family. (Image: Destination NSW)

These are just a few of the ghosts said to roam the property and you can try to feel their icy presence for yourself on a ghost tour at Monte Cristo.

an elegant but haunted manor at Monte Cristo Homestead, Junee, NSW — Step inside the spooky elegant manor at Monte Cristo Homestead. (Image: Destination NSW)

6. Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, Western Australia

The building now known as the Fremantle Arts Centre was built by convicts in the 1860s as an asylum for those suffering from mental illness and ‘poor’ women. Patients were treated more like prisoners and the facility became overcrowded, as it was deemed a ‘solution’ to deal with people suffering from a range of conditions, including menopause and sunstroke.

the gothic heritage building exterior at Fremantle Arts Centre in Perth, Western Australia — Fremantle Arts Centre is housed in a gothic heritage building in Perth, Western Australia.

The death of a woman at the hand of a violent inmate sparked the closure of the facility, and it was then used to house soldiers during WWII. This is when reports started of strange banging, whispering and crying at night. Staff who later came to work in the arts centre have reported sudden changes in temperature, thought to be the work of ghosts.

the exterior of Fremantle Arts Centre — Step back in time to the dark history of Fremantle Arts Centre.

7. National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, ACT

Today, the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) celebrates and protects Australia’s audiovisual heritage, but, in a previous life, it was an anatomical institute. The building has housed many skeletons and other human and animal specimens, including Phar Lap’s heart and Ned Kelly’s skull.

the entrance of National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, ACT — NFSA preserves Australia’s vibrant audiovisual culture. (Image: National Film and Sound Archive)

As a result, many ghost hunters say it’s one of the most haunted places in Australia. In particular, the ghost of the founder and first director of the former Australian Institute of Anatomy, Sir Colin MacKenzie, is known to loiter in the halls on occasion. His ashes are housed in a wall behind a plaque that recognises him, so, whether in ghost form or not, he’s literally in the building.

The NFSA sometimes runs ghost tours, check the events page for details.

a ghost tour with cryptonaturalist Tim the Yowie Man — Experience an unnerving ghost tour with Tim the Yowie Man at NFSA. (Image: National Film and Sound Archive Ghost Tour)

8. Devil’s Pool, Babinda Boulders, Queensland

Devil’s Pool near Babinda in North Queensland is a stunningly beautiful place, but not all those who have been lured into its rainforest fringed, turquoise waters have come out alive. A notoriously dangerous swimming hole, 17 people have died here, mostly young men.

According to Aboriginal legend, a lovestruck woman named Oolana threw herself into the waters after being separated from her lover, Dyga, who, in a Romeo and Juliet-style tale, was from a different tribe.

Her spirit is believed to have never left the pool, and it’s said she now coaxes men in to join her in death. Some people have also reported unexplained crying in the area, thought to be Oolana crying out for Dyga.

the Devil's Pool in Babinda Boulders, Queensland — Devil’s Pool is the said culprit behind tragic deaths in Babinda Creek.

9. Mushroom Tunnel, Picton, NSW

Picton, 90 minutes southwest of Sydney, is sometimes described as the most haunted town in Australia. When it was founded in 1821, the town was named Stonequarry, and its best-known landmark is the Mushroom Tunnel, formally known as the Redbank Range Railway Tunnel. It’s in this tunnel that a number of people have died – either accidentally or by suicide.

the dark entrance of Picton Mushroom Tunnel — Many visitors hear the eerie sounds of a steam train coming from the Picton Mushroom Tunnel.

The ghost of Emily Bollard, who was killed by a train in 1916, is perhaps the most famous. She is thought to be the white flowing figure of a woman with no face, who has reportedly been sighted on a number of occasions.

Elsewhere around Picton, a matron is said to haunt the old maternity ward; a young boy and girl and a bearded man are said to haunt the Wollondilly Shire Hall; and the jukebox at the Imperial Hotel has been known to fire up on its own, even when unplugged.

Organised ghost tours no longer run in Picton, but you can show up and try to see or feel the departed for yourself.

a woman standing at Mushroom Tunnel, Picton, NSW — Rumour has it that Mushroom Tunnel is cursed by a young woman.

Video credit: Visit Victoria/Tourism Australia

The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.

There are no kangaroos back in Chicago: they’re all here in the Grampians/Gariwerd . In the heart of the Grampians National Park’s main gateway town, Halls Gap, pods of eastern greys are eating grass beside my parked rental car beneath the stars. Next morning, when I see the backyard of my rented villa on the edge of town for the first time, there are kangaroos feeding beside a slow-moving creek, lined with river red gums.

Five hundred metres up the road, 50 or so of them are eating by the side of the road in a paddock. I pull over to watch and spot three emus. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly overhead towards the tall green mountains just beyond town.

‘Kee-ow, keee-oww’… their calls fuse with the maniacal cackle of a kookaburra (or 10). Gawd, how I’ve missed the sound of them. Far above, a wedge-tailed eagle watches, and there you go: the ‘great birds of Australia’ trifecta, all half a kay from the town limits.

Exchanging city chaos for country calm

kangaroos near Halls Gap, Grampians National Park — The park is renowned for its significant diversity of native fauna species. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

I’ve come to the Grampians to disconnect, but the bush offers a connection of its own. This isn’t just any bush, mind you. The Grampians National Park is iconic for many reasons, mostly for its striking sandstone mountains – five ridges run north to south, with abrupt, orange slopes which tumble right into Halls Gap – and for the fact there’s 20,000 years of traditional rock art. Across these mountains there are more than 200 recorded sites to see, created by the Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali and Gunditjmara peoples. It’s just like our outback… but three hours from Melbourne.

I’ve come here for a chance at renewal after the chaos of my life in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, where I live for now, at the whim of a relative’s cancer journey. Flying into Melbourne’s airport, it only takes an hour’s drive to feel far away from any concept of suburbia. When I arrive in Halls Gap two hours later, the restaurant I’m eating at clears out entirely by 7:45pm; Chicago already feels a lifetime ago.

The trails and treasures of the Grampians

sunrise at Grampians National Park /Gariwerd — Grampians National Park /Gariwerd covers almost 2000 square kilometres. (Image: Ben Savage)

Though the national park covers almost 2000 square kilometres, its best-known landmarks are remarkably easy to access. From my carpark here, among the cockatoos and kangaroos on the fringe of Halls Gap, it only takes 60 seconds’ driving time before I’m winding my way up a steep road through rainforest, deep into the mountains.

Then it’s five minutes more to a carpark that serves as a trailhead for a hike to one of the park’s best vantage points, The Pinnacles . I walk for an hour or so, reacquainting myself with the smells and the sounds of the Aussie bush, before I reach it: a sheer cliff’s edge lookout 500 metres up above Halls Gap.

walking through a cave, Hollow Mountain — Overlooking the vast Grampians landscape from Hollow Mountain. (Image: Robert Blackburn)

There are hikes and there are lookouts and waterfalls all across this part of the park near town. Some are a short stroll from a carpark; others involve long, arduous hikes through forest. The longest is the Grampians Peaks Trail , Victoria’s newest and longest iconic walk, which runs 160 kilometres – the entire length of Grampians National Park.

Local activities operator Absolute Outdoors shows me glimpses of the trail. The company’s owner, Adrian Manikas, says it’s the best walk he’s done in Australia. He says he’s worked in national parks across the world, but this was the one he wanted to bring his children up in.

“There’s something about the Grampians,” he says, as he leads me up a path to where there’s wooden platforms for tents, beside a hut looking straight out across western Victoria from a kilometre up in the sky (these are part of the guided hiking options for the trail). “There are things out here that you won’t see anywhere else in Australia.” Last summer, 80 per cent of the park was damaged by bushfire, but Manikas shows me its regrowth, and tells me of the manic effort put in by volunteers from town – with firefighters from all over Australia – to help save Halls Gap.

wildflowers in Grampians National Park — Spot wildflowers. (Image: Visit Victoria)

We drive back down to Halls Gap at dusk to abseil down a mountain under the stars, a few minutes’ walk off the main road into town. We have headlamps, but a full moon is enough to light my way down. It takes blind faith to walk backwards down a mountain into a black void, though the upside is I can’t see the extent of my descent.

Grampians National Park at sunset. (Image: Wine Australian)

The stargazing is ruined by the moon, of course, but you should see how its glow lights up the orange of the sandstone, like in a theme park. When I’m done, I stand on a rocky plateau drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Aussie animals who prefer nighttime. I can see the streets of Halls Gap off in the distance on this Friday night. The restaurants may stay open until 8pm tonight.

What else is on offer in The Grampians?

a boat travelling along the Wimmera River inDimboola — Travelling along the Wimmera River in Dimboola. (Image: Chris McConville)

You’ll find all sorts of adventures out here – from rock climbing to canoeing to hiking – but there’s more to the Grampians than a couple of thousand square kilometres of trees and mountains. Halls Gap may be known to most people, but what of Pomonal, and Dimboola, and Horsham? Here in the shadow of those big sandstone mountains there are towns and communities most of us don’t know to visit.

And who knew that the Grampians is home to Victoria’s most underrated wine region ? My disconnection this morning comes not in a forest, but in the tasting rooms and winery restaurants of the district. Like Pomonal Estate, barely 10 minutes’ drive east of Halls Gap, where UK-born chef Dean Sibthorp prepares a locally caught barramundi with lentil, pumpkin and finger lime in a restaurant beside the vines at the base of the Grampians. Husband-and-wife team Pep and Adam Atchison tell me stories as they pour their prize wines (shiraz is the hero in these parts).

dining at Pomonal Estate — Dine in a restaurant beside vines at Pomonal Estate. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Three minutes’ drive back down the road, long-time mates Hadyn Black and Darcy Naunton run an eclectic cellar door out of a corrugated iron shed, near downtown Pomonal. The Christmas before last, half the houses in Pomonal burnt down in a bushfire, but these locals are a resilient lot.

The fires also didn’t stop the construction of the first art centre in Australia dedicated to environmental art in a nature-based precinct a little further down the road (that’s Wama – the National Centre for Environmental Arts), which opened in July. And some of the world’s oldest and rarest grape vines have survived 160 years at Best’s Wines, outside the heritage town of Great Western. There’s plantings here from the year 1868, and there’s wines stored in century-old barrels within 150-year-old tunnels beneath the tasting room. On the other side of town, Seppelt Wines’ roots go back to 1865. They’re both only a 30-minute drive from Halls Gap.

Salingers of Great Western — Great Western is a charming heritage town. (Image: Griffin Simm)

There’s more to explore yet; I drive through tiny historic towns that barely make the map. Still part of the Grampians, they’re as pretty as the mountains behind them: full of late 19th-century/early 20th-century post offices, government offices and bank buildings, converted now to all manner of bric-a-brac stores and cafes.

The Imaginarium is one, in quirky Dimboola, where I sleep in the manager’s residence of an old National Australia Bank after a gourmet dinner at the local golf club, run by noted chef and teacher, Cat Clarke – a pioneer of modern Indigenous Australian cooking. Just south, I spend an entire afternoon at a winery, Norton Estate Wines, set on rolling calico-coloured hills that make me think of Tuscany, chit-chatting with owners Chris and Sam Spence.

Being here takes me back two decades, when I lived here for a time. It had all seemed as foreign as if I’d driven to another planet back then (from Sydney/Warrane), but there seemed something inherently and immediately good about this place, like I’d lived here before.

And it’s the Australian small-town familiarity of the Grampians that offers me connection back to my own country. Even in the better-known Halls Gap, Liz from Kerrie’s Creations knows I like my lattes with soy milk and one sugar. And while I never do get the name of the lady at the local Ampol station, I sure know a lot about her life.

Kookaburras on a tree — Kookaburras are one of some 230 bird species. (Image: Darren Donlen)

You can be a local here in a day; how good is that? In Chicago, I don’t even know who my neighbour is. Though each day at dusk – when the kangaroos gather outside my villa, and the kookaburras and the black cockatoos shout out loud before settling in to sleep – I prefer the quieter connection I get out there in the bush, beneath these orange mountains.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Sleep beside the wildlife on the edge of Halls Gap at Serenity .

Playing there

abseiling down Hollow Mountain — Hollow Mountain is a popular abseiling site.

Go abseiling under the stars or join a guided hike with Absolute Outdoors . Visit Wama , Australia’s first environmental art centre. Check out Dimboola’s eccentric Imaginarium .

Eating there

steak, naan bread and beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap serves a great steak on naan bread.

Eat world-class cuisine at Pomonal Estate . Dine and stay at much-revered icon Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. The ‘steak on naan’ at Halls Gap brewhouse Paper Scissors Rock , can’t be beat.

Dunkeld Arboretum in Grampians National Park — The serene Dunkeld Arboretum.

For Halls Gap’s best breakfasts head to Livefast Cafe . Sip local wines at Great Western’s historic wineries, Best’s Wines , Seppelt Wines and Norton Estate Wines .

two glasses of beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Sink a cold one at Paper Scissors Rock.

9 of the most haunted places to visit in Australia