Ghosts - St John's Reformatory At Kapunda, South Australia Poem by Paul Warren

The St John's Reformatory at Kapunda Town
Was run by the Catholic Church for wayward girls around
But they had trouble with the girls staying there
Being away from Adelaide was something that they didn't care

In 1876 the school closed but opened by the Arch-Bishop as a Reformatory in 1897
With Sisters of St Joseph and Mary McKillop helping set it up as a girls only haven
The girls were schooled and given religious education for their soul's sake
And they were taught housekeeping and gardening for a living to make

1909 the Reformatory closed after rumours that Rev Martin was ill treating the girls
It was spread that Ruby Bland an 18 years old inmate died in a pregnancy swirl
The claim was incorrect and Rev Martin stayed on with his mental state deteriorating
And when he died the Reformatory tales of ghosts began as a St John's Haunting

There was a cemetery at the site and Ruby Bland's grave was on these grounds
If you go there now you may hear laughter and the loud girlish voices surround
And it it said that Ruby Bland can be seen on the grounds wandering about as lost
And Kapunda in the Barossa Valley of South Australia now counts this ghostly cost.

© Paul Warren Poetry