THE TASMA TERRACE TRAGEDY with Sarah Chumacero

THE TRAGEDY AND THE HAUNTING AT TASMA TERRACE

By THE WIZARDRESS OF OZ: Sarah Chumacero

Nestled on the immediate outskirts of Melbourne CBD (central business district) sits Tasma Terrace; a collection of terraces built in the 1800’s which have now been restored and are the headquarters of the National Trust of Victoria. There are reports from staff of having uneasy feelings in certain rooms and some have even the seen the ghost of a woman standing by the photocopier. Many were too afraid to work late at night and would not lock up by themselves. Why would they be seeing the ghost of a woman? It just so happens that there is a darker history to Tasma Terrace that involves the murder of a woman. Edith Jane Forrester Jubb lived and ran what was called the lodging house of Tasma Terrace. Controversially at the time, she lived with her ‘lover’ Mr Alfred Turner. With them also lived her 15-year-old daughter Fanny who was not Alfred’s child. As you can imagine back in the 1800’s this was a very scandalous thing to be living with a ‘lover’. Edith was in fact rumoured to be an adulteress. It is unknown if she really was or if this is just an assumption consistent with the times based on the fact that she lived with her ‘lover’. Alfred was rumoured to be an aggressively violent man. His stepdaughter Fanny had witnessed his cruelty firsthand towards her mother. She said he had even threatened to shoot her mother on countless occasions. It seems that one day he followed through on his threat. On the 14th of August 1890, a barrister who also lived at the Parliament Place address, (now known as Tasma Terrace), heard the gunshots and went to investigate the scene. He then went to fetch Dr Charles Ryan to assist. On their way to the back to the terrace, they found Constable William Harley nearby. Constable Harley was the first officer on the scene. He found Alfred standing in the hallway with a gash to his forehead.

As Constable Harley continued past the dining room and into the bedroom at the rear of the building, he found Edith lying lifeless. She had a gun in her left hand and the left side of her body was soaked in her own blood. (This is significant, and I will tell you why shortly). The left side of her face was swollen, and she had a bullet hole beneath her left eye and a second gunshot wound near the left ear. Apparently the first bullet merely only fractured her upper jaw, but the second bullet was fatal.

The coroner opened an inquest on the 16th of August which was held in the dining room of the lodging house. The immediate assumption was that she committed suicide. There are however a few issues with this. Firstly, she was shot twice with a revolver that needed to be re-cocked after each shot. It would be pretty hard to shoot yourself in the head, re-cock the revolver and then give it another go to finish the job. The Dr who did the autopsy Dr G.A Syme however ruled this was indeed possible. The biggest problem with the story was that Edith was found with the gun in her left hand with injuries located on the left side of her body. This would only be possible if you were left-handed. Edith’s daughter Fanny swears that her mother was right-handed and also hated firearms. She even went to the extremes of hiding Alfred’s gun. It is not known if it was because she feared what he would do or if it was due to her hatred of guns. During the whole commotion it was doing that

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a bullet had strayed and hit the wall. This dislodged plaster and injured Alfred explaining the gash on his forehead. Murder suicide was the story. According to records, the allmale jury went on a character assassination of Edith as an immoral, alcoholic jealous woman and Alfred was merely a man suffering from financial stress and suffering frustration from their social status based on their current living situation. After 45 minutes, even though the defence put forward witness accounts from daughter fanny of aggression and abuse and the fact that her mother was right-handed and could not have killed herself, the all-male jury deemed it a suicide and Alfred was free to go. He and Edith’s children seemed to disappear off the face of the earth and no record of them can be found after the trial. It is unknown if he fled or just kept a low profile. The section of the terrace where the murder occurred has since been demolished, however her body was held in the dining room at Tasma Terrace where the inquest also took place. Her body was held in this room for days. The dining room is still standing as is the hall where Alfred was also found. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to investigate the remaining areas of the terrace as well as hosting a special one night only event for the general public as well. We investigated 3 keys areas. The first was the dining room where the inquest was held. At this time, we ourselves did not know the extensive history behind Tasma Terrace. We knew a woman had been murdered and that was all as we wanted our evidence to lead us the way and not be influenced by the story.

We received several names through the SB7 and the GD box (modified portal). The name Harley came through. At the time we did not know that a Constable Harley was connected to the case. The name Emily also came through which later research found was the name of Alfred’s 6-year-old daughter. We also had REM Pod activity at the same time along with one of the staff members who worked in the office feeling like they had connected with the spirit of Alfred. Overall, it is an amazing example of how information can be validated after an investigation and why it can be useful going in without prior historical knowledge that can unknowingly lead you. It makes the results all the more convincing. Tasma Terrace as it stands today is only open to general public during special Open Weekends, however it does house a gallery, shop and meeting rooms. It was set for demolition in 1970 when the National Trust of Victoria stepped in and heritage listed its status and revamped it into their head office. I am very privileged to be one of the small amounts of people to have investigated this location. Amongst the vast concrete jungle that our cities are becoming, it is important that these architecturally beautiful gems filled with history remain preserved.

It is equally important that we as investigators tell the stories of our past and so that people like Edith can have her story told in what a hugely different and much more empathetic and tolerable world we now have. Sarah x QR CODE: TASMA TERRACE https://www.nationaltrust.org. au/places/tasma-terrace/