Mount Breckan – from the beginning | State Library of South Australia

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In 1870 Alexander Hay’s first wife, Agnes (nee Kelly), died of Bright’s Disease leaving four teenage children, a son and three daughters. Two years later Alexander Hay married again. His second wife, eighteen years his junior, was also named Agnes – Agnes Grant Gosse. Alexander Hay soon had four children with his second wife. One was the historical novelist, William Gosse Hay.

One summer while on holiday at Port Victor (now Victor Harbor), Alexander Hay and his second wife, with their baby daughter, were rowed out to Granite Island (the Causeway had not yet been completed). In Footprints, a memoir of her husband, Agnes recalled that they had sat on the rocks admiring the view. Above the little town was a small bracken-covered rise, and the new Mrs Hay said to her husband: ‘Now I should just like a house on that mount.’ ‘Well you never know, perhaps you may,’ her husband replied – much to her surprise.

A watercolour painting by W.A. Cawthorne depicting Alexander Hay's residence Victor Harbor, Mount Breckan. ca.1895. SLSA: PRG 489/8/18 — A watercolour by WA Cawthorne depicting Alexander Hay's residence, Mount Breckan, ca.1895. SLSA: PRG 489/8/18

A wise investor

Alexander Hay was aware that the South Australian government was about to pour money into the shipping facilities at Port Victor to transform it into a deep seaport. The idea was to link to nearby Goolwa. This was the destination for Murray River paddle steamers bringing cargoes of wool and wheat. From Port Victor the cargoes could be shipped to Port Adelaide or directly overseas. The wealthy were already investing in the town by building stores, opening shipping agencies and buying land. Ever the canny businessman, Hay bought 160 acres outside of the town. But it wasn’t all about money. Included in the purchase was the small hill that had taken his wife’s fancy. He had decided to make his wife’s dream come true.

Hay had a strong interest in education and had been one of the founders of Adelaide’s first University. He employed the new institution’s architect, William McMinn, to design a summer house above Port Victor. McMinn was also the architect of the Governor’s new summer residence, ‘Marble Hill’ where there are similarities in the design of the two buildings.

Governor’s residence at Marble Hill, taken by Samuel Sweet approximately 1879. SLSA: B 3094

Governor’s residence at Marble Hill, c1879. Samuel Sweet, photographer. SLSA: B 3094

Governor’s residence at Marble Hill, taken in 1932. SLSA: B 7812/1

Governor’s residence at Marble Hill, 1932. SLSA: B 7812/1

Mount Breckan, 1912. SLSA: B 4287

Portrait of William McMinn, one in a composite of 'Men of South Australia', 1875. SLSA: B 7233/3

Portrait of architect William McMinn, one in a composite entitled 'Men of South Australia', 1875. SLSA: B 7233/3

Mount Breckan becomes a home

The new residence was built of Encounter Bay limestone in the style of a Gothic revival ‘castle’ with an 80-foot tower, 22 rooms, extensive gardens, a boating lake and a caretaker’s lodge. In April 1878 the foundations were laid.

The ‘house’ was completed in the summer of 1879/80 and named ‘Mount Breckan’, using the Scottish spelling of bracken. It was filled with expensive furnishings, many purchased from the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition. No expense was spared. The mantle pieces alone, some of marble, cost almost one thousand pounds.

Lithography of the Mount Breckan residence, owned by the Hon. Alexander Hay, seen in the distance across a river. SLSA: B 821

Lithograph of the Mount Breckan seen in the distance, c1881. SLSA: B 821

Women seated on the entrance steps to 'Mount Breckan', which was badly damaged by fire shortly after this photograph was taken. SLSA: PRG 280/1/11/213

Women seated on the entrance steps to 'Mount Breckan', c1908. SLSA: PRG 280/1/11/213

Mount Bracken's entrance hall and staircase, published in the book Footsteps.

Mount Breckan's entrance hall and staircase, from the book Footprints : a memoir of the late Alexander Hay, one of the fathers and early colonists of South Australia by Agnes Grant Hay, published in London, 1899

The family used Mount Breckan as a summer retreat from the heat of the city. Alexander now had four young children, as well an adult son and three daughters from his first marriage.

When the Hays were not in residence, the large property was looked after by Mr and Mrs Albert Henderson, who lived in the lodge, beside the entrance to the long driveway leading to the main building. A boat shed was built on the banks of the Hindmarsh River for the family’s use and a changing shed on the beach – strictly for men only.

A society hostess

Agnes Hay blossomed as a society hostess. She had grown up in Adelaide society and loved to entertain. As the mistress of 'Linden', the family home in Adelaide, Agnes Hay became renowned for her dinner and garden parties. Her guest list included Lord Hopetoun, Governor of Victoria; South Australian Premier, Sir Henry Ayers; pioneer pastoralists and businessmen Daniel Cudmore and Simpson Newland, and many other prominent South Australians. Many of these also visited the Port Victor retreat, including Chief Justice Samuel Way who kept a diary describing summers spent at Mount Breckan (SLSA: PRG 30).

Mrs Hay was well-known for her extensive wardrobe made by the dressmakers of Adelaide.

‘Mrs Alexander Hay has a wonderful green satin gown just now … which cost a mint of money and takes everybody’s breath away.’ ~ Robert Barr Smith, 1882 (SLSA: PRG 354)

Others in Adelaide society, such as Lady Todd, thought Agnes Hay frivolous and disapproved of her dance parties. (Todd letters, SLSA: PRG 630/6)

Alexander Hay dies

In 1898, during a heat wave, Alexander Hay died of heart failure at Mount Breckan, and in the introduction to her memoir of her husband, she wrote:

‘On February 4, 1898, I lost the friend who was unspeakably near to me – the beloved and honoured companion of my life during twenty-six happy years … He died at the advanced age of seventy-eight, leaving me – though many years younger – paralyzed and prostrate, bereft of the strong staff that had been my support’. ~ Agnes Grant Hay

Travels and writing

Soon after Alexander’s death, Agnes and her two daughters sailed to London where youngest son, William Hay, was studying law at Trinity College, Cambridge. In England she wrote and published Footprints : a memoir of the late Alexander Hay, one of the fathers and early colonists of South Australia.

Travel articles soon followed for the Advertiser newspaper and its weekly edition, the Chronicle. The editor, John Langdon Bonython, wrote,

‘She has distinctly the literary gift’. ~ John Langdon Bonython, editor SLSA: PRG 979

Mrs Hay continued to write books – memoirs, as well as novels with religious themes. Agnes travelled often between London and Adelaide, staying at Mount Breckan when she was in South Australia. In all, she made 18 sea voyages between Adelaide and London, first by sailing ship and later by steamer. These trips were in large part to visit family in England. She was a grandmother by this time and keen to spend time with her young grandson.

A young Alexander Hay with with grandmother, Agnes Hay in 1903. SLSA: B54513 — Alexander Hay junior with his grandmother, Agnes G. Hay. SLSA: B 54513

Except for a brief visit from Alexander Hay Jr. in 1900, Mount Breckan was mostly empty for several years. Then young William Hay returned from studying in the UK, back for the first time since his father's death. He had decided to become an author and began working on a story based on his return home. It was set in Port Victor, using false names, but he never completed the book. Instead, he married, settled down, and began a new writing project. In 1902 he moved to Beaumont, later purchasing 'Nangawooka' at Hindmarsh Valley, where he remained until his death in 1945.

Mount Breckan burns

Agnes was allowed the use of their home at Port Victor but she was never there for very long, constantly travelling. However, in 1905 she did remain at Mount Breckan long enough to write her anonymously published autobiography After-glow memories she then resumed her travels.

In late 1908, Agnes and her youngest daughter, Helen, whose nickname was 'Dolly', returned to Adelaide from London. They had travelled aboard the SS Waratah, a luxurious passenger and cargo-carrying liner, on her maiden voyage. The pair spent Christmas at Mount Breckan with Sir John Lawes-Wittewronge, eldest son of an English baronet. Agnes and Dolly had not intended to stay long in Adelaide. However, in the February after Christmas, the tank in the roof above one of the bathrooms needed repair. (Water for the house was pumped in from two huge underground tanks.) The plumber was using highly inflammable liquid tar which was accidently set alight by a hurricane lamp. It flared up and fire instantly took hold in the roof.

A view of Mount Breckan on fire from a street in Victor Harbor, as a woman watches on, 1909. SLSA: B 17136

A view of Mount Breckan on fire from a street in Victor Harbor, 1909. SLSA: B 17136

A view of the fire damaged Mount Breckan, Victor Harbor, 1909. SLSA: B 17137

A view of the fire damaged Mount Breckan, 1909. SLSA: B 17137

Mount Breckan during the fire that almost destroyed it at Victor Harbor, 1909. SLSA: B 17140

Mount Breckan during the fire, 1909. SLSA: B 17140

The ruins of Mount Breckan destroyed by fire at Victor Harbor in 1911. SLSA: PRG 280/1/15/523

The ruins of Mount Breckan, 1911. SLSA: PRG 280/1/15/523

Within a few hours, only the walls of Mount Breckan were left. Locals helped save nearly all the furniture in the ground floor rooms – including a grand piano, billiard table and valuable paintings although many of the books in the library and the Italian marble statues were destroyed.

Sir John Lawes-Wittewronge saved some of Agnes’s gowns, and possibly some of her jewellery. He is reported to have thrown the clothing from her upstairs bedroom window, A box of gold sovereigns said to be in the room, was never found, and Dolly’s jewellery was lost. Agnes and Dolly were downstairs and escaped injury.

A faulty insurance policy

Mrs Hay's problems had only just begun, for now the executors of her husband's estate, on submitting a claim, discovered that through a fault of the insurance agent, the policy was null and void. The building had been insured for eight thousand pounds, the furnishings for two thousand, and the paintings and statuary for one thousand, three hundred and eight pounds.

The insurance company finally agreed to pay a smaller figure which, after much wrangling, they did a year later. This was probably not aided by the late Mr Hay's extremely long and complicated will, which was not finally settled until the death of his last child in 1952.

While the complex fire insurance claim for Mt Breckan was being settled, Agnes and her daughter decided to return to London, where another daughter, Gertrude, was expecting a baby. The Hays booked first-class berths on the SS Waratah. On 7 July 1909, mother and daughter left Port Adelaide for England. They never saw Mount Breckan again, read this story to find out why.

Portrait of Mrs Alexander Hay, formerly Agnes Grant Gosse, was Hay's second wife. This portrait was taken in 1890. SLSA: B 56447

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