Who was the Macquarie Fields Train Station Ghost?

There's been a lot in the local press in the last week about the ghostly happenings at Macquarie Fields train station. If you haven't read anything about this, here is a link to the Macarthur Chronicle article: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/macarthur/teenage-ghost-girl-haunts-commuters-at-macquarie-fields-railway-station/news-story/6b2b9fb22747a927024aab552d6992c6

The article mentions a possible explanation for the spooky noises and the sightings of a 'young girl wearing dancing clothes, covered in what looked to be blood in her chest area'. The article describes how an Emily Hay Gengeson was reportedly hit by a train and killed along the railway line at Macquarie Fields.

I thought I would do a bit of investigating to find out more about the accident and Emily Hay Gengeson. My research yielded some fascinating results. The young girl was actually a 42 year old woman named Emily Hay Georgenson. She was killed on the Saturday afternoon of 7 July, 1906. Newspaper reports provide a gruesome description of what happened. The Cumberland Argus described how "an unknown woman was run over and killed near Macquarie Fields platform on Saturday afternoon by the train reaching Liverpool at 3.53pm. The line there is a straight down-grade from Ingleburn, and the train, which does not stop before it reaches Liverpool, was travelling with considerable speed. When near the platform, the driver noticed the woman attempt to cross in front of the engine, too near to avert the accident, and the woman was knocked down and run over and literally cut to pieces."

Before the accident, Emily had recently been a patient at a private hospital at Wahroonga. Before that, she had been living with her father, Gifford Georgenson at Darlinghurst. She had been in bad health for a number of months. The reports described how she had been suffering from sleeplessness and melancholia. Her insomnia was so bad that she had to be moved to the hospital or 'lunatic asylum' as some newspapers referred to it as.

On the Saturday, the day of her death, she went to Glenfield to visit some friends. A nurse was sent to be in charge of her and accompany her by rail to Glenfield. Emily required constant watching as she might do an injury to herself. She appeared normal on the train, but after they alighted at Glenfield and the train was taking off again, Emily jumped back on. Her nurse then drove to Ingleburn after her, but Emily had got off at Macquarie Fields. A driver of a train coming from Campbelltown that was approaching Macquarie Fields station saw a woman come out of a tool shed and walk towards the line and on to it. She threw herself down on her knees and the train passed over her.

The coroner ruled that it was not an accidental stumble and that Emily had committed suicide by throwing herself in front of the train.

Emily Hay Georgenson was born on 19 June, 1864 at Lewick, Shetland Islands in Scotland. Her parents were Jean and Gifford Duncan Georgenson. The family, including seven other siblings, came to Australia on 10 May, 1879 when Emily was 14. Gifford was a shipmaster and died at Mosman in 1912.

I'd like to do some more research on Emily. It would be interesting to know where she is buried and perhaps find a photograph of her. Stay tuned for further updates on this blog post.

I wonder, is it Emily's faint crying that can be heard on the breeze at Macquarie Fields station late at night? Perhaps they are cries of a tortured soul that will hopefully one day find everlasting peace....

Written by Andrew Allen

Update: Emily Georgenson was buried at Waverley Cemetery in Sydney's eastern suburbs.