1. The Singapore report.
2. The Perth report.
3. The Brisbourne report.
4. The Melbourne report.
5. The Tokyo report

THE BRISBOURNE REPORT

Old nooks and crannies.
By chaz dabat kkoshi , March 2000

Brisbourne was great, the gig was kikin' and the food finger likin', there was slight rain here and there and it was mostly overcast, but still warm.

When we checked in to the hotel the evening we arrived there were a few suprises to say the least. The building from the outside was reminiscent of an old magistrates court building or even a palace of some kind. Once in the building though images of the shining by Stephen king came to mind, with ease.

We all got our room keys and straight away perceptive Zee said “ooh I don’t like this place it gives me the creeps”. I on the other hand not phased by these old walls went straight to my room for a quick shower, as I was planning to go the hotels sister building next door which was a 4 floor casino.

Once in my room the first thing I noticed was a very high ceiling, as John Themis put it, you could fit another floor up there, but I also noticed an arch behind my bed the size nearly of the whole wall. Obviously this was a doorway at some point which has now been cut off, but where does it lead I ask.???????? Wanting to investigate I quickly left my room and started walking round, only to find the other side of my arch which is still a door but now sealed. So it was apparent that this building didn't start out as a hotel, but something else. Well this door of mine led to a hallway that led to the most beautiful courtyard in the centre of the building. It was all lit up and black rails all around every floor level with palms and plants supplying the occasional green colour.

So off to the casino, and some sushi with the whole band.

Mikey had an experience, he went into his room pitch black, and then hit the light switch as the door slammed behind him, leaving him in the dark for that all important split second, only to reveal a room the size of a tennis court, with light fittings as big as a small car hanging over head. Jon Moss had the same type of room but he had to change it as it was too big, and gave him the jitters. Its funny all our rooms were on the second floor?

It was not till the next day that I found in my hotel room a book outlining the buildings history. Well the building across the road which is the casino was the old treasury building, quite apt for a casino I thought, the outside was maintained in its full glory but inside it had all the mod cons of a casino, not to mention bars and restaurants etc.

However, the building we were in told a different story, it was the old records house and land registry building, so if you were buying property or getting married in 1903 you came there. These walls if they could talk , would tell many a story. On flicking further into the book I read that during the war they built a 4 foot high wall around the building to protect it from bombing. Also in the early 18th century there was a massive flood due to rainfall from the river across the way, and the main bridge collapsed, and as the registry building was so well built, people took shelter in the main courtyard for days, the building saved many lives in that period.

Then I found it, probably the thing that maybe Zee, Mikey and Jon Moss felt. Sometime in the 1930s a woman working for many years at the registry building, whose job was like a party co-ordinator, suddenly dissapeard while in the building. She was searched for high and low for days,weeks and months but to no avail. There was an enquiry later on into her disappearance, but lack of evidence meant her file was closed and dismissed. The chapter in the book closes with this sentence, and my hair stands on end as I type, “you can still see her this day from time to time on the second floor as many people have sighted her ghost walking up and down the corridors, she still wanders round ........,,lost” . aaaaaahhh I was going to bed now but I think I'll stay up till its flight time tomorrow.