Elephant barn Smithfield
| Place type: | Farm barn |
|---|---|
| Also known as: | Smiths Barn, Smithfield Elepant Barn, Elephnat barn |
| Address: | Main North Roud |
| Town or Locality: | Smithfield |
Tommy the Smithfield elephant
was shipped from Calcutta in India (now Kolkata) to Hobart in 1851, before being transported to Melbourne where he lived at the Cremorne Gardens menagerie with other exotic animals. Named Jumbo at the time, Tommy was then bought by the licensee of Adelaide's Cremorne Gardens Hotel, an Unley establishment that wanted South Australia's first elephant in its adjacent zoo, which already had a monkey, emu, kangaroo and parrots. But Tommy was a five-year-old youngster who would regularly wander into the neighbours' yard where he pulled washing off the line or played with washing tubs because he loved water. Tommy never did appreciate being probed by a piece of iron by his keeper to perform in a circus ring and regularly threw riders from his back with overtly abrupt movements. He was also too curious for stonemasons working on the hotel, who chased him and hit with their shovels, to which he responded by spraying wet plaster into their faces. "It does seem that Tommy was quite a character as well, and he was young, so he would have played up as any five-year-old child does," .
The shovel episode at the Cremorne finally landed its licensee Thomas Bentley in court so he sold Tommy to the settler, John Smith, after whom the northern suburb Smithfield was named. Tommy was marched some 30 kilometres from Adelaide to Smithfield along Main North Road where the Scottish settler was busy constructing a new township. There he was used for heavier jobs (plough fields etc), with an 1855 article in the Register newspaper referencing the elephant's use for labour as "combining the strength of an ox with the docility of a lamb". Adelaide historian Dan Schmidt said he was also used to dam and divert the course of Smith's Creek away from a hotel under construction by John Smith at the time. "He was also used to draw water from the well because they figured he loved water so much." Mr Schmidt said the creek diversion resulted in litigation against Mr Smith, while Tommy was ultimately considered too slow at ploughing work, and drawing water from the well — possibly because he was distracted playing with the water. "He wasn't actually doing much work, so he was then sold to the Gepps Cross Hotel where Charles Matthews, the licensee there, and his family became very attached to him,"
It was his new owners that renamed the elephant from Jumbo to Tommy, and set him to work ploughing fields and dislodging bogged vehicles for patrons of the pub, which is located about 20 kilometres closer to the city's CBD. Mr Matthews also contracted Tommy out to South Australian Railways, where he helped haul materials to build the passenger railway line between Salisbury and Smithfield, which forms part of today's Adelaide to Gawler line. A local attraction
Mr Matthews is also believed to have made money from Tommy's efforts in log-pulling races against bullocks, not to mention his crowd-drawing appeal, with the sight of an elephant ploughing a field a new event for SA. Another amusement for people at Gepps Cross was Tommy's habit of being fed bread and beer slops from the pub every day at midday.
But it was perhaps the trials and tribulations of looking after such an exotic animal that eventually led to Tommy's untimely death at the age of nine. An early death
It has been mentioned in news stories found on TROVE that documented that Tommy was left in a field without a shelter on a cold and stormy night and died from what was believed to be cramps soon afterwards. "Where do you put an elephant? It's not something you can bring into the house, so they would have had to have something especially built to house him and it didn't look like Gepps Cross provided anything like this .
There has been some suggestion the so-called "elephant barn" on Main North Road was his shelter, but Historian Robyn Heitmann believed its entrance was not even close to being big enough.
Robyn Heitmann who gave a discussion on John Smith Family of Smithfield to the Gawler History Team inc June 2026 mentioned that the original shed of that era was demolished , with the present day shed erected after 1862 long after the Elephant had died, and past when John Smith had sold the elephant on (1855) , instead, she found writings suggesting he was tied to a tree with a chain attached to his leg at night and was fed five sheaves of hay for dinner, believing it a more "plausible" account
"And what they say he died of, certainly might not be what he actually died of," this subject has been discussed for decades. "There wasn't an autopsy or such things done in those days, so they were probably guessing as to what he died of and that's what it is recorded as. Tommy's tusks and hide were sent to England and his carcass was buried in a field nearby.
Tommy's legacy in Adelaide's northern suburbs lives on, however, with an Elephant Walk trail in the area, a set of large elephant tusk sculptures established at the Smithfield Railway Line, and persistent rumours his bones are buried beneath the adjacent laser skirmish and go-kart business.
Description of Smiths Barn c1860s
Random rubble stone building with brick quoins, surrounds and string courses. Gabled roof clad with corrugated iron with ridge vent. Vents to gable ends. Some ground level opening have been filled in and damaged. This is the only structure remaining on the site of John Smith’s homestead. Smith was an early settler in the district and founded the township of Smithfield. Smith was the largest landholder in the district and the size of the barn reflects this. The barn was built c.1860, a solid stone brick building with a stone floor. It had a manger the whole of its length. At the end of the building was a chaff cutter, used to cut the hay which was stored in the building. The horses fed from both sides of the wooden manger. The stone to build the barn was carted down from the local quarry in the hills face behind the building and the wood had been cut from the nearby Peachey Forest..
Smith used the stables not only for his own purposes but for those who stopped at his inn requiring food and rest for their horses. Directly behind the stable was a large stone stand on which stood a water tank and alongside s sheep dip. Several trees on the site date from the family’s first settlement in the area in 1847 and included a large carob tree. It was recommended in the 1996 heritage survey to be listed on the Local Heritage Register as a place of local heritage value to the City of Playford.
Locally the building is known as the Elephant House, however it is doubtful whether Smith’s elephant was kept inside. The entrance to the stable is low and not wide enough. It is more probable that Jumbo the elephant was attached to a tree by chain. Also known as Elephant House , Smith 's Barn, Elephant Barn
References
Memories of Elephant barn Smithfield
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