Riverina Rewind: Remembering Junee's Olive Ryan and life in Australia's 'most haunted house'

With the loss of one of Junee’s best known residents last week, we thought we’d look back on the legacy of the late Olive Ryan and her family home, the haunted Monte Cristo Homestead.

Mrs Ryan passed away in Junee on Thursday (14 November) on the eve of her 94th birthday.

The Ryan family have been the custodians of Australia’s ‘most haunted house’ for more than six decades after Olive and her husband Reg acquired the run-down Victorian-era building in 1963.

The spectacular hilltop manor house was built in the 1880s by local entrepreneur Christopher Crawley and his wife, Wiradjuri woman Elizabeth.

The pair had settled in the region in the 1860s and struggled to make ends meet before the Great Southern Railway line opened in 1878.

The family’s Railway Hotel became a booming success and Christopher soon became one of the region’s wealthiest residents and purchased large amounts of land in Junee.

Work began on the Monte Cristo Homestead high on the hill overlooking the town in 1884 and the couple and their seven children moved in the following year.

Rumours of the house being haunted began when Christopher died suddenly from blood poisoning in 1910 that was attributed to a starched collar.

His distraught wife rarely left the house after his death and a string of tragedies followed.

It is claimed that the spectres of Christopher and Elizabeth Crawley are among the many that continue to roam the halls of the historic house.

In 1963, Reg, his pregnant wife Olive and two daughters moved into the “bat-infested” house that had stood vacant for 20 years, with little more than a couple of chairs and air mattresses.

According to an article in the Australian Women’s Weekly of September 1976 the property was in such bad shape that the local Catholic Church had refused to take it as a gift.

“Undeterred by its dilapidated state and the frustration of eight years of negotiation, Wagga-born tailor Reg Ryan bought the house in 1963 for 2000 pounds,” the story explained.

“With only his trade skills, a little knowledge of welding and carpentry, and an assistant as enthusiastic as he was, Mr Ryan undertook the massive restoration.”

Over the next decade, the family steadily added to their curious home, collecting Victorian-era furniture from all over Australia, replacing wallpapers and soft furnishings and welcoming visitors into the evolving living history museum.

“A ring at the doorbell will bring a guide, who could be the livewire owner [Reg], his wife [Olive], or any of their daughters – Debbie (17), Noelene, (15) Michelene and (13) Shiralee (11). Even four-year-old Lawrence is involved in the workings of the house as an enterprising business,” the Australian Women’s Weekly reported.

“He shows lantern slides in the barn, plays metal disc records on a vintage polyphone (of 1890 Swiss origin), and entertains guests with stories of the ghosts – luckily friendly – which the family believe haunt their home.”

Lawrence was apparently “very preoccupied with setting ghost traps” and it was an interest that endured over the decades as the youngest Ryan has been instrumental in the expansion of the paranormal tours that his father began in 1993.

In 2021, Lawrence told Region that his parents’ first supernatural encounter took place on a foggy evening while driving home from town with supplies before the house had electricity.

“They were halfway up the dirt driveway and stopped their car because lights were beaming from every door and window of the house,” said Lawrence.

“Dad assumed squatters had moved in, but as they drove closer all the lights went out.

“People say it could have been their car lights reflecting off the windows, but there weren’t any glass panes in the windows or doors at the time.”

Over the years, the family reported numerous paranormal experiences and visitors claim to have seen ghostly apparitions and experienced strange smells, disembodied voices, and intense emotions.

Last year, as Olive turned 93, she also celebrated 60 years of living at Monte Christo, a place that had become her family home and an enduring legacy that she shared with hundreds of visitors each year.

Rest in peace.