Martindale Hall‘s weapons and artefacts collection under review for state heritage protection

Samurai armour, guns, swords, spears and boomerangs – this is one of SA’s most impressive collection of weapons and artefacts.

Martindale Hall’s smoking room, which contains a collection of weapons and armour sourced from around the world and Australia. Picture: Tom Huntley

More than 1000 antique items on display within historic Martindale Hall – including furniture and a collection of weapons from around the globe – will be considered for state heritage listing.

The SA Heritage Council will this year start reviewing the expansive possessions stored inside the grand Mintaro mansion to determine whether they should – like the building itself – receive the state’s highest heritage protection.

Weapons on display in the Smoking Room of Martindale Hall. Picture: Dept of Environment and Water

The first tranche of items to be analysed at a council meeting on Thursday will be the Mortlock weapons collection – an assortment of guns, rifles, spears, arrows, shields, boomerangs, knives and a 19th century suit of samurai armour.

Heritage SA said the bulk of the weapons, largely on display in the 141-year-old property’s opulent smoking room, were collected by William Tennant Mortlock.

“The Mortlock Weapons Collection is comprised of a diverse assortment of weapons that originate from many different countries and continents, including Australian First Nations, Pacific Island Nations, Japan, India, South-East Asia, Europe and the Middle East,” a spokeswoman said.

“Due to the number of items at Martindale Hall, it is proposed that they should be grouped into collections based on similar associations and intrinsic relationships to the state heritage place.”

Weapons on display in the Smoking Room of Martindale Hall. Picture: Dept of Environment and Water

The billiard room at Martindale Hall, near Mintaro. Picture: Tom Huntley

The samurai armour on display in the house. Picture: Dept of Environment and Water

A place, area or object can be considered to have state heritage value if it meets one of seven criteria, including if it has a “special association with the life or work of a person or organisation”.

Protection prevents items being moved, altered or sold without the heritage council’s authority.

The spokeswoman said the potential listing of the items was “significant” as presently there were only two heritage items on the state register – the Burra Jinker and the Islington Weighbridge.

The grand Martindale Hall at Mintaro was heritage listed in 1980. It was built in 1879 for pastoralist Edmund Barton, reportedly to woo a love interest. Picture: Tom Huntley

The 32-room Martindale Hall was built for wealthy bachelor pastoralist Edmund Bowman, who sold it to William Tennant Mortlock, of the famous South Australian pastoralist family, in 1891.

William Mortlock’s daughter-in-law Dorothy Mortlock bequeathed the property to Adelaide University in 1965. The university passed the property to the State Government in 1989.

The council will also consider listing objects associated with Cummins House, at Novar Gardens.

Members will then discuss whether to grant protection to the Edinburgh Castle hotel and assigning state heritage status to Glenthorne Park.

One of the bedrooms at Martindale Hall. Picture: Tom Huntley