Dunluce Castle built in early 20th Century for Alexander Macully, Anglican rector at St Jude’s church, Brighton

Dunluce Castle, amid homes in the Adelaide beachside suburb of Brighton, was completed around 1912 for St Jude's Church Anglican rector Alexander Macully (pictured inset with some members of his family). Bottom right: The castle hosted tours and Devonshire teas in the 21st Century to fund preserving its history.

Dunluce Castle became one on the hidden large historical homes of Adelaide suburbs after its original 12 acres at beachside Brighton were subdivided for housing around it.

On land bought from the Catholic church, the home was built for the family of Alexander Macully, Anglican rector at St Jude’s church, Brighton, who moved in around 1912 after Fricker Brothers started on the project in 1904.

Its design, with a castellated round corner tower, was based on a wing of Dunluce Castle from around 1500 in Antrim, Northern Ireland. Alexander Macully, who was born at Armagh, Northern Ireland, earned arts and law degrees at Trinity College, Dublin, where he won the Downes Divinity Prize in 1879. His skills as a elocutionist gained fame in Dublin with his recitals attended by 1,500 to 2,000.

In 1888, Macully graduated with a master of arts at the Melbourne University. He was ordained deacon in the Anglican church at Meath, near Dublin, in 1880 and was priest two years later at Derry, Northern Ireland. After some appointments in Ireland, he became curate at Bendigo, Victoria, in 1885, then rector of Nundah, with Clayfield, in Brisbane, in 1897. He started in South Australia from 1901 as curate in Hindmarsh and then Semaphore. From 1905 to 1908 he was priest in charge at Brighton.

His Dunluce Castle mansion sat prominently on sand dunes and originally had a 360-degree view of Brighton to the sea and across the Adelaide Plains from its estate of 12 acres including a stable and coach house. From 1913,. much of the land was subdivided and sold for housing.

Macully died in 1921, having suffered the loss of his son Arnold in World War I but before one of his three daughters, Kathleen (Kitty) Whyte, a local swimming teacher, was killed in a shark attack (South Australia’s first fatality this way) in 1926 at Brighton.

Dunluce Castle remained well preserved, with 13 main rooms and a dozen original fireplaces, plus an imposing blackwood staircase and cedar ceilings. The building stayed in the hands of succession of family owners, with the Tinneys being the seventh from 2005. In 2017, owner Sarah Tinney successfully petitioned Holdfast Bay Council to stop it selling the lane alongside the castle, a shortcut between Yester Avenue and Jetty Road, that gave a vantage of the property.

To support the local-heritage-listed Dunluce Castle being preserved, it hosted tours and Devonshire teas.