The Body was conveyed to.......

One of the unusual uses for Hotels in the past was their use as a temporary morgue and  a place to carry out autopsies and Inquests. There are accounts after accounts of this in newspapers and often the newspaper uses the term 'and the body was conveyed to [name of Hotel]' so I thought we would have  a look at some of these reports.

It seems surprising that Hotels would be used for this purpose, but I assume it was because they had space, access to water and perhaps a solid table for holding the autopsy. It was, however, a practice that was frowned upon by the authorities. As early as 1867,  the Legislative Assembly in Victoria had this issue brought to their attention by Mr Cook - To call the attention of the Chief Secretary to the practice of the police of conveying dead bodies to hotels for the purpose of holding coroners' inquests; and to ask if he will give instructions that in future such bodies may be conveyed to the nearest public morgue as may be available. (The Argus December 13, 1867) The Chief Secretary may have given instructions to the police, and it may have altered the practice in the City, but it was  a less practical idea in rural areas, due to logistical issues and the lack of morgues. There are accounts of Hotels being used as temporary morgues up to the 1920s.  Here are just a few local examples of this happening.

WARNING - newspapers were much more graphic in their reporting than they are today, so these excerpts may contain information that is upsetting.

A fatal accident occurred near the Eumemmerring Creek bridge on Thursday morning last, between the hours of twelve and one a.m., by which a farmer named George Ritchie, residing at Lyndhurst, lost his life. It appears that he had been at Hennessy's races [at  Eumemmerring] and had imbibed, rather freely during the day. On the way home George challenged his companion to  a race (they were both riding horses); his horse fell and George hit his head and he sadly died. The body was taken to Taylor's Half Way House Hotel in Lyndhurst, where an enquiry was held the same day and the verdict given to the effect that the deceased had met with his death on the morning of the 27th December by accidentally falling from his horse whilst in a state of intoxication. (South Bourke & Mornington Journal, January 2, 1884, read the full report, here)

Here's a report from The Argus, July 20 1900 - which gives lots of information about the deceased and his last movements - Yesterday afternoon, at Cranbourne, Mr. J. F. M. M'Millan, of Ballarto, dropped dead while marking at the rifle club ranges. It was at first believed that Mr. M'Millan had been shot, but this was found to be incorrect. He had been shooting at 600 yards, and had made 21. He became somewhat excited, as this was his highest score at this range, and he suddenly dropped down. The services of Dr. Park were requisitioned, and on his arrival he pronounced life extinct. The body was then conveyed to Nurse's Hotel, [Mornington Hotel] Cranbourne, where the doctor made a careful examination of the body to see if there were any bullet marks. He could find none however, and he came to the conclusion that death was due to heart disease. A post-mortem examination will be held. Mr. M'Millan was the second son of the late Mr. Alexander M'Millan, of Caldermeade Estate, of which he was part owner with his brothers at the time of his death. He had a few months ago purchased the Ballarto property from Mr. James Gibb, of Berwick, and had had extensive improvements carried out to the buildings. Since his arrival in the Cranbourne district some two years ago he had entered heartily into all public movements, and he was very highly esteemed. He leaves a widow and one child.

The Mornington Hotel, Cranbourne, here the autopsy of Mr McMillan was held in July 1900. The Mornington Hotelwas renamed The Motor Club Hotel in 1911 - now almost universally known as Kellys.

Image: The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson.

This report is about 21 year old George Gilchrist - Whilst riding from Kooweerup to the Iona St. Patrick's day sports this after noon a young cyclist named Gilchrist was killed. From the particulars to hand it appears his bicycle encountered a rut on the road near the Iona Roman Catholic Church. and Gilchrist was thrown forward on to his head, his neck being broken. The body was conveyed to the Railway Hotel, Bunyip, and the parents of deceased came over from Kooweerup this evening. (The Age, March 18, 1910)

The death notice of George Gilchrist, the son of William and Margaret Gilchrist of Koo Wee Rup. 

The Age March 19, 1910  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196077302

On the 22nd inst. it was reported to the local police that a man named James Little, a laborer, had shot himself at Kooweerup. Constable Cole proceeded to the place and had the body removed to the Palace Hotel [Lang Lang] where an inquest was held before Mr Cohen, P.M., Coroner. There is then a graphic account of what happened , which we won't repeat here and then the Coroner returned a verdict that the deceased died from gun shot wounds self inflicted. (South Bourke & Mornington Journal, April 2, 1914, read the full report, here)

Iona Hotel, Garfield c. 1915. The location of the autopsy of Peter Lynch in 1916. 

Image:  Berwick Pakenham Historical Society

A resident of Garfield named Hull was walking along a lonely track on Thursday when he came across the dead body of a man.Word was sent to Constable Anstee, at Bunyip, and the remains were conveyed to the Iona Hotel at Garfield. The body was decomposed, and Dr Cowan, who conducted the inquiry, was of opinion that death took place fully a month ago. From letters found upon the body it is thought the man's name is Peter Lynch, from Cork, Ireland. The remains were buried in the Bunyip Cemetery on Friday. (The Age, July 1 1916) I wonder if Peter's relatives back home in Ireland ever heard of his death or if his disappearance always remained a mystery.

I came across another report of a man who had been found after many weeks and again I wonder if his relatives ever head of his fate - BEACONSFIELD UPPER, Thursday. - A post-mortem examination was held at the Pine Grove Hotel on Wednesday by Dr Griffith, of Berwick, on the body of A. McMillen, who was found dead on the main Gembrook road near Beaconsfield Upper, on Tuesday midday by school children. Dr. Griffith found that death was caused by the effects of drink and exposure. There was no injury likely to have caused death. The body was that of a healthy man, aged about 50. Evidently the body had lain where it was found for about a fortnight. (The Argus September 7, 1917)

I have created a list on Trove, of articles that report on Post Mortems and Inquests being held in local hotels, you can access it here. All the articles referenced here, are on the list.

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Fraser's Hotel at Pakenham

Michael Kelly established a hotel in Pakenham, on the west side of the Toomuc Creek in 1869. From 1881, the hotel was operated by Eliza and Alexander Fraser.

We can find out something about the Frasers from a Licence renewal hearing that took place in December 1882 at the Berwick Court and was reported in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal on December 13, 1882.  Mrs Fraser had applied for the renewal of her licence for her hotel and billiard table. This was opposed by Sergeant McWilliams on the grounds that her house was so badly kept that it disturbed the quiet of the neighborhood, and that she had got a husband living with her, therefore was not a responsible person to hold a publicans' license, as she might be called away by her husband at any moment. She had also been fined for Sunday trading. Her hearing was postponed until January 5, 1883 and this was also reported in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of January 10, 1883.  At this hearing, Sergeant McWilliams said that the problems at the hotel were getting worse and that two months ago there was a drunken man lying outside covered with blood, apparently having been in a fight. Mrs. Fraser interfered, when Mr Fraser kicked her and gave her a blow in the face. 

The Sergeant went on to give other evidence against Mrs Fraser - Some time ago, about 17th May, 1882, he was on duty in Berwick about nine or ten o'clock, when he was met by Mrs. Fraser in a great state of excitement, who rushed into his arms, exclaiming that she had run away from her husband, as she thought he was going to kill her. At his persuasions, on that occasion, she, after some trouble, returned home. Shortly after that she telegraphed down for the witness to come up to her hotel for the purpose of protecting her against the cruelties of her husband, which witness did. Afterwards she took out a summons before Mr. F. Call in Melbourne, binding her husband over to keep the peace towards her. He also said the outside buildings were in a very dilapidated condition, and what with its being surrounded by pigs and geese and other animals, it was in a most disgusting and beastly state.

Mrs Fraser's lawyer, Mr Gillott, appeared for her and answered some of the allegations and that she was dependent on the profits of the hotel for the support of herself and three children. Other information presented  about Mrs Fraser included  She had held a publican's licence for thirteen years; eleven years in Melbourne at the Inverness, Royal George, and Kirks Bazaar Hotels. There were twelve rooms in the Pakenham Hotel - Michael Kelly, the owner of the hotel, sworn, stated that if the license was granted he was prepared to put the hotel in proper order. The house had been continually licensed for the last fourteen years. The present applicant had been in it since 15th September 1881.  

Mr. Gillott made an able address, and after joining issue on all of the objections that had been raised, said the only tenable one was her unsatisfactory marital relations with her husband which was not
misconduct on her part but her misfortune for which she should not be deprived of her only source of livelihood and thrown upon the world with only a few sticks of furniture to sell to enable her to commence life afresh. The Court granted her licence to keep the hotel for another year on the condition that it was better conducted and the building put in order. For some reason  the licence for the billiard table was not granted. The next few years the licence was renewed without an issue and at a hearing in June 1886, the licence was formally transferred from Alexander's name to Eliza's name.

Fraser's Hotel was part of allotment 1 & 2, Section 2, to the left (or west) of the Toomuc Creek. You can see Bourke's La Trobe Inn (also called Bourke's Hotel) on the other side of the creek.

The Township of Pakenham, County of Mornington. H. Permein, Assist. Surveyor ; lithographed at the Public Lands Office, Melbourne, April 22nd, 1858 by T. Ham. Victoria. Public Lands Office

State Library of Victoria - see the full map here -  http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/100195

Eliza Fraser (nee Mulcahy) died July 31, 1890 at the age of 43. Her Will lists her property - that piece of land at Pakenham being part of allotment 1& 2, Section 2, Parish of Pakenham on which is erected a weather-board house containing seven rooms, and kitchen and bedrooms detached containing 3 rooms and the said land containing one acre. Also all that piece or parcel of land situate at Pakenham containing half acre or thereabouts. The value of the land was £890 and the total estate including personal property was valued at £915. The Estate was left to her three sons -  John James Ward, Arthur Ward and Alexander Fraser. Eliza had married Arthur Ward in 1869 and he died May 26, 1874. She married Alexander Fraser in 1878 - the year they moved to Pakenham - more of which below.  Her executors were her son, John James Ward, Patrick Kennedy and John Dwyer.

John Dwyer took over as licensee of the hotel after Eliza’s death, according to a Berwick Licensing Court hearing, held on December 5, 1890.  The 1889/1890 Rate books list Eliza as the owner of the hotel, for some reasons in the previous three years she is not listed and in 1885/1886 she listed as renting the building from Michael Kelly, which means it was sometime in that date range that she purchased the building from Mr Kelly.  I am unsure what happened after that - a property was listed in Eliza Fraser's name (either as Estate of or Executors of) up to the 1894/1895 Rate books, the address being Lot 1 Staughtons sub-division - I think that is possibly 'the parcel of land situate in Pakenham' that was listed in the Will, and not the Hotel. The 1895/1896 Rate Books has this property listed as being owned by Mrs F. Allen, occupation Housekeeper. In the 1897/1898 Rates her occupation has been gentrified to 'Lady' - she has the property up to 1905, but that's as far as I went looking.  I cannot find John Dwyer listed in the Rate Books, so I have no information about other owners of the hotel property or the fate of the building.

Before we finish up we will have a look at  Eliza's children - her first son, John James Ward,  was born 1872 in Ballarat. He married Ellen Gertrude Rice in 1891 and, sadly, died  April 12 1893 in his 21st year. Ellen applied for Probate on July 21, 1893 and  the following information was listed - he was a grocer from Pakenham and they had two children - Bernard - 18 months old and John James - 2 months old. Ellen was living in Cowwar at the time.

John's death notice

The Age April 13, 1893

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193441926

Eliza's middle son, Arthur Ward, was born in 1874 in Ballarat. Arthur enlisted in the First World War, on November 19, 1915 at the age of 42 (Service number 20154).  His address was a miner and he lived at Donnybrook in Western Australia. Arthur Died of Wounds on April 17, 1918. His Next of Kin was his sister-in-law, Ellen Hawes of Cowwarr. Ellen had married Edgar Hawes in 1897. Arthur is listed on the Honor Board at St Patrick's Catholic School in Pakenham, see here.  There is more information on the St Patrick's Honor Board and other Great War Memorials in the Pakenham District on Patrick Ferry's website - A Century After the Guns Fell Silent Remembering the Pakenham District's WWI Diggers 1914-1918 http://www.pakenhamww1.com

Reference to Arthur Ward's death - 'native of Pakenham' - buried at Vignacourt in France

Commonwealth War Graves Commission; London, United Kingdom; The War Graves Of The British Empire, Hem Farm, Hem-Monacu Suzanne Communal, Suzanne Military, Herbecourt British, Frise Communal, France. 

www.ancestry.com.au

Death notice of Ellen - John's wife and Arthur's sister -in-law

The Argus November 15, 1955

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71780185

Eliza's last son, Alexander Fraser,  was born in  Pakenham in 1879. This means that the Frasers were in Pakenham at least two years before they took over the licence of the Hotel in 1881, so I did some more research and found an article about an Insolvency case brought against Alexander Fraser, farmer, of Pakenham. The article tell us that Alexander and Eliza had purchased 165 acres each in June 1878 and that my wife was possessed of and carried on business in the Royal George Hotel, Elizabeth street - so this confirms that this couple are the same ones that held the hotel licence. You can read the full report, here, in The Herald, June 9, 1880. I presume Alexander being declared bankrupt was the catalyst for Eliza Fraser going back into the hotel business. I don't know what happened to Alexander Fraser - either the father or the son -  in the end.

I have created a list of newspaper articles on Trove on Eliza Fraser and her hotel and family, you can access it here.

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Ten oldest Hotel buildings in the Casey Cardinia area

Whenever  a town was established one of the earliest buildings erected was a Hotel and if you travel down to Melbourne to the inner suburbs - Carlton, Fitzroy, North Melbourne, South Melbourne, Collingwood etc then you would be aware that hotels were seemingly built on every street corner from the 1850s, 1860s onwards. It wasn't quite the same out here of course, but we did have  a number of Hotels built in the 1860s - the Limerick Arms at Nar Nar Goon, the Mornington Hotel and the Cranbourne Hotel at Cranbourne, Bourke's Hotel at Pakenham to name  a few. However, very few of these buildings are still here - there are still hotels on the site in some cases but the original buildings have been demolished. So  here are what I believe are the oldest Hotel buildings in the Casey Cardinia Region - if you think I am wrong, then let me know!

1857 - The Berwick Inn or Border Hotel is not only the oldest hotel but one of the oldest buildings in the region. The Hotel was established in 1857 by Robert Bain. The  original building consisted of the  triangular single storey part which is made of hand-made bricks from local clay. The two storey  sections were added in 1877 and 1887. Robert Bain and his wife, Susan (nee Stewart) whom he married in 1859, operated the Hotel together until he died on February 27, 1887. Susan then operated the Hotel until she passed away June 26, 1908. The Hotel has since had a number of owners but is still going strong. You can read more about the Bain family and the Hotel  here.

The Ranges Hotel,  Gembrook, 1940s or 50s. 

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/267

1902 - Ranges Hotel at Gembrook is the second oldest Hotel in the area and was built in 1902 - shortly after the arrival of the Fern Tree Gully and Gembrook Railway, as the Puffing Billy line is officially known, which opened on December 18, 1900.  The Berwick Shire Rate books list Jessey and Isabella Sykes as having a Hotel at Crown Allotment A11 in Gembrook from 1894. I have reproduced the entry, below.

Shire of Berwick Rate Books, 1894/95

However in The Argus of November 27, 1901 (reproduced above)  there was an application from Jane McMahon to obtain a licence for the premises 'about to be erected'. It seems likely therefore that a hotel was on the site from 1894 and that after the Railway line came through a new and bigger hotel was erected.

The Argus November 27 1901

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9617916

To prove that McMahon's Hotel was actually The Ranges Hotel, this is a report of the sale of the Hotel and some land from John McMahon to Fred Pitt in 1904. Fred and Howard Pitt operated the Hotel until 1921 when it was taken over by John and Catherine Beacham who transferred the licence to Wolf Dorfman in February 1935. Dorfman transferred the licence to Daphne and Alfred McGregor in 1946. Sadly, the Ranges Hotel was destroyed by fire on September 24, 2018 - it remains to be seen whether it is rebuilt, but I feel it deserves to stay in this blog until we see what happens.

The Argus March 15, 1904

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10603390

1915 - The Royal Hotel in Koo Wee Rup.  The Hotel was constructed for Dennis McNamara by Mr A. G Oliver  for the contract price of £3,305. The finished building was a ‘fine commodious building of nearly 30 rooms’, according to the Lang Lang Guardian, and ‘one of the finest edifices of the kind in Gippsland’. The rooms were fitted out by Mr McKee of the Royal Arcade ‘in a most up-to-date and luxurious manner’.  It was officially opened on Thursday, September 9, 1915. 

1915 - The Iona Hotel at Garfield  The first hotel in the town was opened in 1904 and was destroyed by fire in 1914. The existing hotel opened in 1915. The South Bourke and Mornington Journal  from May 27 1915 reported that the Shire of Berwick Health Inspector, Dr H. White, had inspected the Iona Hotel and he was pleased with the appointments and sanitation of the place and that no expense had been spared by the proprietors to make it all respects one of the best equipped hotels in the colony.

Iona Hotel at Garfield, shortly after opening.

Berwick Pakenham Historical Society photo

1924 - Railway Hotel in Bunyip -  The Hotel is also called Stacey's Hotel after Thomas Stacey. According to Call of the Bunyip - Thomas Stacey 'purchased the block of land where the Railway Hotel is situated' so I assume he built the original hotel on this site around 1890.  Call of the Bunyip says the Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1924, but an article in The Argus (see below) says that it was demolished in late 1923 - so not sure which is correct.  The existing building was opened in October 9 1924 (or it was possibly Oct 2 - I am not sure which 'Thursday afternoon' the report refers to.)

The Argus October 8 1923

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2000557

The Age October 10, 1924

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155536763

1924 - Motor Club Hotel (Kellys) in Cranbourne.  The Hotel began life as the Mornington Hotel around 1860. In about 1912 it was known as the Motor Club Hotel and in 1919 it was taken over by the Kelly family.  You can read more about this here. The existing hotel was built around 1924 - I am basing this on the valuation in the Cranbourne Shire Rate Books - in 1923/24 and 1924/25 the Net Annual Value was 240 pounds, in 1925/26 -it had leaped to 420 pounds and the next two years it was 400 pounds, so I believe the increase in rates was due to the erection of the new building. As the Local Government year used to run from October 1 to September 30 then the new building would have been erected between October 1924 and September 1925 to appear at the higher valuation in the 1925/26 year.

1927 - Gippsland Hotel (Top Pub) at Bunyip. There was a Gippsland Hotel in Bunyip from the mid 1880s owned by Laurence Finch, his daughter Sarah took over the licence around 1897. Sarah  married William Kraft who took over as the licensee and it was known as Kraft's Gippsland Hotel. On April 11, 1927  the Licensing Court approved the plans for the rebuilding of the Gippsland Hotel at Bunyip (see below)  It's interesting that it says that the Hotel was destroyed by fire, I haven't seen that anywhere else.

The Age April 13, 1927

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205796323

1928 - Central Hotel at Beaconsfield  Janet and David Bowman opened a hotel on this site in 1855, it was called the Gippsland Hotel and later the Central Hotel. You can read more about the Bowman family and the hotel, here.  The existing  building dates from 1928. There was a Licencing Board hearing regarding the rebuilding of the hotel in September 1927 (see article below) and the new building work had to commence by February 1928, so I assume it was finished that year. The Cardinia Shire Heritage Study by Graeme Butler and Associates (1996) says that 'part of the earlier building may survive within the perimeter if this later structure.'

Report of the Berwick Shire Council meeting in the Dandenong Journal September 22, 1927

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214589499

1929 - Pakenham Hotel at Pakenham   The Hotel near the Railway Station at Pakenham was  built for Daniel Bourke sometime between 1877, the year the railway arrived, and 1880 - I have seen various dates listed in various books. The Hotel was originally called the Gembrook Hotel and later the Pakenham Hotel.  The existing Hotel was built for Esther and Joseph Shankley and opened in April 1929. The Dandenong Journal described the Hotel as an 'ornament to the Main Street.' I don't have the exact date for the opening however the Pakenham Gazette had these advertisements in April 1929 - so I am assuming the opening date was between April 19 and April 26, 1929.

Pakenham Gazette April 19, 1929

Pakenham Gazette April 26, 1929

1931 - Hallam Hotel at Hallam  The Hallam Hotel started operation in 1872 or around 1879 (depending on sources) in William and Mary Hallam's General Store. A new building may have been built by Edmund Uren in 1886. The existing building opened in 1931 - and 'a portion of the old building was either modernised and extended'  or it was rebuilt completely - there are conflicting reports. Either way, it has changed so much that I am rating it as a 1931 building, so it is the tenth oldest Hotel building in Casey Cardinia. You  can read more about the Hallam Hotel, here. 

1934 - Palace Hotel at Lang Lang I said this was the top ten, but I will include the Palace Hotel, as it is a 1930s building. In 1893 the Flintoff family, who had previously operated the Tobin Yallock Hotel,  built the Lang Lang Coffee Palace near the station.   The building later acquired a liquor licence and was renamed the Palace Hotel. The original building burnt down in May 1933 and the new Palace Hotel was built on another site (where it is now) and opened in June 1934.

Special mentions

Pine Grove Hotel in Beaconsfield was built around 1880 and was destroyed in the Ash Wednesday fires in  1983. 

The Nar Nar Goon Hotel was built in 1883 and was destroyed by an explosion on May 21, 1972. 

Bourkes Hotel, also called the La Trobe Inn, on the  Toomuc Creek in Pakenham was opened in 1849 by Michael and Catherine Bourke - there is still a hotel on the site but I believe that there is very little of the original building left (if any). 

The Cardinia Park Hotel in Beaconsfield, started life as the Bush Inn, around the 1870s but has been 're-built', sometime before 1962 according to From Bullock Tracks to Bitumen 

Cranbourne Hotel on the site of where the Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre is now located was built in the 1860s and demolished in the 1970s. 

Richard Taylor's Half Way House Hotel at Lyndhurst was opened in 1871 and demolished in 1966.

Paradise Hotel Clematis - started by Michael O'Connor at Paradise Valley, later called Clematis - it was listed as a 'wine hall and accomodation house' in a newspaper report November 24, 1900. I am unfamiliar with this building and not sure how much of the original building remains.

Tooradin Hotel -  There was a hotel at Tooradin from around 1870. In 1888 Larry Basan took over the licence  and rebuilt the hotel in 1895.  The hotel was demolished in 2016 after being unused for many years.

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Hallam Hotel

William and Mary Hallam purchased the 50 acres (20 hectares) of land  in 1856 on the corner of the Gippsland Road (Princes Highway) and Hallam Road. They established a store and a Post Office and the store was 'the genesis of the hotel' as Jean Uhl says in her book  Call back Yesterday: Eumemmerring Parish. I do not know when the Hallams were granted the licence but there is an article in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of May 21, 1879  when Mr W. Hallam of Eumemmerring was charged in the Dandenong Police Court with 'not having a light outside his licenced house' (you can read the article here) so it was clearly operating as a hotel then. The Hallam Hotel website says it started in 1872 and this seems to be the general consensus from newspapers articles published on the history of the hotel in 1970s and 1980s, and I am not saying that this date is incorrect, but I can't find any evidence to support it.

The Hallams sold their land to Edmund Uren, in 1885.  This is confirmed by the following two articles in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of March 11, 1885.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal   March 11, 1885

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page6745638

Deborah Stephan, in her booklet, Hallam 1830-1930, wrote this about Edmund Uren, who had purchased Hallam's property for 2,100 pounds - Uren was a Cornishman who arrived in Australia in 1856 and went into copper mining on the Buninyong district (Ballarat). He served three years on the Borough Council, one year as Mayor of Buninyong and three years as a member of the Ballarat Mining Board. On November 24 1886 Uren applied for a certificate authorising the issue of a victuallar's licence for premises situate at Eumemmerring, 'containing six rooms exclusive of those required for the use of my family and servants'. In June 1892 he described himself as the licensed victualler of Hallam's Hotel, Hallam Road near Dandenong, when conveying the property to his wife Elizabeth.

I don't know why  he had to apply for a victuallers licence as he already had one, but I suspect that he might have rebuilt the building as by 1886 the original premises would have been close to 30 years old.  You can see in the newspaper report, above, that the hotel was referred to as the Eumemmerring Hotel - Jean Uhl says that the hotel had  a variety of names including Hallam's Eumemmerring Hotel, Uren's Hallam Hotel, Uren's Hotel Eumemmerring and Hallam's Road Hotel.

Edmund Uren died in July 1892 and his wife, Elizabeth,  took over the licence. Elizabeth operated the hotel until June 1898 when  'Miss Clarkson was installed there' as the South Bourke and Mornington Journal said.  Ada Jane Clarkson owned the Hotel until March 1913. It then  had a succession of licensees including Eliza Bonnell, Sarah Wright and Mary Thomas who took over in 1921.

Hallam Hotel, before the 1930s remodelling

The Hotel started it's life as a one storey building and The Age reported on October 28, 1930 that existing building was to be modernised and extended.

The Age October 28 1930

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202242862

The new hotel was opened in March the next year as the the Dandenong Journal of March 12, 1931 reported The new hotel has been completed; a handsome two story building, which has taken the place of the old hostel of the overlanding days.

Dandenong Journal March 12, 1931 

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201082945

The Hallam Hotel in 1986

References: 

Hallam 1830-1930 by Deborah Stephan  (City of Casey Historical Pamphlet 2)

Call back yesterday: Eumemmering Parish by Jean Uhl  (Lowden Publishing 1972).

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Robert and Susan Bain and the Border Hotel / Berwick Inn

Robert and Susan Bain were the proprietors of the Berwick Inn also known as the Border Hotel in High Street in Berwick.

The hotel was established by Robert Hudson Bain (1831-1887) in 1857 which was four years before the town of Berwick was gazetted. Early Days of Berwick  has this to say about the name of the establishment at a very early age, possibly the late 1840's the district was marked out for Police administrative purposes embracing the Port Philip area and with its limits at Bacchus Marsh and Berwick respectively.  This theory that Berwick was the 'border' of this administrative area and thus the hotel was named the Border Hotel,  is supported by the fact that there is an historic hotel in Bacchus Marsh called the Border Inn, construction of which started in 1850. The book goes on to to say when the original Port Phillip Farmers' Society was formed [in 1848] two branches one at Berwick and one at Bacchus Marsh were formed so that district links existed between these two places. The other theory suggested by Early days of Berwick  is that Bain named it after his birth place, the  border town of Berwick-on-Tweed, however Richard Myers, author of the book, Berwick Mechanics' Institute and Free Library has dismissed this idea, as Bain was born in Falkirk in Scotland.

Robert Bain came to Australia in 1855 when he was 24 years old. He married Susan Stewart in 1859 and they had eleven children, but more about them later.

Berwick Inn in 1858

Robert was very much involved with the civic life of Berwick. He was Post Master from 1859 to1872, he was the first secretary of the Berwick Road Board which was formed in this building in 1862. He was on the board of the Berwick State School from 1862. The hotel was the venue for the first Police Court in 1865. It was also the first meeting place for the Berwick Mechanics' Institute and the Bains later donated the land upon which the Mechanics' Institute stands on. The building is one the oldest in the Casey Cardinia Region. The earliest section of the building, the triangular single storey part, dates from 1857. This is made of hand-made bricks from local clay. The two storey sections were added in 1877 and 1887.

   The Bain family owned the hotel until 1909, with Susan Bain taking over as licensee after her husband’s death on February 24, 1887 at the age of 56.  Robert Bain's obituary in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal can be read here  but it reads in part - Connected with school, with Mechanic's Institute, with Cemetery, with everything that concerned the town ship; he was always ready to do his part...... Scandal, whether to hear or to utter, was abhorrent to him. He was full of humanity toward all, ever ready. to give honor to whom honor as due, and help them who were in need.    His funeral was at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church and he is buried at the Berwick Cemetery.

The Bain family taken in the 1880s.

Photo: Berwick Mechanics' Institute and Free Library by Richard Meyers

We know that Robert gets much deserved credit for his role in public life, but Susan was in the background raising their eleven children and when her husband died in 1887 and when her youngest child was only eight, Susan took over as the licensee of the Hotel and managed the business until just before her death at the age of 69 on June 26, 1908.   Her obituary in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal  described her as highly respected and that her many good deeds will long be remembered by residents in and around Berwick. You can read the full report here.

Death notice for Susan Bain from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of July 1, 1908

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66147962

As you can see from the Death Notice, above,  by the time Susan passed away in June 1908,  only three of her eleven children were still alive and two sons had died in Janaury 1908 from a heat wave  - you can read about their sad deaths here, in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of January 22, 1908. Susan was born on December 28, 1838 in Scotland, the daughter of Robert Stewart and Catherine Campbell*,  and she arrived in Melbourne in 1857 and as we saw before, married Robert two years later. Her sister Margaret also lived in Berwick with her husband George Brown. George owned a drapers shop in the town. Margaret died July 28, 1884 at the age of 50, according to her death notice in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal. Her only child, George was killed in 1887 at the age of 23, accidentally hit by  a train whilst walking back to Berwick from Beaconsfield along the railway tracks. You can read the Inquest and description of his funeral here, in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of June 8, 1887. George Brown later married Mary Jane Patterson and built Inveresk in  1891, the house on the corner of High Street and Rutland Road in Berwick.

Here is  a list of Robert and Susan's children*
Catherine (born 1860 -  died October 1900 - known as Kate,  married John Murray Leggatt in 1878)
Jane Hudson (born 1861 - known as Jean,  she is the Mrs W.S Withers listed in the death notice. Jean married Walter Seward Withers in 1886, they are listed in the 1911 English Census, living in the town of Goodworth Clatford, near Andover,  in Hampshire and she died in June 1926 at Andover)
Margaret Anne Stewart (born 1863,  known as Maggie, married Charles Allen Champion in November 1889 and died in March 1891)
James (born 1865 - died January 1908)
Robert (born 1867 - died  January 1902)
Harry Wilson (born 1869 -  died April 1902)
George Alexander (born 1871 - ?)
Edwin Clarence (born 1873 - died 1875)
Susan Stewart (born 1875 -  died 1876)
McCulloch Stewart (born 1877 -  died January 1908)
Donald Stewart (born 1880 -  died January 1937)

The Berwick Inn is still functioning in the original buildings (with some extensions). After Susan Bain died, the next owner was also a woman, Helen Struth who owned the hotel from 1909 to 1948. Gordon Blackburne was the third owner from 1948-1960. During his time the Melbourne Hunt Club called in for their traditional stirrup cup before a days riding. Blackburne Square in Berwick is named after Mr Blackburne.

The Melbourne Hunt Club outside the Berwick Inn  - the riders are Alec Creswick, George Missen and Rupert Richardson.

Photo: Berwick Nostalgia: a pictorial history of Berwick published by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society in 2001.

* The genealogical information is partly from Early Settlers of the Casey Cardinia District published by the Narre Warren & District Family History Group.

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Limerick Arms Hotel and the O'Brien family, Nar Nar Goon

In 1983 Kathleen Fitzpatrick (1905 to 1990) wrote a book Solid Bluestone foundations:  memories of an Australian childhood. In it she talks about her great grandparents, Daniel and Brigid O'Brien, who lived at Nar Nar Goon. You can read more about Katlheen Fitzpatrick in the Australian Dictionary of Biography  here.

In the 1860s, Daniel and Brigid (nee Walsh) O’Brien built the Limerick Arms Hotel on the corner of Wilson Road and the Gippsland Road (now called the Princes Highway) at Nar Nar Goon. Daniel, Brigid and their one year old daughter, Ellen, had arrived in Melbourne in September  1841 on the Forth. Also on the same ship were the Dore family  - John (c. 1808 - 1895) his wife Betty (nee Elizabeth O'Connor, c. 1808 - 1876) and their children Edward, Thomas, Patrick and Ellen, six more children were born in Victoria*. In 1844, John Dore and Michael Hennessey took up the Mount Ararat Run at Nar Nar Goon of 1,900 acres. The partnership existed until 1855. Hennessey then moved to Dandenong and built the Bridge Hotel and later took over the Eumemmerring Hotel. In the 1860s, Dore purchased the 640 acre Mt Ararat pre-emptive right. He later purchased another 387 acres and his son Thomas 300 acres so they held a total of 1,300 acres. The property was later bisected by the railway line when it was built in 1877.

The Limerick Arms 

Photo from Solid Bluestone Foundations by Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Penguin 1986)

Back to the O'Briens  - Daniel was a builder and the plan was to work in Victoria for four years save enough money and then return home, as it was they never did return to Ireland. The family first went to Waurn Ponds near Geelong where Daniel worked as a builder. They then  decided to buy some land  - Waurn Ponds being too dry looking they decided to buy in Gippsland and brought a farm called The Swamp at Mt Ararat or Nar Nar Goon, perhaps they were influenced in this decision by the Dores. 

The O'Brien's  had more eight children - Michael James born 1843 at Saltwater; Patrick Francis 1845, Jeremiah Gerald 1846,  Johanna Mary 1848, Catherine, 1853 - these last four were born when they were at Nar Nar Goon. Bidelia Amelia 1853, Mary Ann 1856 and Daniel 1859 were born in North Melbourne*

Because the children needed an education the O'Briens moved back to town and built a house in North Melbourne so the children could go to school.  Daniel was again working as a builder but  his business partner stole the proceeds of the business and this forced the family to move back to Nar Nar Goon where they opened the Limerick Arms. This was  a success  as the Gippsland Road went as far as Sale and there was lots of traffic; it was also a Cobb and Co Coach stop.   The hotel also had  a reputation for being spotlessly clean and offering good meals. Every six months  a Priest would visit, and conduct a mass and also baptise any babies that needed  that sacrament.  The services were either held at the Limerick Arms or the Dore's House. 

A succession of tutors were employed by the O'Briens until they settled on Daniel Ahern. The O'Briens and the Dores also built a school on Mt Ararat Creek for their own children and the the neighbouring children and Daniel Ahern was the teacher. Mr Ahern later taught at Eumemmerring State School, later called Hallam State School from 1870 to 1890. you can read about this school here. Daniel was the father of James Joseph Ahern, Shire of Berwick Secretary from 1906 until 1948.

Daniel died in 1886 at the age of 82 and Brigid in 1888 at the age of  77. The Limerick Arms was delicensed in 1908 and the building has been demolished. The son of Daniel and Brigid, Michael and his wife Johanna (nee Mulcahy) opened the Nar Nar Goon Hotel in 1883.

*The family information about the O'Brien and Dore children comes from Early Settlers of the Casey Cardinia District by the Narre Warren & District Family History Group.

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Bunyip Hotels

In 1847 a  road was surveyed from Dandenong to Gippsland  along the edge of the ranges and when this proved to be impassable in places, a new road, which became the coach route, was surveyed in 1859 by A. Campbell.  This went through Cannibal Creek (around where Bassed road is in North Garfield) and through the old township of Buneep and onto Crossover. The Melbourne to Sale telegraph line followed this route in 1865, which eventually gave the road the name of Old Telegraph Road and where it crossed the Bunyip River was where the aforementioned town of Buneep was established (where modern day Ellis Road would cross the Bunyip River). This town was surveyed in the 1850s - it had a High Street and a Barkly Street (you can see the Survey Plan, below)  In 1857 David Connor selected  a site for an Inn and it was built in the early 1860s, this was called the Buneep Inn (later the Old Bunyeep Inn).  In 1869 John Rhoden became the proprietor, I believe he was a son-in-law of  David O'Connor.

This is the township of Buneep, surveyed in the 1850s.. Click on the picture for an enlargement

The Argus October 23, 1865

This advertisement from The Argus, October 1865 advises that you could catch a mail coach at 5.00pm  Monday to Saturday and have a 36 hour trip all the way to Sale, stopping at Bunyip or the old township of Bunyeep. That would have been a fairly rugged 36 hours!

Bunnyip Hotel, North Gippsland, c. 1880-1885 [David Connor's New Bunyip Inn]

Photographer: Fred Kruger. State Library of Victoria Image H41138/11

Around 1867  David Connor’s New Bunyip Inn, was established. It is pictured above. This was built on the Bunyip River on the Gippsland Road, as the Princes Highway was then called. It was on the south side of the Highway,  just east of A'Beckett Road and the west side of the Bunyip River.  The coach route then changed direction at Cannibal Creek and turned south east to this Inn, and became known as Old Sale Road. A small settlement developed around the Inn, including the establishment of a bakery by William Snell in 1878 and a dance hall erected by Mr Hyne, opposite the Inn. At some time another son-in-law of David Connor, took over this Hotel, David Devanny or Devenay  or Deveney depending on sources. He was still there in 1897, but the hotel was closed by the Licensing Reduction Board in 1917.

The red circle,  shows the location of the New Bunyip Inn and the small settlement that surrounded it. 

Dandenong Advertiser, June 14 1917

The closure of the New Bunyip Hotel was announced in June 1917.

Bunyip Hotel, c. 1890 - but is this actually in Bunyip?

Museum Victoria  http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/768080

This photograph is the Bunyip Hotel, George Stevens, Licensed Victualler. It's location is labelled as Bunyip, but I am not sure if that is the case. It's obviously not the New Bunyip Inn, as the building in the top photo has a sign which says, New Bunyip Hotel, and this is clearly a different building. It is not a forerunner of the Railway Hotel and Gippsland Hotel in the township of Bunyip, as the landscape is wrong and I feel it is unlikely to be the original Bunyip Inn as, I can't see that there would have been enough traffic to sustain such a large building. I believe that this building is not in Bunyip and I am suggesting that it could be the Bunyip Hotel in Cavendish - it's been around since at least the 1860s and modern day photos, show that the 1930s existing building is on a corner like this on  flat ground. More than happy to be proved wrong.

The township of Bunyip moved again after the establishment of the Gippsland Railway Line. The line was completed from Oakleigh to Bunyip in October 1877. This saw the establishment of two other Bunyip Hotels  as firstly the line from Morwell to Bunyip wasn't completed until March 1878, so travellers had to stop over at Bunyip and continue by coach, secondly the hotels serviced the locals and the workers on the railway line. The Hotels were the Butcher's Arms and the Bunyip Hotel, according to Call of the Bunyip.  John O'Brien had the licence for the Bunyip Hotel and in January 1877 he took up the licence for the Railway Family Hotel, once again, according to Call of the Bunyip.

The Argus  May 17, 1881.

John O'Brien's tenure at the Family Hotel didn't last very long as it was sold up by the Sherrifs Office in May 1881, as the advertisement in The Argus, above, attests. I am a bit hazy on the early details of these hotels -  by 1884 there are various advertisements for Lawrence Finch's Gippsland Hotel at Bunyip - this Hotel is still in existence (it's known as the Top Pub); in 1897 Lawrence's daughter, Sarah Alice Finch was listed as the licensee. Sarah married William Kraft, who took over as the licensee and it was known as Kraft's Gippsland Hotel. The original building was burnt down and the new building (the existing one) opened in 1927.

Gippsland Hotel and Main Street, Bunyip, 1908
Photograph from The Call of the Bunyip by Denise Nest

The other hotel in  Bunyip today is the Railway Hotel - Thomas Stacey is listed as a publican in the Shire of Berwick Rate books in 1890 and he had it for many years, but I am unsure of the connection, if any, between the Railway Hotel and early hotels - was John O'Brien's Railway Family Hotel the same hotel as the Railway Hotel or was it the Butcher's Arms? The original building is pictured below. It was destroyed by fire in 1924 and the new building, which is the existing building, opened in October of the same year.

Stacey's Railway Hotel on Main Street Bunyip, c.1915

 http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/795792 

Stacey's Railway Hotel, Bunyip c. 1925 

http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/795149 

This photograph was taken a year after this building was opened in October 1924, replacing the original building which was destroyed by fire.

An overview of the three Bunyip townships, they moved south each time. Click on image to enlarge.

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