- Aboriginal History
- Cemeteries
- Hospitals
- Hotels
- Maps of the Goldfields
- Military
- Miners
- Miscellaneous
- People
- Places on the Goldfields
- Place Index A-Z
This website is dedicated to the memory of my two dear friends Sandy Duncan and Shyama Peebles who both passed away in 2012.
Coolgardie > Coolgardie Hotels A to E
The Australia Hotel:-
First appears in the newspapers in 1895 and the first Licensee was Wilson DUNNE. LOcated in Bayley Street opposite the Post Office. Now where Ben Priors Park is situated. It seems to have been demolished in about 1919..
Goldfields Morning Chronicle 22 Jul 1898
The Australia Hotel Billiard room
Goldfields Morning Chronicle 22 July 1898
The Cremorne Hotel and Gardens AKA the Prince of Wales.
It was originally a Hop Beer shop owned by Harry Horst and his wife who built the present building which they were forced to relinquish due to ill-health. In 1896, when the dining room was demolished, 5 ozs of alluvial gold was found. Three months later, in March 1897, the foundation stone of Harry Fein’s Cremorne Hotel was laid by the Mayoress, Mrs A.W. McDonald, who received a miniature silver trowel to mark the occasion.
Harry Fein, a former auctioneer, completely renovated the premisses, laying out bars and rooms and renamed it The Prince of Wales Bar and Dining Rooms. Being centrally located opposite Morans store it commanded a large patronage.
Cremorne Hotel Bailey Street Coolgardie (Centre)
The main dining room was the venue for the first circumcision ceremony on 2 May 1896 when Rabbi Mylis officiated and the Fein's infant son was introduced to a large family gathering.
The Cremorne Gardens featured landscaped scenery adorning the walls with Chinese lanterns and golden ballsuspended from the ceilings. In one corner was a small stage for performers. The design of the gardens included a piazza with a removable roof to protect the patrons from sun and rain. In summer it was converted into 'grotto's' where tired businessmen could smoke their odoriferous cigars. The Theatre was open every night and attracted a number of theatrical companies and music hall performers to entertain the patrons and who would happily pay 2 to 3 shillings admission
The Cremorne Hotel 1987
A year later, in 1898, the hotel and adjoining Cremorne Gardens Theatre was taken over by Vincent and Lipman who made a number of improvements including a polished floor for use as a ballroom and a gallery and a ladies robing room. The Cremorne continued to change hands until 1918 when Mr and Mrs Steve Keale took it over, refurnishing it and opening a new dining room.
Cremorne Theatre and gardens Coolgardie[/caption]
After a number of changes in ownership over the next few years, the lease, licence and furniture were sold for ₤200 and four months later were again put on the market.
When the Cremorne finally closed down it was bought by Michael Moran the Second, and for a time was used as a Children’s Day Centre followed by a private residence and then an art gallery.
The Cremorne Hotel Coolgardie - 2016
The Denver City Hotel
The Denver City was the first hotel in Coolgardie and the first building on the site was in 1894. A more substantial building was constructed by the firm of Philip and Doyle in and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The current building of two stories in the Federation style was built in 1898. It was of brick and Ashlar stone and had no balcony or veranda. The first licensee was J Elliott and the first joint owners were harris and Collett.
By 1927 the 26 hotels of Coolgardie had dwindled to four. The licencing board asked the four publicans to show cause as to why their licesnces should be cancelled. The Denver City and the Railway hotels were able to keep their licences but the Westral and the Marvel Bar had their licesnces cancelled.
In 1934 the balcony and verahdah were added to the building.
THE CLUB HOTEL Bayley Street, Coolgardie
When Bill Faahan was granted one of the four Wayside licences in April 1893, he erected the first hotel – a rough shelter of bush timber and hessian with a bar consisting of series of packing cases on forked sticks - which he called the Club Hotel.
The first load of beer and spirits brought by camel from Southern Cross cost him ₤35. The first drink was served under a salmon gum in the yard of the uncompleted hotel. He sold the first legal drink in Coolgardie.
When the hessian shelter gave way to a more substantial structure of timber and galvanised iron, the need for entertainment led him to purchase a piano and billiard table at Southern Cross which young Edwin Murphy brought by wagon to Coolgardie.
The Club Hotel Bayley Street, Coolgardie ; A parade for the opening of the Coolgardie Railway Station 23 Mar 1896[/caption]
With the arrival of the piano, impromptu concerts were held every night in the ‘Silver Tail Parlor’ where Eddie Murphy entertained with Scottish and Irish ballads sung in a silver tenor voice. By day he was employed as a marker in the billiard room but was more interested in writing poetry. When Bill Faahan read some of his verses he took him along to see Billy Clare who had just begun publishing the 'Coolgardie Miner'. And hence the journalistic and writing career of Dryblowerer Murphy began.
The piano was also the one which the notorious murderer Deeming played his way into the affections of many ladies at Southern Cross. His musical skill was sent out in a wired description to police and this finally lead to his capture. The piano was also to save a life. A man dying of thirst near Boorabin heard Murphy play one night on his way to Coolgardie which led him to their camp and saved his life. This famous piano is now in the Coolgardie Museum.
The first man to sing a song to a piano accompaniment in Coolgardie was Tommy Tobias. he sang 'Old king Cole'. His pianist was car Boyd.
Bill Faahan was a widower when he came to Coolgardie and his second marriage to Cecelia Knighton took place in November of 1894.
The Club Hotel Bayley Street Coolgardie
By April 1894, the Club Hotel was able to boast of being the first two-storey hotel because of the addition of a weatherboard front of ‘respectable if rather delusive character’. There was a large dining room, a number of bedrooms, and a billiard room leased to J.J. Bowen who increased his and the hotel’s popularity by advertising ‘Free Refreshments to all players on Saturday nights’, adding that these were of a solid and not liquid in nature.
In 1901 the Club Hotel was sold to Charlie Vincent and Judah Lipman who had a large interest in the Lion Brewery. They rebuilt the hotel in brick and stone, adding 20 bedrooms and three sitting rooms which they renamed Tattersall’s Hotel and leased it back to Bill Faahan.
Like many other hotels in Coolgardie, Tattersall’s closed down during the First World War and the bricks and fittings sold and carried away.
Previous Record Coolgardie Fire Brigade Ball |
Return to Coolgardie | Next Record Coolgardie Hotels A to E |
