Bathurst 1885

Bathurst in NSW is Australia’s oldest inland colonial settlement, thanks to the discovery of gold in the region during the early 1850s. When my great grandfather, Benjamin Hale, emigrated alone at the age of 17 from Woolwich in Kent in 1857, he settled in Bathurst. He owned a series of pubs between 1868 and 1881. The last hotel he owned was called 'The Hill End Hotel'. The extra shows Benjamin sitting outside his pub on the corner of Rankin and Durham Streets.

What reminded me of all this was 59's blip yesterday. I checked a booklet I have about all the historic inns and hotels of Bathurst, in which Benjamin is mentioned several times, and found an advertisement for the Victoria Hotel which featured in 59's blip. The advertisement appeared in the Bathurst Times on 4 February 1885. 59 said she couldn't find out much information about the hotel so I thought she might like to see this.

The oldest part of the hotel was built in 1875. Charles Henry Inch obtained the licence in 1879 and began a series of extensive additions to the hotel. In 1886, the year after he placed his advertisement, he became insolvent. Apparently the dismissal of several hundred men from the railway caused a significant reduction in the hotel's trade. That event, coupled with the fact that he may have over-capitalised the hotel, led to his demise. The hotel, however, under new management, survived and is still operating today in 2021.