The Apollonian Hotel (which was originally in Gympie around 1910, but was moved and is now located at Boreen Point). Source: Keith Waser Collection, available at the Gympie Library (Local History Room).

Throughout the history of the Gympie region, around 230 hotels have come and gone, while a special few have remained and prospered for extensive periods of time.

While the miners might have been thirsty customers, the hotels were also used to provide accommodation and meals while the police and courts checked that standards in these public houses were being met.

Back in the late 1800s, people who wished to take ownership of a pub were required to advertise their intention to apply for a Publican’s Licence in the newspaper (in the Maryborough Chronicle in the first months, then in the Nashville and Gympie Times). In the advertisement, they were required to describe their establishment and what they intended to offer to the public outside of the needs of their own family.

The police inspected the hotels and reported to the licensing courts where licences were granted, adjourned awaiting improvements, or refused.  Publicans were refused a licence or fined for operating out of hours, adulterating the spirits, having dirty yards, poor accommodation or failing to observe rules such as leaving a light on.

Refusals were also made on the grounds that the area didn’t need another hotel, or that the building was unsuitable or abandoned. On occasion, a community such as Woolooga was even surveyed to see if the locals wanted a hotel.

The Freemasons Hotel. Source: Keith Waser Collection, available at the Gympie Library (Local History Room).

Are you interested to learn more about the history of specific hotels/ pubs in Gympie?

A newly-completed project about the region’s publicans and their hotels is now ready for researchers to access at the Gympie Library. There are records for roughly 230 licensed premises for ‘victuallers’.

Our Hotel Project now provides researchers with a separate document for each hotel. These summaries include lists of licensees (as far as possible within the scope and budget of this project), newspaper clippings, photographs and other resources.

There is also a single document called Hotels in Gympie- Summary of Licensees and Owners 2024. This 230-page document has one page for each hotel, and is searchable. If you want to check for a family name, date, location, hotel name, using the FIND function in the Word document may give you results. Or just browse the pages for fun – we’ve included a ‘Worth noting’ section to draw attention to something quirky or notable about each hotel.

We will continue to add to these files as we come across extra information.

The following statistics provide a snapshot of life in Gympie and region:

We have around 231 names for hotels. However, this doesn’t mean that there were 230 different hotel buildings. Some publicans changed the names of their hotels, for example, the Miners’ Arms Hotel became the Empire Hotel at the same address under the management of Johanna F Carroll in 1915. We’ve counted each hotel name separately in this list because they were registered as separate businesses.

We have details for the following:

• 187 hotels in Gympie; 44 for regional Gympie
• 67 hotels in Mary Street
• 2 hotels in Main Street (which is now Graham St)
• 30 hotels for One Mile
• 8 hotels for Monkland
• 20 hotels for Kilkivan and surrounds (e.g. Rise and Shine, Blacksnake, Mount Coora, Mount Mia, Boonara Range)

The early mining era saw the opening of dozens of hotels and, a short while later, when the mining slowed or petered out, we saw their closure or abandonment. Some licensees hastened to other gold fields.

• 124 licences were applied for in 1867/1868 and 11 more in 1869.
• Of the applications in 1867 and 1868, 82 were not renewed after 1869, or were refused.

Fires: 31 hotels had to be rebuilt or abandoned after major fires.

Junin’s Hotel de France 1872 which was located at what is now 143-145 Mary Street (next to Toyworld). Source: E.H. Forster, photographer.

Click on the buttons below to learn more about Gympie Hotels:

These Gympie Hotel Histories are now available for access in the Local History Room at the Gympie Library. Please call in for a visit Monday- Thursday and alternate Fridays from 9am-5pm to view these files and learn more!

Guest blog by volunteer Robyn
(Thank you to Robyn who researched and collated for this project).