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Hotels

Early hotels - roughly in date order

'The first four premises in Fremantle to be licensed, on 1 January 1830, after the licensing court sat for the first time were: the Stirling Arms, Collins' (Commercial) Hotel, the South Sea Hall Public House, the George IV Public House.' (Tuckfield)

'By May 1831 there were five public houses. The Stirling Arms at the corner of High and Pakenham, the South Seas (its High Street neighbour), the Albion [Inn] in Pakenham Street, (Collins') Commercial and the King George IV.' (Errington)

The hotels in the list that follows are in Allen Graham's numerical order (from the map mentioned below), in approximate date order.

1. The Stirling Arms (Robert Thomson, licensee, 1 January 1830) was on Lot 105, on the NW corner of High and Pakenham Streets, next to Steele's Lot 81 (see 3.). The 1910 Bank of Adelaide is now on that corner, with the Navy Club above.

2. Collins' Hotel 1829-1857 (Robert Collins, licensee, 1 January 1830) later the Waterman's Arms, was at Lot 41 in Mouat St, where the Adelaide Steamship Company building (1900) now stands at no. 12.

3. South Sea Hall Public House (William Rolfe Steele, licensee, 1 January 1830), later the Royal Hotel, was on Lots 80 and 81, on the NE corner of Henry and High Streets, where the Marich Building is currently.

4. George IV Public House (William Dixon, licensee, 1 January 1830) was on Lot 6, the SW corner of High and Cliff Streets, where W.F. Samson's house stood c. 1855 - c. 1955. The site is owned by NDU and is vacant in 2023. The university had plans - which were disallowed - for a five-storey building on it.

5. Richard James's Hotel, later Tranby House, licensed July 1830, was on Lot 130, in the middle of the south side of Short Street. James arrived on the Orelia, 12 October 1829.

'Lionel Lukin received in July 1830 a licence (retail) for his farm, Lilburn, across the Swan at North Fremantle, where he had established a solid house and a large garden. It is not known whether he had a store of some kind or whether he used his house as an inn. Like many others, he was heard of no more in this respect.' Tuckfield 1971: 68.
'The success of this venture encouraged Lukin to open an inn at Lilburn, at the North Fremantle terminus of both his upriver ferry and Duffield’s cross-river service. In 1837, when he put Lilburn up for lease, it boasted a substantial dwelling house, outoffices, a garden and paddock enclosed with a low stone wall.' Cooper & McDonald 1989: 30.

6. The Australian Inn was on Lot 77, in the middle of the eastern side of Henry St, roughly where the Lance Holt School now is. Under the management of William Keats and his wife Ann, it was noted as existing in 1831, though by 1832 Keats had moved on to another venture.
'Although the Perth Gazette of 1835 said the old Australian Inn was for sale, that is absolutely all I have ever seen of this hotel. I think it may have been on lot 77 and that is in Henry Street.' Tuckfield: 101.

7. The Albion Inn (or Hostelry) was a house at Lot 117 Pakenham St (third lot from the southern end on the western side) established by William Heares Smithers in 1831 and until 1834 when it was offered by sale. It was run by John Hole Duffield, conjecturally, from 1839 to 1844. Errington has this in existence in 1831: Steve Errington 2017, 'Fremantle 1829-1832: an illustrated history', Fremantle Studies, 9: 15-29. (It is not to be confused with the Albion Hotel run by Mrs Alice Bullen on the Perth-Fremantle road from around 1870 - on or near the site where the present-day Albion Hotel still stands.)

The Star and Garter (location unknown) was apparently kept during 1832 (only?) by James Lloyd who arrived at the end of 1831 and selected land at Toodyay in 1832.

8. The Union Hotel was on Lot 128, on the southern corner of Short and Market Streets. It was apparently mentioned in an 1833 advertisement (Perth Gazette, August 3). Lot 128 had been granted to William Keats, and is was he who opened the hotel in 1832 or before. Wm Dixon took it over in July 1832 and was still the licensee in 1834.

9. The King's Arms was on Lot 79, which is three lots from the NE corner of High and Henry Streets, roughly where there is now an empty building used for private parking - which may be developed as part of the Marich Building development. Tuckfield writes that it was opened by Mr and Mrs Keats, formerly of the Union Hotel (see 8.)

10. The Plough Hotel was on Lot 125, three lots from the corner of Leake and Market Streets in 1833. John (or Joseph) Cooper was the licensee 1833-1835, when he closed the hotel to become a farmer on the Murray. It was followed on the site by the Princess Theatre (cinema) which extended from the Market Street corner westward along Leake St - to what was to become the Pearlers/Terminus Hotel (extant).

11. The Stag's Head Hotel was on Lot 106, which was on the SW corner of Pakenham and High Streets. It was opened in December 1833 by Antony Curtis (formerly of the Black Swan Hotel (v. supra) and was extant in 1844. The building now on the corner is known as the Ajax Building.

12. The Black Swan Hotel is in Graham's list as Swan Inn. It was on Lot 294 on the river side of Cantonment Road (Tuckfield has Street). According to Bruce Bott, John Bateman was successful in an application in October 1830 for a licence for an inn between Cantonment and Beach Streets, possibly about where the Officeworks carpark now is. Bott writes that he operated the inn with Anthony Curtis, but that it was not successful. Curtis, a former RN sailor, moved on to the Stag's Head. (Tuckfield: 79) Bateman and Curtis had arrived on the Medina 6 July 1830.

13. Mrs Pace's hotel, on Lot 45 High Street, on the corner of Mouat Street was established in 1835. When Alexander Francisco leased it from her he called it the Crown and Thistle. When he left to open a new Crown and Thistle on Lot 61 High Street on the corner of Henry Street, it was simply Mrs Pace's hotel again until it was leased to Mrs Scott and called the Victoria Hotel c. 1870, The extant P&O Hotel was built on the same site, Lots 45 and 46, in 1896-1901. Mrs Elizabeth Pace was the wife of Captain Walter Pace.

John Gresswell is mentioned in the Dictionary of West Australians as opening the Vauxhall Tavern in Fremantle in 1840. Location unknown - but Gresswell was granted Lot 57 in Henry Street.

14. The Globe Hotel was on Lot 93, which was near the southern end of Henry St, roughly where 52 and 54 Henry St now are.

15. Frederick Caesar's Emerald Isle Hotel, later the Club Hotel, and now the Orient Hotel (extant) was and is on Lot 62, on the SW corner of Henry and High Streets.

16. The Crown & Thistle (also known [in 1851] as Wellard's Hotel, and apparently different from 13) later the Cleopatra Hotel (extant), was on part of Lot 61, near the NW corner of Henry and High Streets.

17. The Castle, later Lodge's Hotel, later Fremantle Club, later Workers Club (from 1914), demolished by that Club in 1956, Lot 56, roughly 1 Henry St, now an NDU carpark. Possibly the first three-storey building in the state.

18. The Southern Cross Hotel, later Albert Hotel (aka Seubert's hotel), later Exchange Hotel, later Commercial Hotel (extant building since c. 1908), now called Sun Dancer Resort Backpackers, Lot 411, 80 High St.

19. Rose & Crown, previously a house, later a school, later the site of the Oriana Cinema (1938, demolished 1972), Lot 386, Queen St (next to the Victoria Hall), corner of High St.

20. Freemasons (1903, extant) later Sail & Anchor (from 1986).

21. The Pier Hotel (1873-1955) Lot 53, Cliff St, corner of Croke St.

22. The Star Hotel (1887) Lot 182, 5 Essex St, extant? as Pirate Backpackers at what is now 11 Essex St?

23. The Stanley Beer House, later the Duke of York Hotel, Lot 434, Bannister Street. See Hougoumont.

24. The Welsh Harp, later Collie Hotel, later Oceanic Hotel (extant as dwellings), Collie St, Lot 451, corner Pakenham St.

25. His Lordship's Larder, later His Majesty's Hotel, Lot 39, Mouat St, corner of Phillimore St.

26. The National Hotel (extant), Lot 415, corner High and Market Streets.

27. The Oddfellows Hotel, now Norfolk Hotel (but only half of it is extant), Lot 167, corner of Norfolk Street and South Terrace.

28. The Pearlers Hotel, later Terminus Hotel (extant), Lot 120, 18 Pakenham Street, corner of Leake St.

29. The Federal Hotel (briefly called Rosie O'Grady's), Lot 378, 23-25 William Street.

30. The Esplanade Hotel, Lot 150, formerly corner of Collie St, now extends from Collie St to Essex St, 46-54 Marine Terrace. See also the Esplanade Hotel Perth.

31. The Park Hotel, Lot 573, 9 Parry St, cnr Ellen St, now St Patrick's housing.

32. The Newcastle Club Hotel, now Newport (since 1986), Lot 228, 2 South Terrace, corner of Market Street. In 2022, the Flight Club.

33. The Australia Hotel (1 October 1898) Lot 258, 2 Beach St, formerly corner of Edward, now Parry Street.

34. The Fremantle Hotel (1899) part of Lot 18, 6 High St, corner of Cliff Street.

The Port Hotel is shown on an 1885 map on Lot 384, in the middle of the south side of what is now the High St Mall.

The Swan Hotel (originally 1888) was on Lot 294, and the 1923 building is extant, at what is now 201 Queen Victoria St, on the corner with Swan St.

According to Williams, Frederick Mason owned the Queens Hotel which was in Swan Street North Fremantle (now part of the container port area).

Imperial Restaurant. In 1897 Arthur E. Davies constructed a shop and dwelling at 14 South Terrace. In 1907 it had become the Imperial Restaurant, and in 1910 it was the largest lodging-house in the Fremantle area. It was a hotel in that sense, tho it never had a liquor licence.

Other Hotels (bars, taverns, cafes ...) in the Freo area

Adina Hotel complex was proposed for the Woolstores site, Elder Place. At the end of 2022 it seems it was withdrawn. The block is now proposed to be dwellings with commerce, including a Coles store, on the groundfloor.

Ballers Sports Bar, 25 Collie Street, 'Ivy-League-experience'.

Bannister 22, 22 Bannister Street. Bannister 22 Hotel's location previously housed the business Quality Suites Fremantle. Quality Suites Fremantle closed at the end of March 2020. Bannister 22 Hotel is managed by the Hougoumont Hotel since 26 July 2021. The former General Manager of Quality Suites Fremantle, Marco Batacchi, is now managing this also.

Bathers Beach House.

Beerporium, Literary Institute (Dome/Evans Davies building), South Terrace.

Benny's bar and cafe, 10-12 South Terrace.

Calamity's Rod is a brewery/bar built on the carpark of the Hougoumont Hotel, Bannister Street, site of the (second) Fremantle Club (and other buildings before that). The name comes from a poem by John Boyle O'Reilly, referring to the fact that the Hougoumont, the last convict ship, brought a group of Fenians.

Captain Fremantle Motor Lodge (which later traded as Sunny's Shining on the Swan) was on the corner of East Street and Riverside Road, operating 1970-1984, but has now been replaced by a condo.

Chesterfield Inn, East Rockingham.

Darling Darling bar, Sadlier building, 36 Henry Street.

In 2022, the Dingo Brewing Co is proposed to be established in a new building at 47 Pakenham Street.

Emily Taylor is a bar which is part of the hotel in the Warders Cottages, Henderson Street - now known as Warders Hotel.

Fiddler's Cottages. An application was made in 1892 for a hotel license for these premises in Point Street. It was unsuccessful.

Fremantle Doctor Restaurant and Bar, Walyalup Koort?

Freo.Social, in the artillery drill hall, Parry Street Fremantle, formerly the home of the Fly By Night Musicians Club.

Henderson Hotel. An Andrew Forrest company, Tattarang, has proposed a new hotel, which I'm temporarily called the 'Henderson' Hotel, for the corner of Henderson and William Streets on which is often called the 'Spicer' site, tho the Spicer building was not on the corner, and there were earlier buildings there.

Hilton One-Tree Hotel was proposed for the Point, Adelaide, Cantonment Streets site in 2014, when the existing buildings were demolished (including Fremantle's only art-house cinema. Only in July 2022 has the proposal finally been withdrawn, and the land sold to another group.

Holy Smokes, Collie Street

Jetty, at '126 Beach Street', is a large corrugated-iron shed, about as non-beautiful as a building can be. It's on the former East Fremantle Rottnest ferry terminal jetty, and provides yet another place to get drunk, only redeemed by its situation - actually (partly) over the river.

Jungle Bird, 59 High Street Fremantle, rum and coffee.

Kahuna Brewing Co, 33 South Terrace, formerly Miss Maud's, (New) Papa Luigi's, The Monk Brew Cafe (ceased trading 2020).

Kings Beer Garden, Walyalup Koort

Little Creatures Brewery, Mews Road Fremantle, and the Brewhouse, formerly Lombardo's.

Newmarket Hotel, 2 Cockburn Rd, now a ballet school, was also Edz Sportz Bar.

Nieuw Ruin, 12 Norfolk Street.

Ode to Sirens, in the P&O Hotel, High Street.

Old Courthouse starting trading 22 December 2021 in the 1899 fairly old (fourth) courthouse at 45 Henderson Street, redesigned by Murray Slavin.

Pier 21 Apartment Hotel, 7/9 John Street, North Fremantle.

Port Mill B&B, 3/17 Essex Street.

Quest Apartment Hotel, Pakenham Street, corner of Short Street, site of the Lysaght building and, before that, Manning Hall.

Quality Suites. See Bannister 22.

Republic of Fremantle, gin and brandy distillery and tavern, 3 Pakenham Street, December 2020.

Ronnie Nights, 75-77 Market Street, bar and kitchen.

Rose Hotel, Perth Road (Stirling Highway).

Royal George Tavern, Canning Hwy, East Fremantle, now gone - unregretted - after a short existence, in favour of the 'Richmond Quarter' condo.

Running with Thieves, micro-brewery and gin and vodka distillery in South Fremantle, 2020.

Strange Company, 5 Nairn Street Fremantle.

Street Foods bar?

Suffolk Hotel, South Terrace, un-named hotel planned for cnr Suffolk Street/South Terrace by the Yolk Property Group.

Synagogue, South Terrace Fremantle: website.

Varsity Freo, 11 Newman Court (FOMO)

Warders Hotel, in the former Warders Cottages on the south side of Henderson Street.

Willagee Hotel was on the corner of Stock Road and Leach Highway; a shopping centre is now on the site.

Hotels elsewhere

See: hotels in Claremont, Cottesloe, Guildford, Maylands, Mosman Park, Nedlands, Subiaco. I haven't tried to list all of the hotels in Perth city. Tuckfield (qv infra) names many of them.

Balcatta Hotel, Wanneroo Road.

The Bush Inn, licensed April 1830, was the first wayside inn in the colony (and the eighth licensed premises). Established by John Butler as Prospect Place but also known as the Halfway House, it was known by this popular name because of its position 'halfway' between Perth and Fremantle. It was not close to the site of the present Albion Hotel (in Cottesloe) but on the river side of what is now View Street (Peppermint Grove) that was then the Perth-Fremantle track.

Coogee Hotel, Cockburn Road, Coogee.

Cremorne Hotel, 111 Murray Street Perth.

Devonshire Arms was on the corner of Barrack and Hay Streets (diagonally opposite the Town Hall corner, where Sharp's Tobacconist was) from c. 1837, and may have been known as the Mason's Arms (from John Mason) before that (see Tuckfield). Charles Tondut may have been an early licensee. It was on Lot F20, granted in 1829 to J. Mason and J. Duffield. Data from Dodgy Perth (note the name of the source).

Happy Immigrant, location in Perth unknown

Horse and Groom, Goderich Street (Murray Street) Perth, 1851.

Jandakot Hotel (former), now at 34 Prout Way Bibra Lake, is a Buddhist centre.

Leopold Hotel, Canning Highway, Bicton, now also a First Choice liquor store.

Lockridge aka Lockeridge Hotel, Bassendean. Not a licensed hotel.

The Majestic was a Federation style hotel on Point Dundas, Applecross, built in 1903 as the Hotel Melville for G.C.D. Forster and designed by architects M.F. and J.C. Cavanagh, and renamed the Majestic Hotel in 1924.

Palace Hotel, St George's Terrace and William Street, Perth.

Raffles Hotel, Applecross, 1937, by William G. Bennett.

Royal Hotel Perth, Wellington Street, opposite the William Street Horseshoe Bridge.

Shamrock, Northam, was established 1866 by George Throssell as the Farmers Home in Fitzgerald Street. George Christmass bought in 1869 what was (and is) later known as the Shamrock Hotel.

The United Services Hotel was on lot L3, on the south side of St George's Terrace, three lots from the corner of Barrack Street, and therefore diagonally just across from the Barracks itself and the power centre of the inchoate town. It was owned and run by the first woman to possess a town lot, Mary Hodges, although her husband George ostensibly ran the business. In 1841 the licensee was Henry Cole.

AKA. For ...

Albert, Exchange, Southern Cross, Sundancers, Thomas's, see: Commercial.
Bridge, see: Richmond.
Bruce Town, see: Gresham.
Collie Hotel, see: Oceanic.
Crown and Thistle (the second of that name, both kept by Alexander Francisco: )West End Hotel, Auld Mug, Wellard's Hotel, see: Crown & Thistle/Cleopatra. (Note that there were two establishments called Crown and Thistle.)
Commercial, Club, Emerald Isle, Moloney's, see: Orient.
Duke of York, Stanley Beer House aka Stanley Hotel, Bannister Suites, see: Hougoumont.
Federal Coffee Palace, see: Lance Holt School.
His Lordship's Larder, see: His Majesty's.
The Local, see: Seaview.
Moondyne Joe's, see: Beaconsfield.
Mrs Pace's, see: Crown and Thistle/Victoria Hotel/P&O. (Note that there were two establishments called Crown and Thistle, both kept by Alexander Francisco. This was the first)
Norfolk, see: Oddfellows.
Newport, see: Newcastle Club.
Pearlers, see: Terminus.
Phoenix Brewery, see also: Castlemaine Brewery.
Sail and Anchor, see: Freemasons.
South Beach, see: Davilak.
Sundowner, see: Brighton.
Tradewinds, see: Plympton.
Port City Pirate, see: Star.
Welsh Harp Hotel, see: Oceanic.

References, Links, Notes

See also: Licensees 1888, 1892, September 1893, December 1893, 1894, 1897.

Bott, Bruce 2001, 'Some of John Bateman's houses in and around Fremantle', Fremantle Studies, 2: 17-35. His endnote refers to Tuckfield 1971: 78.

Cooper, W.S. [William] & G. [Gil] McDonald 1989, A City for All Seasons: The Story of Melville, City of Melville.

Dowson, John 2003, Old Fremantle: Photographs 1850-1950, UWAP.

Errington, Steve 2017, 'Fremantle 1829-1832: an illustrated history', Fremantle Studies, 9: 15-29. Errington's endnotes also, like Bott's, refers to Tuckfield's 1971 paper, but add the second part also, from 1975: 7, 7, 98.

Ewers, John K. 1971, The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council, with UWAP, rev. ed. [1st ed. 1948].

Graham, Allen 2018, pubs of wa, Facebook page.

Graham, Allen 2023, Inns and Outs of Fremantle: a Social History of Fremantle and its Hotels 1829-1856, XLibris.

Hitchcock, J.K. 1929, The History of Fremantle, The Front Gate of Australia 1829-1929, Fremantle City Council.

Hutchison, David 2006, Fremantle Walks.

Tuckfield, Trevor 1971, 'Early colonial taverns and inns' (Part 1), Early Days, vol. 7, part 3: 65-82; 1975 (Part 2), Early Days, vol. 7, part 7: 98-106.

Fremantle Library, database (PDF from an Excel file) of Hotels in Fremantle 1829-.

timegents.com.

Garry Gillard | New: 23 September, 2014 | Now: 26 November, 2023