FORMER ROYAL MAIL HOTEL

100 GOLDEN POINT ROAD BLACKWOOD, MOORABOOL SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

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  • History

    FORMER ROYAL MAIL HOTEL - History

    Gold was first discovered in the Blackwood area in December 1851 . The Royal Mail Hotel was constructed and operating by 1865, with James Millyard as the first known publican. Millyard also served as the mail contractor between Blackwood and Kyneton via Tylden, Trentham and Newbury. He was succeeded as hotelkeeper by his son-in-law, John Cann, who had married Rebecca Millyard. Cann was the Royal Mail publican until 1877. The hotel was almost destroyed by fire in 1878. The Bacchus Marsh Express (2 March 1878) reported that 'Fire broke out at the 'Royal Mail' Hotel, Golden Point and was extinguished before any great damage was done, however, most of the roof was burnt'. There were originally at least seven hotels in the Golden Point area of Blackwood in the 19th century.

    The next publican of the Royal Mail was Colin McLellan, who was associated with the hotel until 1889, when he was succeeded by Frederick L Cotton, who remained until 1893. Mrs. Mary Linnehan was the hotelkeeper from 1895 until 1899, when the business was bought by William Byres, who held the license until his death in July 1913. The license to operate the Royal Mail Hotel was rescinded by the Victorian government at the end of 1913, and the family of William Byres was awarded 175 pounds in compensation. From 1914 the seven daughters of William Byres (and his wife, Annie) ran the old hotel as a guest house. Christmas time was very popular with visitors from Melbourne, and many had to be accommodated in tents on the back lawn (Robertson 1978:8-9).

    Interpretation of Site

    FORMER ROYAL MAIL HOTEL - Interpretation of Site

    The remains of the site represent a complex sequence of building, modification, renovation and demolition. The standing sections of the building include a front verandah, two front bedrooms, an old billiard room , two rear bedrooms, a rear reception room and a lean-to kitchen. Footings of demolished parts of the building include two rear bedrooms, a piano and card room, a front billiard room , rear parlour and the front bar with a cellar beneath. At the rear of the building near the kitchen is flat stone paving and a filled-in well.

    Archaeological Significance

    FORMER ROYAL MAIL HOTEL - Archaeological Significance

    The site of the Royal Mail Hotel, Blackwood, has archaeological significance for its potential to provide artefacts and important information relating to the operation, owners, customers and residents of a 19th-century goldfields hotel.

    Historical Significance

    FORMER ROYAL MAIL HOTEL - Historical Significance

    The Royal Mail Hotel site at Blackwood is locally significant as a relatively intact exampleof a 19th-century goldfields hotel, and an early-20th-century guest house. The extant remains of the wooden building have the potential to provide important information about the construction and modification of commercial (hotel) buildings in the colonial period. The surface and sub-surface features and sub-floor archaeological deposits have the potential to provide important information about vernacular building techniques, as well as evidence relating to the operation of a 19th-century goldfields hotel and the consumer habits of hotel patrons.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    FORMER ROYAL MAIL HOTEL - Heritage Inventory Description

    Building remains of a former hotel site, comprising nine intact rooms. Timber construction with wooden shingles under corrugated iron roof. Site also includes sub-surface remains of demolished rooms and associated archaeological deposits. Other features include a filled-in well, several pit toilets, stone paving and cellar depression.

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