Historic pubs of the south

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Historic Pubs OF THE SOUTH

Historic Pubs

SOUTHLAND • CENTRAL OTAGO • FIORDLAND

OF THE SOUTH

John Hall-Jones

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J.R. Cuthbertson’s sketch of Invercargill in 1859. Lind’s Hotel on the extreme left and Maclean’s Royal Hotel on the extreme right. F.G. HALL-JONES

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Copyrighted Material Chapter 1

Early Hotels in Invercargill The sleeper in the loft above had rolled off his perch and fallen atop a man sleeping on a settee in the living room below.

BISHOP HARPER’S SON

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N FEBRUARY 1857 William Lind,

a Dane, opened the first hotel on the site of the present Reading Cinemas. Initially called the Waiopai [sic] Hotel, the name was changed later to Albion.

Sherwood Roberts (who had taken up a run at Te Tipua, near Dacre) records attending a “monster house-warming party” at the hotel on 2 November 1857. “Apart from boarders and casuals there were 23 invitees, nine being woman. After supper the room was cleared and dancing commenced to the lively music of the flute, concertina and banjo.

“Reels were the favourite and it did one good to see McDonald Sinclair of the Bluff, with his eighteen stone weight, dressed in kilts [sic], jumping around, stamping his feet, snapping his fingers and occasionally yelling like a wild Indian, thoroughly enjoying the fun.”

One week after the opening

of Lind’s Hotel, John Maclean opened the Royal Hotel (“Mac’s Hotel”) in the arcade in Tay Street (see Cuthbertsons’s sketch), where a grand lottery was held, with forty tickets, all with prizes. Sherwood Roberts records buying a ticket. “But with my usual luck I drew a very poor handkerchief. After a feed, Maclean supplied free grog. A number of songs were given and at 11 o’clock the large room was cleared for dancing, to the music of a flute.”

Bishop Henry Harper, the first bishop of Christchurch, stayed at Lind’s Hotel with his son, Henry, later in 1857. “We found accommodation in a house of call kept by a Dane, consisting of one living room, two small bedrooms on either side and an open loft above.” The Harpers were shown to one of the bedrooms, but a latecomer had to be accommodated in the loft, where he settled down as best he could among some bags of potatoes.

Bishop Henry Harper who spent a disturbed night in Lind’s Hotel. F.G. HALL-JONES

E A R LY H OT E L S I N I N V E R C A R G I L L

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Copyrighted Material suburb of Gladstone, North Road, near All Saints Church.

And Salek’s Royal Hotel (as distinct from Maclean’s original Royal Hotel), was built on the corner of Tay and Nith Streets, with “livery and stables” attached.

In 1877 Alexander Smith built the original Railway Hotel. It was a rather uninteresting oblong building with a flat roof, but it was conveniently opposite the railway station.

In 1896 it was replaced by a Left: Athole Arms Hotel in Esk Street on New Year’s Day 1873.

M. HOLCROFT

Below: The second Royal Hotel in Tay Street. Note sign: “Livery and Stables.” F.G. HALL-JONES

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Gladstone Hotel in the suburb of Gladstone.

HOCKEN COLLECTIONS, UARE TAOKA O HAKENA, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

The first Railway Hotel, with snow lying in the street.

HOCKEN COLLECTIONS, UARE TAOKA O HAKENA, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

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Copyrighted Material Chapter 2

Southland Taverns At Bluff a bucket of the cooper’s schnapps was placed on the counter which the sailors could dip into their pannikins and drink as much as they chose.

BLUFF HARBOUR

A

Bluff

PHOTOGRAPH in the early

1890s shows three hotels along the Bluff waterfront, the Golden Age, the Royal and the Railway Hotels. Sir Joseph Ward (twice prime minister of New Zealand) was born in Bluff, where his mother had a guest house, which her son later paid to have converted into the imposing Club Hotel. Without doubt these hotels, so close to the wharves, were popular among the sailors from visiting ships.

Early hotels on the Bluff waterfront, from left the Golden Age, Royal and Railway Hotels. W. GRIGOR

Mokomoko Ferry House Before the construction of the railway from Bluff to Invercargill, visitors to Invercargill had to walk through to the Invercargill Estuary, where two young settlers, W.J.N. West and J.G. Hughes, who had the Mokomoko ferry house (on the Mokomoko Inlet of the estuary), would row them up to Invercargill.

Bishop Harper and his son came

Mr & Mrs W.J.N West of the Mokomoko Accommodation House. F.G. HALL-JONES

this way and the ferryman conveyed them up the estuary, landing them on a bank about a kilometre short of the town. The Bishop and his son, SOUTHLAND TAVERNS

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Cobb & Co’s coach leaving the Empire Hotel in Dunedin.

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HOCKEN COLLECTIONS, UARE TAOKA O HAKENA, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Copyrighted Material In his book, Old Coaching Days in Otago and Southland, E.M. LovellSmith captures the spirit of these coach journeys superbly. Also the stops at the wayside inns along the road, where the horses are changed and the passengers fed and bedded: “You can imagine that first trip.

The start at 5.30am; a keen frost; a milkman carrying his cans; inside the hotel a breakfast laid for the early travellers; rashers of bacon, bread rolls and steaming hot coffee swallowed by those brave souls about to make the first journey by coach to Gabriels Gully.

“Suddenly there is the sound of wheels and with the rattle of bars a four-horsed coach makes its appearance under the archway; the body of the vehicle rocking with a fore-and-aft motion as the wheels jolt over the uneven ground. A Concord wagon in design, with roof and black duck curtains, it has the wellknown ‘canoe-front’ dashboard so dear to the makers.

At the rear is the ‘boot’, with leather sides and canvas cover and into this the grooms pack the passengers’ luggage and other ‘impediments’.

Built to carry eight passengers, the coach can take more, but on this morning the coach is barely filled.

The grooms hold the heads of the impatient horses, which paw the ground. At the cry of ‘All aboard’, the travellers come tumbling out of the hotel doorway.

“The driver, Mr Cole, slim and spare of figure, sits on the box

chewing a cigar and waits patiently as the coach rocks and creaks as the passengers climb into their places.

“Mine host of the Provincial, Dr Shadrock Jones, who is standing at the door, holds up a glass: ‘Your health Mr Cole and good luck to you gentlemen’. Mr Cole bows his head and nods to the grooms, who let go the horses’ heads and spring aside.

‘Now boys three cheers for Cobb & Co. Then as the good old British cheer of ‘Hip! Hip! Hip! Hoo-ray!’ rends the air the leaders rear up on their hind legs and with a mighty bound are off.

“As the coach turns into the main road a tall lean individual, who is propping up the walls of the inn, produces from his pocket a jew’s harp and straightening himself up, strikes up the stirring strains of ‘Yankee Doodle’.

“Within a week or so the business was put on a good basis.

A daily coach left the Provincial Hotel at 5.30am, returning from the United States Hotel at Gabriels Gully the following mornings at the same hour and leaving the Golden Age at Waitahuna at 7.30am, arriving at Dunedin in the evening. Changing stations for the horses were established at East Taieri, Milton and Waitahuna.

“A few weeks after the service started an accident happened on the Big Hill. As the coach climbed the mountain the passengers walked beside to ease the strain on the horses.

After a stiff climb the summit was

Charles Carlos Cole, driver of the first coach to Gabriels Gully in 1861.

E.M. LOVELL-SMITH

reached and the team given a short spell. Then with the leaders taken out of the team, the coach started on its downward journey. The driver, with his foot on the brake, skilfully guided the coach down the steep hillside zigzag fashion. The passengers walked behind, holding on to a couple of ropes fastened on to the back of the coach, helping to steady the coach on its perilous descent. All went well until a steep place was reached, when the coach got out of hand and upset into a creek at the foot of the hill. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt and Charles Cole, who was D U N E D I N ’ S C OAC H I N G DAY S

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Copyrighted Material Chapter 4

Central Otago Hotels Patrons of the Cardrona about to drive over the Crown Range were rationed to one beer and those heading down to Wanaka were allowed two.

ONE UP, TWO DOWN

Pubs on the Goldfields UBS were far more common than churches on the goldfields.

Weatherstons, near Lawrence, was a typical goldfields’ town. In its heyday there were banks, stores, dancing halls, gambling dens and 14 hotels in Weatherstons. When the gold ran out, the town became deserted. But while it was inhabited the pub served as the social centre, especially if it possessed a billiard table, where miners could gather to have a yarn, laugh, dance and play. They also drank to forget for a few hours the wet and icy cold outside, before they staggered back to their damp, cold tents.

It is not surprising that the publicans moved on with the miners whenever there was a new goldrush. George Hassing, the Danish prospector, recalls that music, free concerts and unadulterated fun were conducted in the happiest spirit of good fellowship in the various

P

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hotels in the evenings. On Saturday evenings, as the Reverend Ross somewhat ruefully observes, the miners gave themselves to a sort of uproarious jubilation. Anyone who won heavily at cards or billiards, or struck it rich, would have to ‘shout’ for the house.

The pubs competed with each other for patronage of barmaids and concerts. Unhappily for publicans, they soon married. One publican in desperation, advertised for ugly women only. But even these lasted for only a couple of weeks.

In this story of the pubs of the Otago goldfields we follow in the footsteps of the miners as they moved on from the first discovery of gold at Gabriels Gully in 1861 to each new discovery, with some diversions along the way.

John Watmuff, who kept a remarkable journal of his experiences on the goldfields, tells us that Gabriels Gully was “full of tents, a long string

of calico stores, billiard rooms and shantys called restaurants, the best being the Cosmopolitan”.

Blue Spur Hotel, Gabriels Gully A strange name, but the Blue Spur Ridge was named after the bluegrey conglomerate (blue cement, as the miners called this hard stone) of the ridge that overlooked Gabriels Gully. Although the original miners’ settlement was on the floor of Gabriels Gully, as the gully gradually filled with the accumulation of sluicings, a little township sprang up on the Blue Spur. In its heyday there were two hotels, two churches, a school ad various shops in the township of Blue Spur. One of the hotels was called the Blue Spur and was owned by Thomas Hinde.

Weatherstons The two Weatherston brothers were not doing well at Gabriels Gully and were running out of tucker. So

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Although rebuilt in modern times The Dunstan Hotel in Central Otago still offers “good stabling”. E. VAN EMPEL

CENTRAL OTAGO HOTELS

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Copyrighted Material character was the self-styled James Alexander Gordon-Cumming McIntosh Urquhart, known for short as the marquis, who hailed from Kinbachie in Sutherlandshire. He was a fluent, authority on yachting in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Norway. Also among the group were Orr and MacKay, qualified medical practitioners, overflowing always with Latin quotations. There was Captain Pearce, a retired British Army officer, and Kenneth Stewart, a squatter from Australia, and Charles Cameron, a Highlander as impetuous as he was intrepid, who discovered the Haast Pass [before Julius von Haast ‘officially’ did so].”

Cardrona Hotel in the early 1900s.

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Cardrona Hotel The photogenic facade of the Cardrona Hotel makes it one of the best recognised hotels in the whole of New Zealand. Built in 1870 the hotel has had a number of owners over the years, but the last before it lost its licence, James Paterson, would be the best known name of all. An exminer, James Paterson took over the hotel in 1926 and in latter years he was remembered as a bald-headed, bespectacled barman in braces who served warm beer from a corked bottle, up to the age of 90. Paterson kept a firm discipline in his bar. He was never keen on serving women and he rationed patrons about to

LAKES DISTRICT MUSEUM

HISTORIC PUBS OF THE SOUTH

The well-known Cardrona Hotel as it is today. R. WILLS

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CENTRAL OTAGO HOTELS

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Copyrighted Material Lake Te Anau Hotel Te Anau is the gateway to Fiordland and the main access to Te Anau is via Lumsden. From Lumsden, Black Jack McKenzie drove Cobb & Co’s coach through to the Te Anau Hotel. Then Joseph Crosbie, the hotel keeper at Lumsden, took over the service, changing to Darracq motor cars, which cut the time for the journey to a fraction.

Crosbie Bros continued the service up till 1922, during which time they had only one accident, when a gear slipped on descending Gorge Hill and unfortunately a passenger (Mrs Hill) was killed.

William Snodgrass built the original Te Anau Hotel in 1890 and an early visitor recalls the sumptuous meals and cheerful fires at Mr and Mrs Snodgrass’ hotel. After the launching of the steamer Tawera on the lake, Mrs Snodgrass provided a special dinner for the first passengers on the fine new steamship on the lake. “After an excellent repast the guests adjourned to the parlour, where a cheery fire was blazing.”

George Fenwick describes the hotel as “comfortable and well kept and the bill of fare at 10 shillings a day, as liberal. The hotel is always the scene of a little stir when the Lumsden coach arrives and departs.”

The ‘City’ of Milford In 1878 Donald Sutherland built three huts at the head of Milford Sound (on the site of the present

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Joseph Crosbie’s motor transport departing from his Lumsden Hotel for Te Anau in 1910.

HOCKEN COLLECTIONS, UARE TAOKA O HAKENA, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Two Darracq coaches arriving at Lake Te Anau Hotel.

HARDWICKE KNIGHT