Text Source: Hoch, Isabel. 2008. Pages 41, 64, 65, 71, 73, 75, 81-83, 110, 114, 125
1896
12 premises in large section of Oak Street destroyed by fire
On December 28, 1896, a large section of Oak Street was wiped out after a match dropped into rubbish under a floor of the Railway Hotel. About 2 pm on a hot afternoon, the steam whistle of the printing works brought people rushing, including those who had been at a picnic on Lagoon Creek. Divisional Board hoses and nozzles were brought from storage, the force of the bore was turned into the Oak Street main and an old Rockhampton fireman took charge. But it was impossible to stop the fire. Panic infected the crowd as fragile and valuable goods were thrown from window; beds and mattresses were carefully carried down stair s and a man almost bled to death after bashing into a glass door. Two women found strength to carry a piano into the street and men who rescued a barrel of rum knocked its tap off and spilt the contents on the way. Saner workers began to dismantle an empty shop and succeeded in halting the fire but the crowd was so infected by the drama that many other buildings were pulled down and their contents scattered. By 4 pm twelve premises were destroyed. Damage was assessed at about £10,000 but within a few months the empty space was filled by new buildings.
1909
18 premises destroyed by fire in western block from Willow Street nearly to Beech Street
Pulling down of buildings was the only way to stop a fire in the early years because increased demand allowed water pressure to fell away in household mains. Little more than a trickle came from taps much of the time. No showerbaths could be taken and at night the flow was sometimes turned off altogether. Water never reached the stop story of hotels, to which all water for washing had to be carried upstairs.
When fire broke out at 3:30 am on 10 August 1909, in a store owned by Joseph Dias, a pitiful stream in the council hose was useless. Within two hours 18 premises were destroyed in the western black from Willow Street to within seven buildings of Beech Street, where the blaze was halted by the pulling down of Hudson’t Shop. The Springsure Hotel was a casualty. Daylight revealed a sorry scene – smoking ruins, piles of rescued belongings, and partly pulled down buildings. Along the school fence were pianos, sewing machines, buggies, horses, birds in cages, bedding and furniture. Atop it all Mrs. Kemp’s cockatoo was reported to be whistling, ‘There’s no luck about the house’. Read More About Globe Hotel History
Tales of the drama included the fusillade of crackers from Wah Sung’s shop, the rescue of Frank Hall’s motor cycle just before three gallons of petrol exploded, and the story of a man who ran about yelling ‘Keep cool! Keep cool!’, although he was so excited he had forgotten his pants. Damage was estimated at £17,000. On the day after the fire, Barcaldine councillors met to discuss formation of a fire brigade. By the end of the month an enquiry had been held, most of the debris cleared, McBride of the Commercial Hotel was trading in a tent, and Wah Sung in a ‘queer looking edifice’ erected among the ashed. Several new buildings were in the planning stage. Read More About Commercial Hotel History
The buildings destroyed in the 1909 fire were: Butcher shop (empty), P. Ryan (tailor shop), Devery’s Hotel, Mrs. McLoughlin (refreshment rooms), R. Park (newsagency), J. Tomi (two-storey drapery store), Carriers’ Arms Hotel (J. P. Vesper), Welcome Home Hotel (W. Kemp), H. Hawthorne (saddler), J. Dias (general store), Fong Sang (general store), New store (built by James Arthur), W. D. Colman (butcher shop), Wah Sung (general store), C. B. Plumb (men’s emporium), Commercial Hotel (McBrides), Hudson’s (tailor shop – removed).
1915
West End corner
Progress of the business sector in town was marred by many street fires. The West End corner was burnt twice within five years.
A fire broke out about 10 pm in Butler’s auction rooms in Beech Street on 9 October 1915, and refreshment rooms (Smith), solicitors (Lyons) and the West End Hotel (Greaves) were destroyed before it was halted by pulling down of the Lyric Theatre. There was the usual chaos, goods piled along the railway fence, crockery tossed from windows and pilfering afterwards. Because of delay in getting water through the mains, a bucket brigade was the main means of fire fighting.
1918
Saltern Creek and Willoughby bush fires
The fires at Saltern Creek and Willoughby were caused by lightning strikes on long thick grass after several seasons of heavy rainfall, taking seen lives in one week. In October 1918, A. Burgess and A. Hock were burned at Willoughly when fire caught them on a fence. At Saltern Creek where 20 fires burned at once and ‘even the British Army could not have extinguished the blaze’, the manager, A. K. Jones and H. Knowlton were killed outright while H. Gilchrist, R. Holmes and P. Thorpe later died in hospital. The manager of Rodney Downs, J. Y. Shannon and his overseer, F. J. Richmond escaped narrowly as fire swept close to them. Thousands of sheep were incinerated and the town was cast into such sorrow and sadness that even the approaching end of war could not stir it to enthusiasm. ‘The news was received with satisfaction but perfect calm’, wrote the Western Champion.
1920
West End Corner
Those who rebuilt after the 1915 fire lost everything again on 6 February 1920 in a fire that started at 1 am. Enthusiastic blowing of the power house whistle to give the alarm exhausted compressed air from the steam engines. Delay in getting water meant that little could be done by the fire brigade and the blaze was halted by pulling down of the Lyric as in the 1915 fire. A guard was set over salvaged goods to stop pilfering but it was several years before the bare gap was filled by new buildings.
1921
Spate of small fires, Commercial Hotel and six other premises, Lyric Theatre
At 9:30 pm on 16 February 1921, a fire behind Meacham and Leyland’s store caused £3,000 damage. Full tanks near the Western Champion with kerosene tins nearby were used to good effect but a timber rack, Lennon’s aerated water factory, and the horse stalls and outbuildings of the Railway Hotel were lost. On the following night a blaze began in a bedroom of McBride’s Hotel but was put out quickly by the fire brigade. The room had not been used for 24 hours and it was believed that the fire must have been deliberately lit. A wave of fear swept the town. The next night at 2 am fire broke out again under a house owned by McCullough in Yew Street and as firemen worked to save it another fire broke out again under a house owned by McCullough in Yew Street and as firemen worked to save it another sprang up at the railway goods shed. Extra policy were brought from Aramac and Jericho and ‘hardly anyone dared to sleep’. The next day shire chairman, R. Parnell called a Vigilance Committee together and 12 citizens were sworn in as special constables to patrol the town. The fires ceased.
Series of fires one day – WC 19 Feb1921 article79723335-4-001
But 1921 was an ill-fated year. On 4 December at 2 am the Commercial Hotel and six other premises were destroyed in the western block. They were McLean’s cafe (next to the corner left vacant by the 1920 fire), Hawthorne’s Lyric Theatre, Plumb and Co’s shop, Heumiller’s Cafe, the Commercial Hotel and Catip’s shop. A building owned by Glasson next to an eight foot laneway was pulled down to stop the fire. Almost the entire length of the western block was a dark empty space that Christmas. Read More About Commercial Hotel History
1924
Shakespeare Hotel fire
On 9 July 1924 the town lost its principal building – the Shakespeare Hotel. The first Shakspeare Hotel of corrugated iron and round bush timber was put up at Pine Hill in 1883 and moved to Barcaldine in 1886. It was the first two-storey hotel in the west and its convivial host, George Page Shakspeare, was fond of horse racing and the ‘good life’. Although not able to play, he loved music and financed his own band – the Artesian. But he was ‘of rather peculiar temperament’ according to the Champion and went off to South Africa in 1898 never to return. His son, George Shakspeare, practiced for a short time in the Barcaldine district as a dentist, but in 1907 went south to form a variety company. Although he had established a good practice, he found dentistry ‘too slow and methodical’ according to the Champion.
After Shakspeare died in South Africa in 1911, his wife sold the hotel to Walter Crust. He changed the spelling to Shakespeare. The next owner, Mrs. Dennett, who took over in 1914, pulled down the old railway building and replaced it with a fine structure. The second Shakespeare had 40 rooms, 250 ft. of verandahs, and was protected by a £450 concrete wall. Mrs. Dennett offered the building at public auction after her sons returned from the war in 1919. It was passed in at £14,000 but sold afterwards to B. Culpan, then to Captain Boyse, to Robert Anderson and to Mrs. Barbara Mahoney, owner at the time of the fire.
Although it buckled and had to be pulled down the next day, Mrs. Dennett’s wall saved the rest of the block, confining the fire, which broke out at 3am, to the Shakespeare. Many residents were unaware of the drama until the next day.
After that, Barcaldine Shire Council decreed that new buildings in the main street must be fireproof. By 5 December 1925 a concrete and brick hotel was read for official opening. It had 300 ft. of verandahs, six sample rooms for salesmen and four shops fronting Oak Street. Water laid on upstairs was a novel convenience. It’s main lounge, dominated by a handsome staircase, was crowded on opening night as speakers commended Mrs. Mahoney and her sons for ‘enterprise and faith in the district that the new hotel represented’. Read More About Shakespeare Hotel History
1926
Five shops burnt down between Federal Hotel and Devery's Hotel
Fear of fire was ever present in the drought conditions of the early 1900s. In July 1926, for the fifth tie since 1909, a large part of western Oak Street was destroyed. Five shops (e. Sharland – two, R. Park – two, and Mrs. Jensen) between the Federal Hotel and Devery’s Hotel were burnt between 2 and 4 am at a loss of about £11,000.
1927
Exchange and Railway Hotels burn down
In the early hours of 3 November 1927, fire destroyed the Exchange and Railway Hotels in the worst blaze the eastern block of Oak Street had suffered since 1896. The fire began in the Exchange and was stopped at Meacham and Leyland on the east, and Parnell and Sons on the west, by the new Brigade which showed ‘efficiency, intrepidity, pertinacity and common sense’ according to the Western Champion.
1929
Exchange and Railway Hotels, Meacham and Leyland's furniture, Parnell's burn down
After the loss of the Shakespeare Hotel in 1924, a council regulation insisted on fireproof material for new structures in Oak Street, but in the depressed times people could not afford to use concrete and brick, so in 1929 the rules were modified to allow replacement of the Railway and Exchange Hotels. E. D. Feury used fibrolite to rebuild the Railway, and the Exchange was replaced by a hotel brought in Rockhampton and re-erected. It was almost complete when, on the night of 29 October 1929, both hotels burnt again.
This time Meacham and Leyland’s and Parnell’s shops were lost too. Parnell’s had escaped many times since its construction at Bogantungan in 1883. It had moved with the line to to Pine Hill in 1884, Jericho in 1885, and Barcaldine 1886. Even the parrot had been rescued three times from fires. ‘So now may it rest peacefully in its ashes’ wrote the Western Champion. Amid the chaos a cage of canaries in the Railway Hotel were forgotten and the ‘sweet little whistlers perished’ – a minor tragedy in the midst of major disaster.
1933
Railway Station burns down early one morning
The first railway station burnt at 3 am on 18 June 1933. The old railway station had come from Pine Hill in 1886. It was replaced on the southern side of the line as part of a general reconstruction of railway buildings during which the goods shed was used as an office.
1938
Barcaldine Club
The Barcaldine Club burnt down about 1am on 5 October 1938. It was insured and a new building was opened by P. C. Ferguson (son of the first president) on 26 August 1939, constructed by Durston and Bradford for £4,000. Only male graziers and leading businessmen were admitted to membership of the Club. According to an older resident, non-members wishing to speak to a member would be shown to a ‘stranger’s room’ at the back of the building.
1951-1956
Old Soap Works, Dry Cleaning business, Racing stables, Other Small Businesses in Oak Street
Although all the new building were in fire proof materials in the 1950s, in March 1951 the old Soap Works, which had produced the famous Western Light soap for over fifty years, was destroyed by fire. It had been taken over by T. J. Sleeman after E. Vale left the district in 1944. A dry cleaning business established by Sleeman was also burnt down. In 1985 a cordial factory which survived the fire still operated on the old soap works site.
In May 1952, a Co-operative store was lost, in November 1955 racing stables behind the Commercial Hotel, and in November 1956 a major fire destroyed a cafe, shoe shop, part of a butcher shop and Symonds’ Drapery in the western block of Oak Street. Fire started in the cafe and may have been deliberate for the cafe proprietor was later imprisoned for arson in another town. Symonds’ re-opened after twelve months trading in rooms at the Shakespeare Hotel.
1962
Federal Hotel burns down
In December 1962, the Federal Hotel was destroyed by fire and never replaced.
1965
Whyte's Service Station
In March 1965, the fire brigade attended a major fire in which Whyte’s service station and panel beating works were partly destroyed. Whytes were agents for Holden, Gemini and Bedford vehicles and sold shell petrol and oil.
