The Exchange was not one of the first hotels that arrived from other places further down the railway line.
The first Exchange Hotel building, built and owned by Essau A Peel in October 1896, was situated in the block opposite the railway station and Tree of Knowledge, between the Railway Hotel and Union hotels.
It burnt down soon after being built in the 1896 Oak Street Boxing day fire.
E A Peel was given permission to carry on business as a licenced victualler temporarily in premises to be erected on the site formerly occupied by the hotel.
Peel immediately rebuilt and sold the hotel to James Page in 1897.
In August 1897, James Page was the proprietor of the newly erected two-storey Exchange Hotel. It then became known as Pages’ Exchange Hotel.
In 1901, Alfred Bashford became the licensee, advertising the hotel had been newly refurbished and offered A1 accommodation for the working classes.
By 1907, James Page Jnr was the licensee.
The hotel was then sold to the Fawkes’ and became known as Fawkes’ Exchange Hotel under licence to Catherine Fawkes in 1909-1910.
The hotel was licensed by William Martin Cuddy before being transferred to Catherine Isabella Agnes Hickson in 1924.
The Exchange Hotel burnt down for the second time on 3 November 1927 along with the Railway Hotel. The owners of the Exchange in 1927 and 1929 were Lamberton & Co of Rockhampton.
Both the Railway and the Exchange hotels were rebuilt after the 1927 fire, but the Exchange took longer, delayed by the owners seeking to make a decision about how to rebuild.
Permission was given to the licensee to conduct business in a shack constructed out of the debris of the hotel; but Mr. W. Moore, the licensee, could not see his way to rebuild owing to the owners of the property being unable to finance him. The licensing Bench made repeated adjournments, the licensee assuring the Bench that new premises would be erected as soon as the season changed.
Eventually, they decided to move the old Separation Hotel from Rockhampton to Barcaldine. The license of the old Separation had been transferred to the Grosvenor, and the premises renamed Arcadia Flats.
The refurbished building was completed on the Saturday, the contractor and his men having left for Rockhampton the same day. The two-storey commodious building had been swept out on the Monday, and was unoccupied when fire swept through and burnt down the hotel sitting on the site for the third time.
The fire occurred on the following Tuesday morning, 29 October 1929.
Although the origin of the fire couldn’t be established, it was found that the fire started in the hotel itself. It was the Exchange which started the 1927 fire.
It was not rebuilt, and the licence not renewed in April 1930.
