Existing Hotels
At the height of Barcaldine’s settlement days, there were up to 12 hotels in Oak Street. Most have disappeared for various reasons including being the victim of the ‘fire fiend’.
Today the five remaining hotels are from the western end, the Commercial, Shakespeare, Artesian, Railway and Union. The second images of each hotel are 2020 views.
Commercial Hotel
The Commercial Hotel today stands on the original site of the first business. It was a single storey building that came from ‘up the line’, being pulled down and replaced with a two-storey structure. Two succeeding buildings burnt down in street fires, the last in 1921. The 1922 building is the current business.
Shakespeare Hotel
In 1886 when the hotel building moved to Barcaldine from Pine Hill it was called The Shakspeare after the owners. The name was changed to the Shakespeare in the late 1880s. The original was the only two-storey hotel in the early days, being pulled down and replaced with a new structure. The 1914 hotel was burnt down and replaced with a brick structure in 1924, still standing today.
Artesian Hotel
The Artesian Hotel was originally on the site of Emerson’s Hotel. Emerson’s was sold to E A Peel who eventually pulled it down and built a new hotel on the site, the Royal Hotel. The Artesian is that building, never being burnt down.
Railway Hotel
The Railway Hotel in Barcaldine arrived in 1886, and was unfortunately burnt down three times before 1932: in 1896, in 1927 and again in 1929 while it was being rebuilt after the 1927 destruction. After its final rebuild in 1932 it has stood on site and traded since then.
Union Hotel
The Union Hotel was once called the Royal Hotel – before the Royal Hotel was built further up the street (now the Artesian). E A Peel brought the corner hotel to Barcaldine in 1886, later selling and building the (second) Royal. Parts of the original kitchen area of the Royal/Union have survived. It never burnt down unlike some of its contemporaries.
