Situated on one of the town’s main corners, opposite the railway station, was the two storeyed hotel with its Spanish Mission influences of triple arches and the small balcony over the entrance.
Built by the Electricity Commission and opened on October 1, 1928, at a cost of 30,000 pounds ($47,000) the hotel used electricity extensively in its all-electric kitchen and bar which were the height of modernity. The first Christmas dinner was in 1928 which was such a success that it started a tradition. Thereafter, tables had to be booked well in advance of the festive meal.
Town dwellings had reached 498 by this time. The first licensee of the hotel was G. Dickson– Brown who served in that capacity for 33 years. When the licence was only eight months old, the Melbourne Herald of 12 June 1929 reported that sly-grogging had ceased. The matter of the hotel accommodation was also solved but only temporarily. Two years after its opening, the hotel was heavily taxed by the increasing number of visitors to the town. Extensions were added in 1937, 1945, 1956 and 1959, a new lounge was added in 1966.
When the hotel closed everything was auctioned off which drew people from all over and also featured on the then popular program The Good Morning Show. It was demolished in the early 1980’s.
