The Hotel Australia in Laverton Western Australia still stands today. It has changed very little over the years as you will see from the following photographs. The building has been re used for lots of different purposes but the façade has remained throughout.
Hotel Australia Laverton 1905
Originally the Hotel Australia, was built in 1899. Laverton was then the centre of a booming gold mining district and named after Dr Charles Laver. The architect was W.E. Robertson, the builders were the Palini Brothers. The hotel was completed with a front bar, saloon bar, billiard and smoking room, carriage room and stables for Cobb & Co coaches, a lofty dining room, finest kitchens and 8 bedrooms with baths. Pressed metal ceilings throughout, acetylene gas lighting and a covered outdoor area which could sit 250 people for concerts and receptions. It even boasted an elaborate bridal chamber.
From the Kalgoorlie Miner Newspaper 25th April 1921:-
A pioneer and resident in the person of Mr. George McOmish, proprietor of the Hotel Australia, died early Wednesday morning. The deceased had been in precarious health for the past six months. After recovering from an illness which lasted for several weeks, he had. the misfortune to have his right arm broken through a kick from a horse. This necessitated him becoming an inmate of the local hospital, where he subsequently developed pleurisy.
He was removed to St. John of God Hospital in Kalgoorlie where he remained for a couple of weeks and returned home, but never improved. The immediate cause of death was hemorrhage. The late Mr. McOmish was a Scotchman and came to Australia when he was 17 years of age. After spending a few years in New South Wales, he came to Western Australia about 26 years ago and went prospecting in various parts of the goldfields. He, with three others in the mid nineties, was the proprietor of the British Flag mine, to which Laverton owes its existence, the name (Laverton) being prompted, by the fact that the mine was taken over from them by Dr. Laver. The deceased had been in turn a prospector, butcher, hotelkeeper, and pastoralist. Recently he sold his Mt. Weld station, 12 miles from Laverton, to a returned soldier. He was part owner of the Palace Hotel and Hotel Australia in Laverton. He leaves a widow and a son, who is 18 years of age.
Hotel Australia – The Coach House 1969
The hotel was delicensed in 1927 before becoming a soft drink factory, a boarding house and then a garage. It then lay in disrepair until 1969 when exploration discovered Mt Windarra Poseidon Nickel. In 1970 it became ‘The Coach House Cafe-Restaurant and Milk Bar’, an amusement parlour with an outdoor cinema and roller drome. Then in 1987 it became ‘The Coach House News agency’. Photograph by : Frank Indrisie
Hotel Australia – Coach House 1999 – Photograph by – Shyama Peebles
It is fortunate that the building still survives from the following newspaper article in the Daily News Perth, 5th May 1948.
LAVERTON, Wed— Eight tons of old bricks are now being cleaned in Laverton for consignment to Kalgoorlie for the St. John Ambulance Society. They are to be used for a new garage and office. The bricks are being taken from the old Hotel Australia, a large single storey building well known to old-timers. When the district declined in importance the hotel was delicensed and became a boarding house, known until recently as Hayes’ Hostel. If this trial consignment proves satisfactory others may follow and the whole building may be demolished.
Since this story was published I have been contacted by Robin Smith who tells me:
I would like to add that in the 1940’s my father was the manager of the ‘Laverton General Store’ that was housed in that said building. I was born and educated in Laverton from 1939 till 1952 hence have very fond memories of that shop. I could almost see my father behind that huge counter bagging potatoes or cutting cheese. On the weekly Wednesday train day he would deliver food orders to Mt Weld, Mt Monger stations .
His name was Kerswell Alpha Gibson better known as Jack ( I wonder why ).
Moya Sharp
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