DOYLES WELL
Originally called CUTMORE’S WELL
Located between Leonora and Agnew and near the Turkey and Wilson Creeks. A wayside inn and coaching stop. In 1903, there was a coach service from Leonora on three days a week. There were stockmen working for the stagecoach lines stationed there until at least about 1912.
The first reports of gold in the area were made in January 1893 by E. BOWDEN and L. SULLIVAN, but the well was probably dug as a water supply for William CUTMORE, Jack DOYLE and John LEYLAND, who were in the district prospecting for gold in what was known as the Diorite area in late 1894. By 1895 the name Doyles Well seems to have won out, and in December 1896 the 5,000-acre reserve for travellers and stock was created around the well to serve the traffic to the goldfields to the north. In December 1912, Jack DOYLE perished from thirst within thirteen kilometres of Doyles Well.
Doyles Hotel – Image courtesy Joan Pearce
It was a place for rest and recreation, but the date of establishment is not certain. Certainly in July 1896, Richard LEVINGE applied for a Wayside Inn licence, but this may not have been granted. The earliest known successful licence was for 1898 in the name of John HOLEHAN trading as the Doyles Well Hotel.
Mt. Leonora Miner 23 September 1899, page 3
The business continued trading under several managers until about 1944/45 when the licence was suspended. The licence was reissued in 1947, and the business continued trading until it was surrendered in 1950. At one time DOYLES WELL was apparently the source of supply for several illicit inns in the settlements to its north. The configuration of the original buildings is not certain, but by about the early 1900’s there was thought to have been a bar, six bedrooms, a sitting room, a dining room and a kitchen. The building was in a perilous state by about 1937, and the new manager, Angelo POLETTI, had it pulled down and erected a mud brick structure with a bar, four bedrooms a dining room, plus the managers rooms. Under his stewardship, which lasted until about 1943, there was a swimming pool, electric lighting plant, skating rink, four tennis courts, a bowling alley and a large bough shed added. There was also a big sports oval alongside and two large windmills for the water supply
COACH DAYS RELIC- 1934 DOYLE’S Well Hotel, on the road from Leonora to Wiluna, came into existence as a changing post for horses in the days when Lawlers, Sir Samuel. Kathleen Valley and Lake Way (now Wiluna) were thriving centres, and Cobb’s coaches were used to travel the route. The well was named after ‘Daddy’ Doyle, a veteran of the ’49ers’ rush to California, who was well known in the early nineties. The old house today (1934), which is the only building met with in many miles and at which ‘pots” are probably smaller and dearer than at any other licensed premises in the State, will soon entirely disappear, as white ants have got into the frame.
Doyle’s Well Hotel 1935 – A famous wayside hostelry on the road from Leonora to Lawlers – Image TROVE
Doyle’s Well Hotel 1932 – Men unknown
Advertisement – 1938
Daily News Wednesday 5 June 1946, page 2
About 37 miles north-west of Leonora is Doyle’s Well. Apart from the well, it boasts by way of settlement but one tin shanty — the now abandoned Doyle’s Well Hotel upon which outback settlers relied for stores as well as drink. In this desolate spot there was ample water as well as beer. The well also filled a concrete swimming pool, eagerly patronised by hot and dusty travellers. In this water also thrived Angelo Poletti’s juicy young frogs. Regularly at dinner table he would order a whisky and water, excuse himself and return to the table with a struggling frog snatched from the swimming pool water. Holding it by one of its legs, he would toss it into his mouth and swallow it whole as others do with oysters, following it with a whisky and water chaser.
The frightened bulging eyes of his victims left him unmoved. Nor did he suffer any pangs of indigestion, according to travellers who have frequently witnessed this frog cocktailing at Doyle’s Well. Mr Frank Poletti, father of Angelo, is in a greengrocery business in Leonora, and has some racehorses in Perth. He says he has eaten live frogs himself in Italy in his youth. But of his three sons and two daughters, Angelo is the only one who is now still fond of frogs. Today at Doyle’s Well there is no beer, no stores and the swimming pool is no longer fit for use by passing travellers. But, for those who wish to pause and look,
there may still be seen playing by the well frogs which have only the war to thank that they are still alive.
Kalgoorlie Miner Monday 21 April 1947, page 2
DOYLE’S WELL
Wayside Inn Licence
PLACE NOW LOOKING BEST FOR YEARS
A wayside inn licence for Doyle’s Well, effective March 17, has been granted to Mr Stanley Milbank, who has taken over the inn at Doyle’s Well, 36 miles north of here on the Lawlers to Agnew road. Mr and Mrs Milbank are making the hostel self-supporting in an effort to revert to pre-war conditions.
This week they planted the seeds of 500 cabbages and 250 lettuce, imported from Perth. They plan to grow many other vegetables and fruits. In addition, they intend to cater meals for travellers on the Leonora-Agnew run. When they took over the inn last year, after a period of wartime idleness, flocks of galahs at first disputed ownership of the place, uprooting all the seedlings planted by Mr Milbank. With six months’ occupancy by the Milbanks, the galahs, which still abound in the area, have accepted the new owners, and are not now troublesome.
Doyle’s Well Hotel c 1940’s – Image SLWA
Responding to the recent rains, which broke a four-year drought, the place is looking a picture, grass in many places being two feet high. The swimming pool has been cleaned out and has been used quite a bit recently by visitors from Agnew and Leonora. The cement basin is holding water well. Mr Milbank is now arranging for electric light to be restored to the Inn. He plans to have the swimming pool electrically lit again for next summer. Doyle’s Well itself, which has never been known to go dry, is yielding excellent water. In 1959, Doyle’s Well Hotel, a leisurely day’s drive from Niagara, consisted of only two crumbling walls and a chimney among white gums.
Jim Lapsley’s dray carting water tanks at Doyle’s Well, 1926 – Image SLWA
Moya Sharp
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