The Farmers Arms Hotel, Daylesford, Victoria

Daylesford was founded in 1852 with the finding of alluvial gold in the area. In 1857, the Farmers Arms Hotel was the first hotel built  situated on the road from Melbourne on the way to the gold field.

Swiss Mountain Hotel, Blampied, Victoria

Established during the Victorian gold rush, the Swiss Mountain Hotel was one of Victoria's oldest licensed hotels until it was recently closed due to dwindling patronage.

Originally the hotel was named the The Manchester, but was renamed the Swiss Mountain in the 1880's by the new owner, a Swiss immigrant, Andre LaFranchi. The LeFranchi family operated the hotel for 80 years.

An interesting history of the Blampied district by  Aussie Rules football identity, Phil Cleary can be found here.
  

 

The Windermere Hotel, Cardigan, Victoria

The Windermere was once a busy hotel on the Western Highway (the main route between Melbourne and Adelaide) just outside Ballarat until the Western Highway Bypass was built. Today it is the local for residents of Cardigan Village, a new fast growing area about 10 kms west of Ballarat.

Group of Men & Boys Pictured Outside the Windermere Hotel, Ballarat, Victoria, circa 1905.

 

 

Court House Hotel - Talbot, Victoria

Court House Hotel, Talbot..Victoria

Talbot is small historic town situated in central Victoria between Ballarat and Maryborough. Gold was discovered around Talbot around 1855 surging the population to 15,000 overnight. Many hotels sprung up in the town including the Court House Hotel built in 1861 being the only one still operating today.

 Many of the buildings still existing in the town were built during the 1860s and 1870s. During the late 1880s the mines began to close and the population slowly started to drift away. The return of soldiers from the First World War saw an acceleration of this drift. With no established industries left, the town today is only a shadow of the town born during those early days of 1860. However, Talbot still has an interesting story to tell to any visitors.

Royal Mail Hotel, Birregurra, Victoria

The Royal Mail

Birregurra is a town in Victoria, Australia approximately 130 km south-west of Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Birregurra had a population of 688.
A Post Office opened in the area on 1 October 1858 and was renamed Mount Gellibrand in 1894, a few days before another office nearby was opened as Birregurra.
The Royal Mail Hotel is the centre piece of the small but thriving town of Birregurra
The hotel has been operating since 1871 and is the only hotel in town.
Birregurra is at the foot of the Otway Ranges, 30mins from Lorne on the Great Ocean Road and 60 minutes from Apollo Bay

The Royal Hotel, Queenscliff, Victoria

The Royal

Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip.

The Royal Hotel in Queenscliff was built in 1854 by Irish immigrant William Leihy a Borough Councillor who bought the land in an area that was then out of town in the hope that the town would grow and surround him. He also owned a hotel in Geelong.

The hotel was the first of a group of grand hotels built in the mid to late 1800s to cater for tourists who travelled down from Melbourne on large steamers. The trip taking about two hours. The hotel originally featured 54 rooms.
The Royal is a truely majestic hotel whose decorative wrought iron work, colonades and tower make it a landmark building that is visible to all ships that enter Port Phillip Bay though the trecherous Rip.