The Long Road to Getting a Drink in Mt Kembla
From the time word spread that Mt Kembla was to transition from a mostly agricultural cluster of farms to a major coal mining village, speculators must have seen the potential to service the thirsty miners who worked hard and hopefully would drink even harder. However, the Temperance movement was in full swing in the 1880s, and with the Coal Mine came the staunch Methodist and Presbyterian mine owners who were Teetotallers and supporters of that movement. They were in a good position to influence and control the mining community and businesses servicing them as they owned the entire village of Kembla Heights. Religious observance was encouraged by providing company land to build two churches and a reading room where public speakers were invited to talk on the merits of temperance and salvation. The mine mangers also used their position in the community and further afield to influence decision makers extending to nearby communities of Mt Kembla and private properties in southern Kembla Heights locally known as Windy Gully against the licensing of any establishment in the vicinity.
The protracted battle for a licensed public house on the mountain to provide the weary miner with a friendly drink at the end of the day and the traveller a place to stay was to go on for over a decade. The nearest public house locals could access was about six kilometres away down in Figtree, making it quite the long journey back up the mountain in the days of horse and cart. Such was the influence of the mine mangers that at least half a dozen licensing applications over the ensuing decade failed. By the mid 1890s, Mt Kembla and Kembla Heights were boasting four churches with devout congregations but not a single pub or club serving alcohol.
Colourised illustration of Figtree, NSW. Figtree Hotel on left was the closest hotel for Mt Kembla residents.
The earliest advertisement of the intent to apply for a publican license in Mt Kembla came from George Staphanson dated 10th of December 1884. He states that the 9 room premises (exclusive of rooms needed by the family) are in the course of erection on the Mt Kembla Road.
At his licensing hearing in January 1885 George Staphanson applies for the license for a house to be known as the Mt Kembla Hotel on land owned by Thomas Gilroy Dobinson. The structure was to be made of wood with an iron roof. The Inspector of the District objected because among other things, the house would be near a church and school. To this Mr Dobinson deposed that the Church was not in sight of the house, the house would be about 100 yards (91.4 meters) from the church and school. In his opinion a place of accommodation was needed at Mt Kembla as the nearest hotel was three miles away. Another surprising objection was that George Staphanson was a married man living apart from his wife. George explained that his wife and children were in England and he hoped to bring them out soon. Mr Staphason obtained 150 signatures from residents on a petition in favour of the license and declared that "miners have as much right to accommodation as any other people." He told the bench that Robert Wilson who ended up organising a counter petition originally said he'd build the hotel for him if it got up. Robert Wilson had already built a store for Dobinson right next door to the school in 1885/86. Robert Wilson when questioned stated "it would be a black day for Mount Kembla when a license was granted; very bad examples would be sent to the children, and the general good order of the locality would be interfered with; the remarks made by Staphason is his evidence were true, but what I said was on the spur of the moment, and had he came to me again I would have declined; I hope that if ever I apply for a license, their Worships will refuse it; there is no need for a licensed house in the locality." James Bushell thought that a licensed premises would interfere with the general good order of the neighbourhood and if licensed they would need to have a police station in Mt Kembla. The application was refused on the grounds that it was in the immediate vicinity of a place of worship and a public school (17.1.1885 IM).
Exactly where this public house would have been situated is today a little hard to say for sure without the relevant documents, however, we do know Mr Dobinson owned all the land on the southern side of Cordeaux Road between the church and the school, so the hotel would indeed have been in the intimidate vicinity and on the same side of the road if they are referring to this parcel of land. The distance between the church and school is roughly 180 metres, the centre of the property would be about 90 meters from each, in short the very centre of the growing village.
1 Mile = 1.61 Kilometres; 1 yard = 0.9144 Metres
Annotated Kerry and Co photograph of Mt Kembla Saddle, showing TG Dobinson's land.
The company owned village of Kembla Heights is on the ridge at the top right and further north.
From the collections of The Powerhouse Museum.
It seems it would be another three years before another application for a license was made, but then several followed. In April of 1888 James Huxtable applied for a conditional license for premises proposed to be erected by him at Mt Kembla. The premises were to contain 14 rooms exclusive of those needed by the family and would be a two storey brick building nearly a mile (1.6 km) from the public school or nearest church and about the same distance from the Mt Kembla company's Pay Office, four miles (6.4 Km) from the nearest public house and on the main road heading to Cordeaux River. With three hundred men working at Kembla pit by then and the Southern Coal Company about to open its own operation at South Kembla, 250 people signed the petition in favour of the license. However, the bench without hearing any evidence in opposition flatly refused the application "the reason was that the situation was so out-of-the-way that, it would be entirely beyond police supervision, and would necessitate an additional policeman being stationed there" (IM 19.4.1888). John Newson who was also due to apply for a conditional license for Mt Kembla that day, then withdrew his application so we have no way of knowing where exactly his location would have been.
The distances given in Huxtable's application and the statements that it was "on the road leading to Cordeaux River" and "so out of the way" indicate the location of the proposed public house was likely Windy Gully, Kembla Heights, just out of the boundary of company owned land. This land was the original grant of the Moran family and would make it 6.4 km/4 miles from the old Figtree Hotel, 1.5 km (almost a mile) from Mt Kembla Public School, and 1.8 km from Mt Kembla Colliery. T J Moran would later be successful in establishing the Kembla Heights Working Man's club on this same land.
Location and distances to proposed Huxtable's 1888 hotel in Mt Kembla.
Annotated 1948 aerial view Wollongong Spy Glass
The dissatisfaction of some in the community is made plain in this letter to the editor that appears on the same same day as the ruling (19.4.1888 IM).
A few months later in October 1888, 31 year old Patrick T. Murphy applied for a colonial wine license at Mount Kembla. A colonial wine license, as opposed to a liquor licence, was introduced by the NSW government in an attempt to substitute mostly imported hard liquor for the lower alcohol content of local wines as well as to support the colonial wine industry. Patrick stated that the premises were situated on the Cordeaux Road, between three and four miles from the nearest public house. The Licensing Inspector objected to the granting of the license, on the grounds that it was not required and that the peace and good order of the neighbourhood would be interfered with. Mr. Russell opposed the application on behalf of the Mount Kembla Coal Company, though no reason was reported. With the odds stacked up against him Patrick Murphy withdrew his application (18.10.1888 IM). Unfortunately, there is not enough detail in the newspaper report to determine the location of this establishment. Patrick would get his own back ten years later though, when his brother-in-law John O'Halloran would be granted a license at Mt Kembla.
By now some in the community were loosing their patience with the continual influence of the temperance movement, mine managers and licensing knock backs. In a letter to the editor titled "More Pubs", in responds to a previous letter writer who he asserts was possibly writing "with the object of swaying the minds of the licensing justices next week" A Kembla Man laments that the working man can not indulge in a "cooling glass of lager" on blazing days, nor have a place to rest, sleep or get something to eat in Mt Kembla. His frustration is clearly evident at the close of his letter (12.1.1889 IM).
Another two applications for licenses were heard at the end of the month of January 1889 and again both were refused. Samuel Kirton applied for "twelve rooms, exclusive of those to be used by the family ; it would be a two-storey brick building, and the site was three miles (4.8 Km) from the nearest hotel at Figtree ; it was about a mile (1.6 Km) from the Mount Kembla mine, and upwards of a quarter of a mile (402 m) from the Public School ; it would be situated on one acre of land, and was on the main road to the Cordeaux River" (17.1.1889 IM). The location of this proposed pub is a little harder to determine as the distances given seem to be rough estimates. Three miles from the pub at Figtree places it near the church, but the church is not 402 metres from the school, only 180 m. For it to be about 1/4 mile or 402 meters from the school and still on the main road, it would have to be either near the site of the present Mt Kembla hotel, or near the former St Clements Catholic Church that was not yet built, this site would make it 5.3 km from the Figtree pub and 1.3 miles or 2.2 Km from the mine (from the mine to the current Mt Kembla Hotel site is 1.8 miles or 3 km going along the road).
Location and distances to proposed Kirton's 1889 hotel in Mt Kembla.
Annotated 1948 aerial view Wollongong Spy Glass
John Caldwell also produced his plans that day that included a structure made of brick costing £2300 "it would be about four miles from the nearest public, house, about a 1/4 mile (402 m) from the Mount Kembla mine, and half a mile (804 m) from the Southern Coal Company's mine". The Bench heard that there were now about five to six hundred miners at the two collieries combined, and thirty to forty farmers. Once again Mt Kembla Colliery made its objection known, this time through John Evans a previous manager of the mine who claimed if granted policemen would have to reside in Mt Kembla (17.1.1889 IM). Four miles from Figtree Hotel brings the proposed site back up to the Kembla Heights area, but a quarter mile either side of Mt Kembla mine make it within Mt Kembla company land which hardly seems likely. From the Southern Coal Company mine on the Mt Kembla Ring Track back out to Cordeaux Road in Windy Gully Kembla Heights is about 1.3 km, so again the distances don't quite add up. The only alternative is if the distances are indicating a short cut through properties, not on public roads. If so this could place the site somewhere in the vicinity of the not yet built St Clement's Catholic Church (built 1893) that is about 840 km from the Southern Coal mine as the crow flies.
Whether there were no more applications for licenses in the ensuing six years or not I've been unable to discover. In early 1896, however, Kembla Heights Workman's Club was established in Windy Gully on Thomas John Moran's land allowing for the men folk at least a place to find a cold drink after work (12.5.1896 IM). This establishment would continue for a decade under considerable, unrelenting pressure. Another workmen's club was established that same year down in Mt Kembla by Mr and Mrs Fatzeus, however it was out of business by 1898 after getting into trouble for sly grog selling and coping a 100 pound fine (15.3.1898 IM).
Finally John O'Halloran, Patrick Murphy's brother-in-law, advertised his intent to apply for a conditional license in the 21st of April 1897 IM. This time the application had the backing of several respectable Mt Kembla residents, including Robert Wilson on who's land the hotel was to be built. Although Robert Wilson did own the hotel, he did not apply for the license therefore not putting himself in the position "that if ever I apply for a license, their Worships will refuse it".
On the day of the licencing hearing a Maria Clark withdraws her own application for a conditional license at Mt Kembla, no mention was made of where these premises were to be located. The day brought good news for John O'Halloran who was granted a conditional License (13.7.1897 IM). Mt Kembla's first hotel opened its doors in 1898 and continues to provide welcomed hospitality over 120 years later.
To be continued....
Researched and written by Georgina - March 2019
