The Oakleigh Black Brick, Tile and Pipe Company

Trading Name	Oakleigh Black Brick Tile and Pipe Company Limited
Years of Operation	20th September 1889 to 23rd December 1898
Company Number	C0002351M
Address	Gardners Road (formerly Brick Lane) Notting Hill, Victoria
Council Lot No.
Coordinates	-37.90084, 145.129373
Current Use	Commercial / Light Industrial

Also known as the Notting Hill Brick Company.  No story of this company would be complete without acknowledging the life and contribution of Thomas Wilkinson first.  Traveling hrough Notting Hill today is a vastly different experience, compared to the mid to late 19^th Century.  From then, until the early 1900s, Notting Hill, thanks to Thomas was a small town boasting an hotel, bakery, post office, blacksmiths shop, store and a brick works.  Nothing now except the hotel remains today to show its past.

The brick works site occupied an area on the Southern side of Ferntree Gully Road, to the South and East well to the rear of the Notting Hill Hotel, Oakleigh, Victoria at 260-262 Ferntree Gully Road.  The whole of the site formerly occupied by the brick works near the intersection of Business Park Drive with Normanby Road has been converted into commercial accommodation, car parking and warehousing. No trace now remains of the sites previous use as a brick pit following its filling as a refuse dump.  The brick pit is now under Nos 1 to 9, so far as I can determine.

The first person to make bricks at Notting Hill was Thomas Gee Wilkinson (1830-1892).  Thomas was born on the 21^st of September 1830 at Grantham, Lincolnshire in England to Thomas Samuel Wilkinson and Mary Ann (nee Rawlinson).  He was indentured to a Civil Engineer surveying sites throughout England for the railway system that was cris-crossing the country at that time.  He arrived at Brisbane on the 13^th of December 1848 aboard the “Artemesia”, a ship chartered by the Rev John Dunmore Lang to bring assisted free settlers to Australia.  He found work as an Overseer on a Station (large cattle property) and also worked as a storekeeper. 

Thomas had relatives in Victoria who encouraged him to move from Queensland.  Auctioneering was then a profitable occupation, and the firm of W.H. Simmond and Wilkinson was located at 88 Bourke Street Melbourne.   For a relatively short time, Thomas set up shop as a general trader at several of the Victorian goldfields (at Forest Creek, Ballarat and Bendigo).   Following this, Thomas went back to his old profession as a Surveyor in the Westernport region working with a Government Survey Party.  On the 6^th of February 1851, he was surveying a Road at Koo Wee Rup when the “Black Thursday” bushfires caused the entire party to ride for their lives to escape the flames.

In 1857, Thomas later settled at the area of Mulgrave approximately ten miles South–East of Melbourne.  He named the area “Notting Hill” after the district of the same name in London.  He began a coach service carrying passengers and parcels between Fern Tree Gully at the foot of the Dandenong Ranges and Prahran, an inner Melbourne suburb.  He also dug a clay pit for brickmaking.  Thomas’ sister Emily died, age 17 in Mulgrave shortly after their move. 

In 1858 the brickworks supplied bricks to Joseph Gibson to build the Oakleigh Hotel.  This new hotel was an improvement on the older Atkinsons “South Yarra” Inn down near Scotchmans Creek.  This “new” hotel still occupies the corner of Dandenong and Atherton Roads Oakleigh.

In 1867 Thomas married Anna Maria Loram and they had nine children, two sons and seven daughters.  By the late 1870s, his home had become the “Half Way House Hotel” for his passengers.  He was also the Notting Hill Postmaster and a licensed grocer.  His shops were on the site of the present Notting Hill Hotel and their shapes are to be seen in the profile of the rooms to the left at the front.

As time progressed, the brickworks flourished and it eventually became the largest brick making company in the area.  Located behind his shops, approximately where the current intersection of Business Park Drive and Chandler Road is now.  Thomas tried (unsuccessfully) for some time to get a tramway built from Notting Hill to Oakleigh to transport bricks to the railhead.   Oakleigh was a rail centre because the line commenced there to go to Dandenong and beyond.  It had not yet been connected to Melbourne.

It had not yet been connected to Melbourne.  Trains had to be transported by cart to Oakleigh and put on the rails there, often resulting in trains being bogged and left for days before being dug out.  Thomas sold the brickworks to the Oakleigh Brick Tile and Pipe Co Ltd in 1885. 

The brickworks were located well behind the hotel but the brick pit shown in some photographs beside the hotel was not dug until after the Second World War.  The site is now a commercial development and multi level car park.

In 1933 two boys drowned in the old brick pit.

“The Oakleigh Brick Tile and Pipe Company, whose property is situated at the rear of the Half-Way House, on the Fern Tree Gully Road, intend to increase their capital to 30,000 shares of £1 each.  The first issue of 5,000 shares will be placed on the market at once; and it is anticipated these will be floated without the slightest difficulty. The bricks now being made in this yard are very highly spoken of by experts and contractors, and with increased appliances and improved machinery, a very large demand is confidently expected.”

South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Richmond, Vic.), Wednesday 25 March 1885, page 2

“An elderly man named James Maloney, who is employed at the Oakleigh Brick and Tile Co.,

met with a painful accident on Friday morning. He was at work in the pit, filling-the bucket, when, without the slightest warning, a large quantity of clay that had been loosened by the recent heavy rains, suddenly fell and nearly buried him. When released from his perilous position, it was found that he was severely cut about the head and face and there were a number of contusions on various parts of his body.  As it was feared he was injured internally as well, he was at once taken to the Alfred Hospital.  Another man named Henry Copley, who was standing near Maloney, escaped with a few bruises.”

South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Richmond, Vic.), Wednesday 22 April 1885, pge 3

By this time, Thomas was winding down his activities in Notting Hill.  He sold his interest in the Hotel, the Cartage business and his brickworks and moved to the nearby township of Oakleigh.  According to the History compiled by T.G.Newton in the early 1950s, John  Scott supposedly made the bricks for several houses in Grant Street Oakleigh, (some of which remain) that were owned by several members of Thomas Wilkinson’s family.  They were known as “Wilkinsons Folly.”  (Later these homes were known as “Goat Terrace.”)

On the 23rd of December 1886, Thomas transferred the licence for the "Half Way House Hotel" to Thomas Haines of Geelong.  Ownership on the title was transferred to Anna Maria Wilkinson on the 1st of March 1887.  In December 1889, Thomas Wilkinson put the freehold up for sale, including 27 acres of land for  £650.  The land was sold to Thomas Coulter Wright on the 21st of October 1890 and then to Archibald Taylor on the 1st of February 1898. Archie was a shareholder in the land company but it was his name on the title.  

In 1887, Thomas Wilkinson became involved in an attempt to build a tramway.   A company, the “Oakleigh and Ferntree Gully Steam Railway Company Limited” was established and considerable lobbying to build the railway was carried out, unsuccessfully.   In August 1889, Thomas was appointed as the Auditor for the Shire of Oakleigh.  In September 1898, the company was wound up, but Archie held the title until the 16th of August 1921.  By then a number of publicans had been dispensing cheer at the Nott.   

The land was sub-divided and the plot beside the hotel was owned by the Malvern Glass and Leadlight Pty Ltd in 1954.  Maybe they are responsible for the pit shown in the 1961 photograph. 

Most brick works would mill their clay to the consistency of flour.  The black Brick company was not quarrying from a bed of clay like all the other makers in the area.  Their quarry was outside the silurian mudstone band running along Scotchmans Creek.  Consequently, their bricks were filled with small stones as shown above.  Nevertheless, their bricks are still going strong.  Black bricks are so-called because of the high iron content of the raw materials.  The old Blackflat School on the corner of Waverley and Springvale Roads, built in 1880 was originally built with black bricks and the extension built later of red bricks.  The junction of new and old highlights the difference in colour.

All trace of the old brickworks had disappeared by the time this aerial photo was taken in 1931.  The Notting Hill Hotel is at the top on Ferntree Gully Road.   To the centre and bottom left are the faint outlines of the brick pits with the remnants of the brick works in between.  A faint trace of a track joins the “main” road.  Later, a quarry was begun on Ferntree Gully road, that is still there in 1961.  The brick pit is full of water and was used as a swimming hole for many years both before and after the drownings in 1933.

        1931      

                                                        

 1961

An extraordinary meeting of this company, whose property is situated on the Ferntree Gully road was held on Wednesday, 24th ult., at Jackson's hotel, Chapel street, Prhran, to consider its financial position and the advisability of' winding up the company.  Mr. L. Shepherd, the chairman of the directors, presided, and the Oakleigh and Mulgrave shareholders were represented by Messrs. W. H. Wastell, T. G. Wilkinson, E. L Thompson, R. Trail, and J. Charman. The Chairman, having explained the object of the meeting, read an approximate balance sheet of the assets and liabilities of the company.  This showed that only additional capital was needed to carry the speculation to a highly successful issue.

The site of the brick works in 1945 showing the pit and the trees planted around the workers cottages now long gone.

If any of the shareholders were not satisfied with the prospects of the company, whatever amount of money they had paid would be returned to them, but he thought it would be useless to place a number of shares in the market unless every one who had an interest in the undertaking was prepared to considerably increase their risk. It would be necessary to have 4000 more shares taken up, but the directors did not think of making calls exceeding six shillings per share, and these payments would extend over a considerable period of time.  Mr. E. Stabb stated that the extra funds were required to purchase the property and erect additional machinery.  Beyond the directors, but very little interest had been taken in the company, and it was not fair that the whole of the responsibility should be thrown upon them. 

Mr. Tilly had expected that a great number of additional shares would have been applied for, and was disappointed that his expectations had not been realized. The-directors were prepared to purchase extra shares pro rata but unless the remaining shareholders were willing to do the same "it would be prudent to wind up the company.  In reply Mr. Glassford, the Chairman stated that at the present time ten shillings per share on one thousand shares had been paid.  If another four thousand shares were subscribed the future of the company would be assured, and a return of 25 per cent. might be expected.

At the present time, six men could turn out 40,000 bricks, per week, of which there would be a profit of 10s per 1000.  With extra tilers and sheds the output would be increased to 120,000 per week.  Mr. Glassford considered the statement made by the Chairman was very satisfactory but success would be impossible unless the shareholders would take additional shares. He was prepared to take 100 more and hoped the others would do the same. 

Mr N Stabb was of the opinion that if the shareholders would not rally round the Directors it would be better to wind up the affair and begin again in time.  If the present shareholders   desired to participate in future and large profits they should not object to incur extra liability.    Mr Jackson said that no salaries had been paid for six months.  He would take no more shares unless all the others did the same.  The Chairman remarked that only £34 was paid in salaries since the company was formed.  He had given up a great deal of his time without receiving the slightest remuneration.  Mr. Lynn claimed equal credit for the services he had rendered. 

Mr. E. L. Thompson asserted that the small shareholders were the original shareholders.   '(Mr.E. Stabb: No no!)  It appeared to him (Mr. Thompson) that the object of the meeting was to get rid of these small shareholders. The big men wanted to swamp the little fellows.  The directors knew they had hold of a good thing, and wanted to drub out the little men and appropriate all the profits to themselves.  Why not place the extra shares on the market.  If it was really going to be the magnificent speculation pictured by the directors the public would very soon take up the extra shares. 

Mr Jackson: It had never been decided to place any shares on the market.  The chairman corrected Mr. Jackson.  A resolution had been passed that the extra shares should first be offered to the existing shareholders, and if they were not all taken up the balance should be placed on the market.  E. Stabb considered that the directors had been too honestly candid with the little shareholders, who wanted to hang on thin skirts and reap the same advantages as those who had taken much heavier risks. 

The chairman: 'The directors did not wish that the large fish should swallow up the small fish.  Originally he had only twenty shares but in order to test the matter fully the directors were obliged to take up extra shares or the whole affair would have gone to the bad completely.  Mr. E. L.Thompson: Carry out your resolution  and float the extra shares in the open market and if the public will not buy them, wind up the company, but not until then. Mr. E.: Stabb : The directors had to become responsible to the bank.

That was necessary to fully test the value of the clay.  They also showed their confidence in the undertaking by increasing their liability as shareholders.  He repudiated the idea that the directors wanted or wished to swamp the little people.  The directors desired them to remain and increase the numbers they now held.  Mr. E. L. Thompson: The directors consider that the shares on which 10s.-had been paid up to be now worth £1, and yet they expected that the little fish would be satisfied  with half their value as estimated by themselves.  The directors had neither tested nor proved the land.  That had been done long before the directors were appointed and they had not the the slightest right to assert their claims to recommendation:

Mr. E. Stabb: The clay was never thoroughly tested until the directors took the matter in hand, and they were entitled to every credit for their exertions. Mr. Thompson : I will double my shares.  Mr. R.Trail and Mr. W. H. Wastell were also willing to do the same.  Mr. Glassford thought the explanation of the directors as to the way they became large shareholders should be satisfactory to the meeting and it was natural that they should not wish  to incur all the responsibility.

"Was it likely the public would take up shares if the present shareholders did not do so.  He thought not.  If the little fish would take extra shares that would give the public additional confidence, it rested entirely with the small shareholders.  they should be wiped out or not. -Mr. E. Stabb:  We are ready to give the small shareholders all the money they have paid up.  The chairman; To carry out the proposal of the directors every shareholder would have to quadruple his risk.  Mr. J. Charman said he would double the number of shares he now held.  Mr. Glasiford proposed that the meeting be adjourned for a fortnight and that in the meantime efforts be made by the present shareholders to raise a new issue of 4000 shares.  Mr. N. Stabb seconded the motion, which was carried -" The meeting now stands adjourned until July 8.”

South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Richmond, Vic.), Wednesday 8 July 1885, page 3

In 1888 the brick company unsuccessfully tried to raise capital and new proprietors took over in 1889.  Previously the bricks had been made by hand and the new owners fully automated the works by installing a mechanical brick press.  This allowed them to make up to thirty thousand bricks per day to be fired in a new Rydge’s Patent kiln.  I can find no record of a Rydge’s kiln, but given the capacity, I assume it to be a smaller type of rectangular downdraught kiln.  The more modern “Hoffman” kilns had a much, much greater capacity.  The high iron content meant that the clay fired to a dark colour, thus leading to the new name of the company being the “Oakleigh Black Brick, Tile and Pipe Co. Ltd. By 1890, the company also owned the hotel, although the name on the title was "Archibald Taylor.".

Aerial view of the site of the brickworks taken in 1961.  The Notting Hill Hotel is top left.  Fertree Gully Road runs across the top and part of the later brick pit can be seen between the buildings at right and at the rear of the hotel. This later quarry was not part of the original brick works.

The Notting Hill Township Estate company, formed during the land boom in the 1880s bought about twenty acres of farmland east of the Notting Hill Hotel.  The old hotel, built in the 1850s was beginning to fall apart, despite being supported by the bakery built beside it.  In 1882 Thomas began (unsuccessfully) to have a tramway built to Oakleigh to bring his bricks to the railway.  Thomas began his move away from Notting Hill in May 1884, when he sold the old clay pit and brick works behind the hotel to the Oakleigh Brick Tile and Pipe Company. 

At least six men were employed by the company in 1885, and a cluster of cottages were built to house their workers.  Many of Oakleigh’s early buildings are made from their bricks.  They were noted for their quality and even colour.  Unfortunately, then, as now, the good-times could not last and the brickworks went up for sale in 1888.  An advertisement lists “The Oakleigh Brick Tile and Pipe Company Limited Notting Hill Fern Tree Gully Road” plant as:

·        Freehold about 17 ½ acres of the finest clay land in Victoria 15 minutes walk from Clayton’s Road Station.

·        Kilns of 150,000 capacity

·        Boiler and engine eight horsepower

·        Powerful rollers

·        Pugmill

·        Large shed accommodation

In 1889 the new company bought the works and fully mechanized it.  A mechanical mould and press turned out four bricks at a time, producing thirty thousand in a ten-hour day for baking in a Rydge's patent kiln. The bricks must have been dark in colour, due either to the clay or the baking, for the new firm registered itself as the Oakleigh Black Brick Tile and Pipe Company

By 1890, this private township company also owned the Half Way House Hotel and in December it announced plans to demolish the old wooden building and put up a two-storied hotel, using the local black bricks, but with full rendering. The architect was R. V. Blackburne, the founding president of the recently established Victorian Architects and Engineers Association. His design provided for nineteen rooms, including a couple of beer parlours, a large banqueting room and verandahs protecting the entrances on two sides.

The hotel', most impressive feature, however, was the supply of piped water to washbasins and drinking fountains on the first floor. Rain-water-tanks at roof level were the source of the supply and the surplus went into a vast twelve thousand gallon storage tank underground, which promised a good supply for both travelers and their horses even in a dry summer. The new hotel was opened in September 1891.

Photograph of the Dyer Family outside the hotel, probably taken in 1929
Famous footballer Jack "Captain Blood" Dyer was a member of the family.

The “Oakleigh Brick Tile and Pipe Company was still located well behind the hotel at Notting Hill.  Established as a company on the 29^th September 1889.  Thomas also sold his coach and delivery business to a Mr Bevan.  The property at Notting Hill consisted of 17 acres, 35 poles in area on the corner of what is now Ferntree Gully and Stephensons roads.  Shares to the value of 12,500 pounds were issued at one pound each. Shareholders were;

Archibald Taylor                                           2,500 shares

James Currie                                                 3,300 shares

John Spence                                                  2,500 shares

Job Hansen    (also Secretary)                    1,750 shares

J.W Lincoln                                                      450 shares

Company Secretary was Mr Moorhead Wright, also Secretary of the Country Estate Agent Syndicate.  Archibald Taylor and James Currie were also members of the Notting Hill Township Estate Syndicate.  They were later to also own the Half Way House Hotel.  Taylor and Currie had previously been in business together as “woolstaplers and fellmongers” in Melbourne and Kensington, a partnership that was dissolved on the 30^th of September 1887. A woolstapler is a wool dealer and a fellmonger is a dealer in hides.

“An action by the members of the Notting Hill Township Estate syndicate, consisting of Messrs James Currie, John Spence, Archibald Taylor, and 'J'.C Wright, against Mr. K H Mundell, was disposed of by Mr Justice A'Beckett in the First Civil Court yesterday.  The claim was for arrears of rent, arising out of the defendant's tenancy of the Half Way Hotel, at Oakleigh, the property of the plaintiffs.  It appeared that in December 1886, a lease of the property was granted to one Haines, which was subsequently assigned to the defendant. 

The rental under the original lease was £78 per annum, but in December, 1890, the defendant, in consideration of the plaintiffs rebuilding the hotel, agreed to pay an increased rental amounting to £150 per annum, to commence from the time the building was finished, and the plaintiffs alleged that the building was finished on the 21st September, 1891, and they claimed rental at the rate of £150 a vear from that date.  In the alternative, they claimed for use and occupation, and also for an account, the defense was that the building was not finished, and that therefore the rental of the premises was only £78 per annum. 

His Honour came to the conclusion that the plaintiffs were entitled to the increased rate of rent from the 21st of December, 1891, directed that any payments made by the defendant to the former secretary of the syndicate should be off set against this indebtedness, and ordered each party to bear their own costs. Mr. Weigall nnd Mr. R.W. Smith appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr. Higgins for the defendant. “

(Argus (Melb, Vic. Friday 16 Sept 1892, p 4)

It appears that this company was the product of the Land Boom of the 1880s.  Companies were set up to exploit cheap land and sell a lifestyle to investors.   Land banks, building societies and mortgage companies drove the boom and wove a complex web of cross-ownership and financial arrangements.  In the late 1880s, growth slowed and the boom collapsed, leaving a severe depression that took years to recover from.  These companies also developed complex and dubious methods to escape their debts.

Mr Mundell appears to have had difficulty keeping out of trouble because a few years later…….“SINGULAR CHARGE OF ROBBERY.  OAKLEIGH, Friday.

Great interest was manifested in some cases commenced in the Oakleigh Police Court on Thursday, when Carl Bilecke, of St. Kilda, Carpenter; Richard Mundell ex publican Notting, Hill, and Carl Carlsen, farmer, were before the Court in connection with the theft of a number of articles from some brickyards at Notting Hill, near Oakleigh.  The works had not been used for some years although at one time a considerable business was done there, in the manufacture of bricks, tiles, pipes, &/c, and through financial difficulties the plant and premises had to be sold.

Mrs Annie D Spence being the purchaser, and Mundell acting as her agent.   It appears that some valuable machinery, a lot of tools, and about twenty casks of oil were on the ground at the time of sale, but subsequent inspections showed that goods were being removed wholesale from the place, though no efforts seemed to have been made by the proprietress to trace them.  Mundell was in charge for some time, and had an hotel near the premises.  In consequence of the peculations, Mrs Spence instructed Mr D T. Moss, a blacksmith, of 'Windsor  to overhaul the machinery, and mark the remaining tools, which he did in January last. 

Since then things have been stolen, including nearly all the oil, and some of the marked tools were found in Bilecke’s possession The case against him was commenced on Thursday, Inspector Walshe prosecuting, but owing to the length of the evidence it was only partly heard, and adjourned until Thursday next, when the charges against the other two defendants will be gone into.”

The Argus Melb, Vic. Monday 17 June 1895, page 6

Was Annie related to Mr Spence, one of the shareholders in the brickworks?  Anyway, it appears that the company did not survive the bust too long? 

A sad postscript; another director Job Hansen, a German migrant to Australia had made a fortune estimated at £30,000 but lost it on the Melbourne land boom.  Later, in 1905, at the age of 70. and almost penniless, he committed suicide by throwing himself under the Silverton train at  Broken Hill, N.S.W.

By the time this aerial survey photograph was taken in 1931, the brick works had disappeared and the workers cottages gone.  All that was left was the faint outline of the clay pits, a track and a few trees in a bare field.

Thomas died and was buried in Oakleigh on the 31^st of December 1892 in what is now the Oakleigh Pioneer Memorial Park.  In 1957, the Oakleigh Council decided to redevelop part of the old cemetry into a car-park.  One of the casualties of this decision was the grave of Thomas and his wife Anna.  They still lie in the cemetery just outside the door of the Monash Federation Centre, just to the west of the tree in the foreground.  R.I.P.  Even though the brickworks is long gone, the pub is still trading. 

In researching this post, I came across a list of licensees for the hotel.  On checking, I found it was incomplete, so here is who I think ran the pub and when.  These are the licence holders, not necessarily the owners of the property.

The property was originally over 17 acres in area until Archibald Taylor sold in 1921.  Archibald was an absentee landlord, living in England.  The land to the side was sold to Albert Phipps, a Market Gardener.  The land behind the hotel where the brick works was located was also sub-divided and had a variety of owners who were also Market Gardeners, one of whom were the Gardner's who gave their name to Gardners Road.

From 1876, district Licensing Courts were established across Victoria to hear applications for new licences, licence renewals, transfers, extensions and other functions in the regulation of liquor licensing.  Thomas Gee Wilkinson had been running the Half Way House Hotel in one form or another since 1857.  It had originally been a general store and bakery servicing his coach business from Prhran to Ferntree Gully.  In 1876 he obtained the first license for the Half Way House Hotel and held it for over ten tears before he passed it on to Mr J Whitty in 1897.   Mr J Murphy took over in 1888 and P H Mundell took over in 1890.   H Hart started off the new century there in 1900.  By then the brick works had closed and the pub became the only business.  Check the Monash Historical Society for a complete list of the licencees.  It was still known as the “HalfWay House Hotel” until the end of the First World War.

Regulars will remember Kath Byer who, along with husband Sidney (Lofty) Byer took over in 1936.  Lofty was quite a character who spent more time on the other side of the bar than was perhaps good for him and was also operating a betting business that was not considered strictly legal in those days.  He also lost the licence for a while until his wife Kath got it back during the Second World War.  Many, (many) of these licensees were also charged with trading after hours, a common practice of the times.

I think this is a full list but if not, let me know.

1857 to 1884 Thomas Gee Wilkinson
1884 to 1887 Thomas Edward Haines

1887 to 1888 J Whitty

1888 to 1889 J Murphy

1890 to 1894 P H Mundell

1900 to 1903 H Hart

1903 to 1906 Ruth Henley 

1907 to 1912 Robert Lang

1912 to 1913 Mr Woodcock

1913 to 1914 James O’Neill

1914 to 1915 Reginald B Dyer

1915 to 1917 W B Sleith

1917 to 1918 Mary Margaret Scott

1918 to 1919 Annette Francis Crombie

1919 to 1921 Thomas Young

1921 to 1925 Thomas David Lindsay

1925 to 1926 Percival Howard Morris

1926 to 1926 Gertrude M Everett

1926 to 1927 Nathaniel Delia Gordon

1928 to 1930 William Herbert Raymond

 1930 to 1931 William Richard Bills

1931 to 1931 John Mair

1932 to 1934 Ernest J Tulloch

1934 to 1936 William Joseph Tyley

1936 to 1938 Martha Dunlop

1938 to 1939 Ida Eileen Elit

1939 to 1939 J Tuohy

1939 to 1939 J Batcheldor

1939 to 2010 Kath Byer, who ran the hotel until her death on the 15th of November 2010. 

2010 to 2013 Noel Mc Donnell. Kath's daughter inherited the property but her husband John held the licence.  Noel did however hold the licence on a couple of occasions when Kath was traveling.

2013 to date  Tony Jackson