Charleville - Part 1

It’s about time that I finished writing up our recent trip to Queensland, before I forget what we got up to.  

Grab a cuppa, as this is a long one.

We had a couple of places we really wanted to have a good look around and one of those was Charleville.  We had been through twice before, once briefly in about 2003, when we visited the museum and were fascinated by the ambulance that ran on the railway lines.   The second time was in 2019.  On that trip we were more focused on getting further north, so only had a walk up and down the street before heading on our way.  I was intrigued by a grand hotel on that trip and hoped to one day return to have a better look.

Not long after that trip, a friend visited and mentioned all these interesting things they had seen, which we knew nothing about.  It really made me want to return and stay for a little while to have a better look around.  Finally, it was to happen.

We arrived in the middle of the day on the Saturday, and after settling in at the caravan park, enquired about tours of that grand hotel I noticed on our previous trip.  Yes, they had tours later that afternoon.  Perfect.  A local lady, Rachel, has a business conducting tours each day during the tourist season.  She is quite the fount of knowledge.

The hotel is the “Hotel Corones” and has a fascinating history.  

Let’s head inside.

Our tour was just a small group of seven and started by everyone having to select a funny hat to wear.  Mick decided that his battered old leather hat was funny enough so opted out.  Rachel started by telling us a bit of the history of the founder of the hotel.

Harry Corones was a young Greek immigrant who came to Australia, complete with his twelve year old nephew, in the early 1900s.  They arrived in Sydney and Harry got a job in a Greek cafe.  Shortly after, they moved to Brisbane to work in another Greek cafe, owned by a distant relative. 

Harry had been saving and wanted to own his own business, so started looking around for somewhere that was going ahead and the name Charleville kept coming up.  By chance a cafe was on the market, so he bought it and soon developed a reputation for excellent food and service.  He did so well that he opened a second cafe in the town.

The Hotel Charleville was in need of new lessees, so the owners approached Harry.  He initially declined, but they persisted until he agreed.  To become the licensee, he first had to become an Australian citizen, thus becoming the first Greek born licensee in Australia.  He quickly learned the ropes and the hotel was very successful, with his ongoing reputation for good service.

However, Harry then wanted to own his own hotel, so purchased the run down weatherboard Hotel Norman, on the next corner up the street, while having his now adult nephew run the Hotel Charleville.  Harry wished for the finest hotel in western Queensland and had an architect from Toowoomba prepare the plans.  The building was started in 1924 and completed in 1929 at the cost of 50,000 pounds.  It was one of the first masonry buildings in the town.  He cleverly did the building in stages, with the bar being the last, so that he could continue to trade.  At this stage, he thought he needed a wife, so toddled off to Sydney and married Effie, the daughter of the Greek Orthodox Bishop.  What a contrast Charleville must have been for her.

The Hotel Corones was known as the Hilton of the West and was very up to date, with custom made furniture, some ensuite bathrooms and beautiful lead light windows.  Many dignitaries stayed there, including famous aviators and even royalty.  During World War II, General MacArthur stayed there, as did Robert Menzies.  

This was all in the time when the pastoral industry was booming with wool making outrageous prices.  Shearers would also stay, often sleeping on beds set up on the verandah, dormitory style.  They would give their pay packet to the hotel, and once the funds ran out, would head off to the shearing sheds again.

At the time, it was claimed that the bar was the longest in the world.  It is U shaped and sadly, in recent times a small portion was started to be demolished before it could be prevented.  Back in the day, apparently the patrons would be six deep, with staff wandering among the crowd to take orders.

The upstairs sitting room is gorgeous with its striped timber flooring.  Unfortunately, there is next to no original furniture in the hotel.  The round side tables beside the fireplace are two of just a few remaining items.

The other original items are the sideboards in the dining room. The painting on the bottom one is of the original Hotel Norman.

The hotel has been flooded on several occasions over the years, but fortunately, there is a now a levee bank which protects the town.  The 1990 flood was one of the worst and the sign shows the height it reached.

Adjoining the Hotel, Harry also built the Corones Hall, for large functions and during World War II, dances every evening.  He even built a two storey building as staff accommodation.  

Sadly, the hall has seen better days.  From the outside you can see that at one stage it was a night club, but now is a dingy bottle shop.  The stage is still there, but looking very dilapidated.  One incongruous feature is the disco ball still hanging from the ceiling.

As well as the hotel and his cafes, Harry was very involved in the community, being on the hospital, ambulance and fire brigade boards.  His term as a board member of the hospital is the longest of any board member in Australia.  He was one of the founding shareholders of Qantas, and by bringing picnic hampers to the Aerodrome on their stopovers, became the first airline caterer.  He was also involved in many other community organisations within the Charleville area.

The hotel was run by Harry and his family for many years. After Harry’s passing, his son ran the pub for some years before selling it.  Since then, it has had mixed fortunes with its various owner, even going into receivership at one stage.  The people that bought it after that did a lot of work and the lady owner even wrote a book on the hotel’s history and collected much of the memorabilia that is currently in the hotel.  She even took the initiative to have the building added to the State Heritage Register. The hotel recently sold for $2 million and for the first time is not owned by a family.  

Sadly, we felt that the hotel has lost a lot of its glory.  If you want a meal, it is served in the bar, not the dining room.  The menu is just on a piece of A4 paper and the selection rather ordinary pub grub.  When we were there, there were only two small groups of people in the bar, a far cry from the crowds in its hay days.  Several panes of the beautiful lead light windows are broken or missing.  Rather sad, but times are tough in the bush and I think pubs are struggling everywhere.  I do hope they can keep it going and keep it well maintained.

Our tour finished with a group photo of us all on the grand staircase wearing our funny hats.  It was a fitting end to a very enjoyable and interesting afternoon.