The Victoria Hotel, or The Vic as it is commonly known, is a

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

listed

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

located in Darwin,

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Built in 1890, it is an important historical building but is currently closed.

History

The Victoria Hotel was built by Ellen Ryan, one of the Territory's wealthiest women, who owned land and several mining leases. In 1888 Ryan moved into the Territory hotel trade, lodging a successful application with the licensing board for a prestigious hotel to be built at 27 Smith Street in central Darwin, then known as Palmerston, during the northern Australia

gold rushes A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

of the 1870s onwards.Vic Hotel (2007
Victoria Hotel History
Retrieved on 4 Oct 2011. Constructed by H.C. Debross, it was built for £4,000 and was the first stone building in Darwin. The two-storey hotel was made of local, multi-coloured

porcellanite Porcellanite or ''porcelanite'', is a hard, dense Rock (geology), rock somewhat similar in appearance to unglazed porcelain. It is often an impure variety of chert containing clay and calcareous matter. Porcellanite has been found, for example, i ...

stone, with a facade dominated by a parapetted gable and

verandah A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

s.Welke, A.C. and Wilson, H.J. (1993). ''Darwin Central Area Heritage Study''. Report for the Conservation Commission of the NT, Darwin. Upon completion, the building dominated Smith Street and remained that way for over half a century.Turnbull, Kay (1985). ''The Victoria Hotel, Smith Street Mall, Darwin''. Copy (unpublished) held by Charles Darwin University, Special Collection. The hotel opened on 8 September 1890. It was first called The Royal Hotel but was renamed the North Australian Hotel a few days after opening. It was renamed the Victoria Hotel in 1896.

1897 cyclone

The Victoria Hotel lost part of its roof and was damaged internally during a

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

on 6 January 1897. Known as the "Great Hurricane", it killed 28 people, sank 19 vessels in the harbour including the entire pearling fleet, and caused around £150,000 damage throughout the town. Structurally however, the hotel was one of only a few buildings that remained intact and it was repaired shortly afterwards.Murphy, Kevin (1984). ''Big blow up north: A history of tropical cyclones in Australia's Northern Territory''. NT University Planning Authority. .

Early 20th century

In 1908, the hotel accommodated

Henry Dutton Henry Dutton may refer to: * Henry Dutton (politician) (1796–1869), American politician, governor of Connecticut * Henry Dutton (pastoralist) (1844–1914), pastoralist in South Australia * Henry Hampden Dutton (1879–1932), his son, South Austra ...

and Murray Aunger, the first motorists to cross the Australian continent from Adelaide to Darwin. In 1915, the hotel was one of several to be nationalised by

Northern Territory Administrator The Administrator of the Northern Territory is an official appointed by the Governor-General of Australia to represent the government of the Commonwealth in the Northern Territory, Australia. They perform functions similar to those of a Governors ...

, John Gilruth. Known as the government take-over, the hotel was the focal point for political turmoil and union unrest between 1911 and 1919, which came to a head on 17 December 1918 in what was known as the Darwin Rebellion.

Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...

and Keith Smith and other

aviators An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they ar ...

connected with the air race from England to Australia stayed at the hotel in December 1919. Mining entrepreneur

May Brown May Brown (24 May 1875 – c.1939) was a flamboyant Northern Territory miner, publican and pioneer, who became well known her role in developing the wolfram (tungsten) mining industry in Australia. She was known as "The Wolfram Queen". Early lif ...

became the first publican win the lease on Darwin's Victoria Hotel in 1921 when the era of state control of Top End hotels came to an end. Christina Gordon took over the hotel in August 1926. Gordon upgraded the Vic Hotel including the refurbishment of a new dining room. She continued the connection with aviators. Many of their signatures from the 1920s and 1930s remain on a masonry section in the hotel which has been preserved. The well-known Government architect

Beni Burnett Beni Carr Glyn Burnett (1889–1955) was the Commonwealth principal architect for the Northern Territory of Australia. He designed many well-known heritage buildings in both Darwin and Alice Springs. He is known for designing innovative, climate-a ...

, who had a very significant influence on Darwin architecture from the late 1930s, stayed at the hotel for several years.

1937 cyclone

The hotel lost its roof for the second time in March 1937, during another cyclone. Although not as formidable as the 1897 cyclone, it still caused considerable damage to the town and killed one person. The hotel was quickly repaired.

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the hotel was occupied by United States and Australian naval authorities who remained there until the end of the war. In September 1941, rioting soldiers in the Darwin city area caused superficial damage to the hotel, such as broken windows and furniture. With many troops stationed in Darwin, a fight broke out in the hotel that quickly spread outside into Smith Street. Although the damage was blamed on the soldiers, records show that civilians were involved in the riot.Fong-Lim, Alec (1990). State Reference Library of the NT
Memories of pre-war Northern Territory Towns
Pages 12 & 13. Retrieved on 14 May 2008. On 19 February 1942, Darwin was bombed by Japanese air raids, the largest attacks mounted by a foreign power against Australia. It was the same fleet that had bombed

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, though a considerably larger number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor. The attack killed at least 243 people and caused immense damage to the town. They were the first of many raids on Darwin. Despite this extensive destruction to the town, the Victoria Hotel survived with little damage. Ironically, just as much damaged was caused to the hotel by the September 1941 soldiers riot, as the Japanese bombing raids. In September 1946, the pub reopened under the ownership of the Lim family, who bought the hotel from the Gordons. The Lims operated the hotel for nearly 20 years, selling it in 1965. During this period, the hotel was a popular 'watering hole' frequently attended by crocodile shooters, buffalo hunters and mining prospectors, as well as the local office workers and bank staff.

Cyclone Tracy

On Christmas Day 1974 the hotel survived yet another cyclone, when

Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city initially, but then turned t ...

hit Darwin killing 71 people and damaging 95 per cent of buildings at an estimated cost of over A$800 million. The hotel was significantly damaged but survived structurally, losing its roof for the third time in less than a century. The cyclone left Darwin nearly uninhabitable, so the Vic Hotel was not reconstructed until 1978. Some original stonework was repaired at this time, particularly in relation to the Smith Street gabled parapet. Other stonework repairs were minimal as it was still in generally good condition, despite the severity of Cyclone Tracy. The hotel has had several refurbishments since Cyclone Tracy. The hotel facade was registered on the "National Estate" as a Historic site in 1999 for its historic associations with important events and individuals for more than a century.

Present day

The Vic Hotel closed in October 2014. It was reported to be more than $750,000 in debt. The hotel's co-owner Andrew Chigwidden said that the hotel "struggled to get market share due to its geographical position... a lack of a suitable downstairs smoking area has also had a massive negative commercial impact on the viability (and) the social ambience of the hotel."

References

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