Monday 5 June 2017

Hallam Hotel

William and Mary Hallam purchased the 50 acres (20 hectares) of land  in 1856 on the corner of the Gippsland Road (Princes Highway) and Hallam Road. They established a store and a Post Office and the store was 'the genesis of the hotel' as Jean Uhl says in her book  Call back Yesterday: Eumemmerring Parish. I do not know when the Hallams were granted the licence but there is an article in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of May 21, 1879  when Mr W. Hallam of Eumemmerring was charged in the Dandenong Police Court with 'not having a light outside his licenced house' (you can read the article here) so it was clearly operating as a hotel then. The Hallam Hotel website says it started in 1872 and this seems to be the general consensus from newspapers articles published on the history of the hotel in 1970s and 1980s, and I am not saying that this date is incorrect, but I can't find any evidence to support it.

The Hallams sold their land to Edmund Uren, in 1885.  This is confirmed by the following two articles in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of March 11, 1885.





South Bourke and Mornington Journal   March 11, 1885

Deborah Stephan, in her booklet, Hallam 1830-1930, wrote this about Edmund Uren, who had purchased Hallam's property for 2,100 pounds - Uren was a Cornishman who arrived in Australia in 1856 and went into copper mining on the Buninyong district (Ballarat). He served three years on the Borough Council, one year as Mayor of Buninyong and three years as a member of the Ballarat Mining Board. On November 24 1886 Uren applied for a certificate authorising the issue of a victuallar's licence for premises situate at Eumemmerring, 'containing six rooms exclusive of those required for the use of my family and servants'. In June 1892 he described himself as the licensed victualler of Hallam's Hotel, Hallam Road near Dandenong, when conveying the property to his wife Elizabeth.

I don't know why  he had to apply for a victuallers licence as he already had one, but I suspect that he might have rebuilt the building as by 1886 the original premises would have been close to 30 years old.  You can see in the newspaper report, above, that the hotel was referred to as the Eumemmerring Hotel - Jean Uhl says that the hotel had  a variety of names including Hallam's Eumemmerring Hotel, Uren's Hallam Hotel, Uren's Hotel Eumemmerring and Hallam's Road Hotel.

Edmund Uren died in July 1892 and his wife, Elizabeth,  took over the licence. Elizabeth operated the hotel until June 1898 when  'Miss Clarkson was installed there' as the South Bourke and Mornington Journal said.  Ada Jane Clarkson owned the Hotel until March 1913. It then  had a succession of licensees including Eliza Bonnell, Sarah Wright and Mary Thomas who took over in 1921.


Hallam Hotel, before the 1930s remodelling

The Hotel started it's life as a one storey building and The Age reported on October 28, 1930 that existing building was to be modernised and extended.


The Age October 28 1930

The new hotel was opened in March the next year as the the Dandenong Journal of March 12, 1931 reported The new hotel has been completed; a handsome two story building, which has taken the place of the old hostel of the overlanding days.


Dandenong Journal March 12, 1931 



The Hallam Hotel in 1986


References: 
Hallam 1830-1930 by Deborah Stephan  (City of Casey Historical Pamphlet 2)
Call back yesterday: Eumemmering Parish by Jean Uhl  (Lowden Publishing 1972).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My great grandmother was one of the licensees - Eliza Bonnell. I would like to know for how many years she was licensee. As my grandmother may have been married there. I have a group wedding photo and wonder if the owners of the hotel might be in it.

Judith Krishnappa said...

My Great Grandmother, Eliza Bonnell, as mentioned in the article, was a licensee of the Hallam Hotel. I would very much, like to know the duration of her tenur as licensee. Her son George, and my Grandmother Clenantina Morton were married in Hallam 1915. I have a group wedding photo which I believe was taken outside the hotel.

Kate - Local History Librarian said...

Hi Judith,

From my research, it looks like your great grandmother Eliza Bonnell was the licensee of the Hallam Hotel from March 1913 to March 1915. It appears that your grandmother married her son George in October 1915, after Eliza was no longer the licensee of the hotel. I found this information via Trove, searching Eliza Bonnell and Hallam. I'd recommend searching Trove for more information if you are still interested.