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Our Heritage

To scratch the surface of The Melbourne Hotel’s history, it’s important we start somewhere close to the beginning.

In 1890 Western Australia achieved self-government, leading to a population explosion after the discovery of gold!  City boundaries grew, residential suburbs were created, and the architecture of the city was transformed. Single-storey buildings were replaced with larger, taller and well … grander more opulent ones and as the confidence in the gold boom grew, hotels and theatres emerged. So, to speak, Perth was transformed from a frontier town to a city of opportunity.

John De Baun

Born in New Jersey, USA in 1852 our old friend John De Baun migrated to Victoria in the 1880s to try his hand at gold mining. Before long he moved to New South Wales where he worked on a station before setting up a business and was one of the earliest pioneers in Broken Hill. His fortunes were flourishing, and he opened the Grand Hotel, enabling him to invest in mining stocks, he then left Broken Hill for Adelaide where he continued his investment but lost his fortune in the recession. In 1892 he set his sights on Western Australia with the prospects of rebuilding his fortune in the goldfields. He settled in Coolgardie and embarked on commercial opportunities to supply the growing population. After paying off his debts incurred during the recession he invested again in local mining stocks. Before not too long, he had a second hotel, the Great Western in Coolgardie. After success in Coolgardie he saw an opportunity in Perth and acquired the Freemasons Hotel on the cnr of William Street and St George’s Terrace, which he demolished and rebuilt the Palace Hotel. At the same time, he was to also construct The Melbourne Hotel.
John was well-known in Perth and had a reputation as a stout man and his belly, the joke of his friends. One day John ambled down the terrace and met a pal.

“Hello! John,” said the latter; “You’ve got odd boots on”.
“Have I?” said John
“Yes” said the friend, “Look at them”.
“How can I look at them? Snapped John; “I haven’t seen my feet for five years!”

John was also known to have a rather light feminine voice and he didn’t care. One night staying at one of his hotels, was a young mining man and his pretty wife who could be known to be jealous, she accused her husband of kissing a waitress and stormed out of the hotel leaving her husband in their room. After thinking about the situation, she went back to apologise, tail between her legs but soon became further enraged, when she arrived to hear her hubby arguing lustily with a lady in the bedroom. Bursting in with gusto to break up this affair, she become very red cheeked and sheepish when she discovered her husband had been arguing with Mr John De Baun.
John de Baun lived to the age of 59 after suffering from lifelong diabetes, resulting in gangrene in his leg. It was decided to amputate the leg to prolong his life but regrettably he passed away following the operation.

THE MELBOURNE HOTEL TIMELINE

1897

By 1897 The Melbourne Hotel opens under the management of Proprietress Mrs. Grace Lannin with the assistance of her daughter who operated the hotel for two years. Grace, had a run in with the law on rather a few occasions, mostly for serving liquor outside of licensed hours. Within the first year of opening, the hotel was broken into. In the early hours of October 10, burglars  removed the hotel safe, entering through a window and exiting through the front door, making off in a stolen horse and cart. The safe along with the getaway horse and cart were found a short distance away. Frustrated with the lack of contents in the safe, the burglars set fire to the contents which included some papers and hotel registers.  

1899

Grace Lannin was fined for Sunday trading and trading out of hours on several occasions. During the same year Mrs Lannin was also sued by a Peak Hill miner, James Barret for overcharging him, by keeping him supplied with alcohol and in a drunken state, for the eight weeks in which he lived at the hotel. He won his case.

1911

The Melbourne Hotel’s ownership was acquired by hotelkeepers Alexander McMaster and Edwin Wells in 1911 when John De Baun died at the age of 59. It was a bad luck story with the new owners not living long to enjoy their acquisition, with McMaster passing in 1912 and Wells in 1918, ownership was then split between the inheriting parties.

1920

The Melbourne Hotel’s bars were enlarged to cater for the increase in patrons coming in off the street to eat and drink.

1929

Thieves broke into the Melbourne Hotel, 112 pounds were stolen along with a loaded Belgian service pistol. The safe was loaded into a stolen car and later found hacked open in the bush with the axe and hammer used to break into the safe. A week later an anonymous letter was received by the Daily News requesting information about a reward to be advised through the papers news columns, signed off as an “observer”.  Mr Bird a crime solving enthusiast travelled to the city to solve the case -  with no success.

1930

With the increase in population and now more motor vehicles in the city The Melbourne Hotel added a parking garage to the premises.

1950

The addition of a beer garden allowed for the hotel to cater for women as it was still not acceptable for women to drink in bars, however both sexes could be accommodated in a communal beer garden and extended lounge area.

1955

More bathroom facilities were added to the upper accommodation floors for better comfort of The Melbourne Hotel’s guests.

1971

The Melbourne Hotel applied for an entertainment permit and before long it became a place for emerging live artists and bands.

1980s - 1990s

During the 1980s to 1990s the ground and first floor of the hotel was home to many different attractions including The Pink Galah Cabaret, Middleways Piano Bar, Meccanos, Tiffany’s Nightclub and The Firm. The popularity of the venues over this time often found patrons to be more than double the allowed amount under the licenses.

1993

By 1993 The Melbourne Hotel went through yet another change of ownership and the introduction of a private exclusive gentlemen’s club. Two hundred and twelve businessmen paid between $5,000 to $7,500 to join. Under this ownership a major upgrade was implemented and included the addition of a Hay street frontage to the west to match the existing style of architecture. Despite the addition to the building, the gentlemen’s club never eventuated, believed to be due to the downturn in the Asian economy and the hotel again passing to new owners. The prospective club members had their joining fees refunded.

1997

In 1997, the new owners restored and refurbished the hotel in a New Orleans style of décor and introduced the New Orleans bar, Mississippi corporate bar and French Quarter function room. By 2002 the interiors were redecorated again with a more Australian theme.

2007

In 2007 The Melbourne Hotel was sold again to the now current hotel owners. After acquiring The Melbourne Hotel, a proposal was submitted for redevelopment, which included the removal of the 1990’s Hay Street edition, adding new facades to Hay and Milligan Streets and returning the hotel to its original glory. As part of the re-development the owners together with architects The Buchan Group commissioned a conservation plan for the hotels development process.  From start to finish the planning and redevelopment of The Melbourne Hotel has been more than 10 years. A crucial part of the design, has and will continue to be celebrating and showcasing the colourful history of The Melbourne Hotel.

OTHER STORIES 

Safe Robbery

Let us introduce you to another character from The Melbourne Hotel’s past, Mr A. Bird, a Farmer and detective enthusiast from Wongan Hills.  On Monday morning of October 21st 1929 a safe was stolen from The Melbourne Hotel. The contents of the safe included 112 pounds in currency, six cheques and a fully loaded revolver of the Belgian service type. The brazen thieves carried the safe though a window to a waiting stolen car and transported it to an unfrequented area of North Perth where they broke it open using an axe and sledge hammer. Detective Sergeant Manning tackled the case and even became in possession of a suspicious anonymous letter claiming to have information about the robbery and seeking information of a reward to be advised through a newspaper column. With the case lingering and Sergeant Manning yet to solve it, “private detective” our friend Mr Bird or “Birdie” who often frequented The Melbourne hotel on his visits to Perth travelled to the city to solve the case.  

“I am working on a theory quite my own” Birdie announced on his arrival to The Melbourne Hotel “and although I think I could tell you who was connected with the robbery now, I am going to keep quiet until I am sure”.

Birdie then gave the window which was supposed to have been forced open “the once over” and the door through which the thieves made their exit. He tried the door, he tried the window, and then made the sensational announcement “I am convinced that the thieves entered through the window, opened the door, removed the safe and lifted it though the window not bothering to go through the door”.  Although Birdie was serious about his intentions, but after his own investigation it was the town joke that it wouldn’t be long until he would be returning to his crops. “Bird may be a good farmer, and a good sport, but he does not appear to be even a good amateur detective” wrote the Truth, Western Australia on October 27, 1929.

Penny Wrapped Note

This story unfolds like an Edgar Wallace novel with notes wrapped around pennies and thrown out windows. This actually happened in April 1931. It was a Tuesday night when a man passing by The Melbourne Hotel was startled out of his wits when a small paper parcel hit him on the head. On opening it, he discovered a note wrapped around pennies alerting the reader to a violent burglar in the hotel. He hurried off to inform the Police and Detective George Smith who promptly arrested Godfrey Charles Wilson, a printer on the charge of being on the premises for the purpose of stealing. He was fined seven pounds, Godfrey proclaimed that he had, had an accident earlier and lost his memory in an effort to avoid the fine.  This could very well have been somewhat the case with Godfrey’s various reasons for being at the hotel, firstly it was to see a friend, then a girl and then a drink that attracted him.

Discover more of Perth’s history

Demolished Icons of Perth
Shaping Perth: Stories of Our City

The Soldiers of Barrack Street
Reg Walters: An Artist at War