Nebo Hotel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Nebo Hotel |
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Nebo Hotel, 2009
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| Location | 2 Reynolds Street, Nebo, Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1886 |
| Built for | Jack Davis |
| Official name: Nebo Hotel, Fort Cooper Hotel | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 27 October 2000 |
| Reference no. | 601154 |
| Significant period | 1880s-1930s (fabric) 1886-ongoing (historical use) |
| Significant components | cold room/cold store, residential accommodation - manager's house/quarters |
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The Nebo Hotel, also called the Fort Cooper Hotel, is a very old hotel in Nebo, Queensland, Australia. It's considered a special historical building. This hotel was built way back in 1886. Because of its history, it was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on October 27, 2000.
Contents
The Hotel's Story
The Nebo Hotel you see today was built in 1886. It was made for a man named Jack Davis. He owned the hotel for many years, until 1906. People think this might have been the second hotel built in that exact spot.
Early Days of Nebo
A famous explorer named Ludwig Leichhardt first explored the area around Nebo in 1845. By the early 1860s, people were moving up the coast from Rockhampton. They were looking for land for their farms and ranches.
A spot by the Nebo Creek was perfect for travelers. It had good water and grass for their animals. In 1862, a man named Ben Reynolds built the first hotel there. He got a license for it in 1863.
Two years later, the area was officially made into a town. It was named Fort Cooper, after a nearby hill. The first hotel was called the Fort Cooper Hotel. But local people already called the settlement Nebo, after the creek.
Growing and Changing
Fort Cooper was meant to be a service center for the farms and ranches around it. From the 1870s, it also helped miners working at copper mines. Later, in the 1880s, it served the Mount Britton gold mine.
The town grew quickly. It soon had a second hotel, a telegraph office, and a court. However, the number of people living there dropped in the late 1860s. This happened because farms started raising cattle instead of sheep. Cattle didn't need as many workers.
In 1886, Jack Davis built the current hotel. He kept the name Fort Cooper Hotel. Six years later, he also built a house and a store across from the hotel.
New Owners and a New Name
In 1906, Jack Davis sold the hotel to Jim Perry. Later, Henry Richard Marshall bought it. The hotel was sold again in 1918. The owner at the time was German, and people's feelings after World War I made it hard for him to run the business.
In 1920, Alexander William Maclean took over the hotel. Many of his 13 children were born there. The Maclean family had a long connection with the hotel. Alexander loved horse racing. For most of the time he owned the hotel, he was the President of the Nebo Jockey Club. The hotel was a popular spot for race meetings. It even had stables and a stockyard on its grounds.
Building Additions
The building next to the main hotel is also part of the Nebo Hotel. It's connected by the hotel's eastern verandas. This part was built in two stages. The ground floor was added after the First World War. It was used as a billiard room. The upper floor was added in 1932. This became private living quarters for the owners.
In 1939, Alexander Maclean sold the hotel because he was unwell. Tom Wright and Herb Davidson bought it. Different people managed the hotel over the years.
In 1948, the local name for the town finally became official. Both the town and the hotel were renamed Nebo. In 1962, Jim Maclean leased the hotel. He bought it in 1964. His daughter started running the hotel in 1991. The property has been sold twice since 1994.
What Has Changed?
Not many big changes have happened to the hotel. The most noticeable change on the outside is that the timber veranda deck on the Reynolds Street side was removed. Now, there are low steps to get into the bar and side verandas. The wooden railing on the ground floor was replaced with horizontal weatherboards. The hotel still looks very much like it did when it was built.
What the Hotel Looks Like
The Nebo Hotel is located at the corner of two main streets, Reynolds and Water Streets. It overlooks Nebo Creek. The hotel is made up of two buildings that are next to each other.
The Main Building
The older, larger building is on the corner. It has two floors. The ground floor has the bar, and the first floor has guest bedrooms.
This main building is made of timber. It has a green corrugated iron roof. There are skillion veranda awnings on three sides. The outside walls are covered with painted vertical corrugated iron.
The front part of the timber veranda deck is gone now. The open railing on the lower level was replaced with weatherboards. Steps were added to reach the bar. On the upper level, you can still see the cross-braced open balustrade and decorative fascia boards. Timber posts hold up the timber deck veranda. This veranda leads to the guest bedrooms, which have individual French doors. Inside the public bar, there's an old hardwood insulated coolroom. People say it keeps the beer perfectly cold!
The Adjoining Building
The building next to the main hotel, on the east side, also has two floors. It has a painted corrugated iron roof. When it was first built, it only had one floor. The outside of the lower floor is covered with painted vertical corrugated iron. The upper floor has ripple iron.
The dining room inside has timber double-hung windows. Its walls are covered with an old type of fibro sheeting. A veranda on the first floor, facing the street, has been closed in with flat fibro cladding. The living areas behind it have recently been updated inside.
Why the Nebo Hotel is Special
The Nebo Hotel was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on October 27, 2000. This means it's an important historical place.
Showing Queensland's History
The Nebo Hotel, built in 1886, helps us understand how Queensland's history unfolded. It stands near a creek crossing that was used by explorers, farmers, and settlers. They traveled this path to find land in northern Queensland. The hotel also reminds us of a time when Nebo was a busy center for the farms and mines around the town.
A Great Example of Its Kind
The Nebo Hotel is important because it's a good example of a 19th-century hotel. It's made of timber and iron, and it still looks much like it did when it was built. It shows us what buildings from that time looked like.
