Royal Hotel, Birdsville facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Royal Hotel, Birdsville
Royal Hotel ruins, 2008
Location	Adelaide Street, Birdsville, Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia
Design period	1870s - 1890s (late 19th century)
Built	c. 1883
Queensland Heritage Register
Official name: Royal Hotel/Australian Inland Mission Hospital (former), AIM Hostel, Birdsville Nursing Home
Type	state heritage (built)
Designated	21 October 1992
Reference no.	600459
Significant period	1880s (fabric) 1880s-1930s (historical)
Significant components	signage - advertising
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The Royal Hotel is a special old building in Birdsville, Queensland, Australia. It was built around 1883. Over the years, it was a hotel, then a hospital, and now it's a ruin. It was also known as the Australian Inland Mission Hospital and the Birdsville Nursing Home. This building is so important that it was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on October 21, 1992.

A Look Back: The Hotel's Story

This building, made of sandstone, was likely built around 1883. It first opened as the Royal Hotel in Birdsville.

How Birdsville Began

European explorers visited the Diamantina area in the 1840s and 1860s. But it wasn't until the mid-1870s that people started to set up cattle and sheep farms there. In the early 1880s, the towns of Birdsville and Bedourie were created. These towns helped the new farms in the Diamantina area.

Birdsville grew around a small supply depot built by Matthew Flynn in the late 1870s. Back then, it was called Diamantina Crossing. It was an important stop on the stock route (a path for moving cattle) from Boulia down to Adelaide. By 1885, when Birdsville was officially mapped out, several buildings were already there. These included a police station, Groth's Royal Hotel, Blair's Birdsville Hotel, and at least three stores.

The name Birdsville was chosen in 1885. It's thought that Robert Frew, a local store owner, suggested it because of all the birds in the area. The town is over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) west of Brisbane. It became a key place for police and border customs. Most of the town's trade was with Adelaide. It was also a big meeting point for cattle being moved south to markets. By 1889, Birdsville had 110 people, two general stores, three hotels, a police station, and a school. The town's population reached its highest point in 1895 with 220 people.

Why Stone Buildings?

Almost all the buildings in Birdsville were made from local sandstone. This was because there wasn't much timber nearby. Also, it was very expensive to bring building materials from far away. The old stone buildings in Birdsville show a special building style. This style was used across central Australia, from Robe in South Australia to Boulia in Queensland. These buildings were made of local stone with wide verandahs (porches). This design helped them stay cool in the very hot desert climate.

The Royal Hotel's Early Days

The first part of the Royal Hotel was likely built in 1883. Alfred William Tucker was the first person to get a license for the hotel that year. In 1885, Johann H. Groth took over the license. On the official map from 1885, the building is marked as "Groth's hotel." Groth bought the land for the hotel in 1886. The hotel continued to operate under different owners until the early 1920s.

From Hotel to Hospital: The AIM Hostel

From 1923 to 1937, the Royal Hotel buildings were used by the Presbyterian Australian Inland Mission (AIM). It became their first bush nursing home, or hostel. Two nursing sisters arrived in September 1923 to work there. At that time, the main building had six rooms and no furniture.

The AIM was led by Reverend Dr. John Flynn. He wanted to create a flying doctor and air ambulance service for remote parts of Australia. For this service to work well, people in isolated areas needed to be able to contact it quickly. So, Flynn experimented with radio.

In 1929, Alfred Traeger invented the pedal radio. This made reliable radio communication possible in the bush. In September 1929, Traeger installed one of these special radios at the AIM Hostel in Birdsville. This radio was linked to a pedal generator. Birdsville became connected to other farms in the Diamantina area and to the new Aerial Medical Service. This service was started by Flynn in 1928 and was based in Cloncurry.

In 1934, two nursing sisters at the Birdsville Hostel started a system of early morning radio calls. They would talk to women on the remote farms who had radios. This became very popular and was called the "Galah Session." It is known as Australia's first radio talk-back program! Birdsville's radio station, VKK, became known as the "Voice of the Diamantina Country."

In 1937, the AIM moved to a new, specially built hostel. The old sandstone building was then used as a home. Later, it was left empty and parts of it collapsed. Some repair work was done in 1984 and more in 1994 to help save the building.

What the Building Looks Like Now

The site is about 0.2 hectares (half an acre) in size. It is on the corner of Adelaide and Frew Streets in Birdsville. The main part of the building faces Adelaide Street.

The hotel used to be much bigger than it is now. You can still see parts of old stone foundations. There are also some unusual paving stones made from upside-down stoneware bottles.

The main building that remains is a single-story, L-shaped stone structure. It has a roof made of corrugated iron. There are verandahs (porches) with corrugated iron roofs on the two sides facing the streets. These verandahs are held up by wooden posts. You can still see signs of the original "ROYAL HOTEL" name on the front. Even though parts of the building have collapsed, you can still see where the doors and windows were. The walls are made of local stone using a soft mortar. Inside, the walls were covered with a smooth layer.

To the south of the main building are the remains of another stone building. To the east, there are parts of another extension. On the eastern side of the site, you can see foundations of small stone rooms. These might have been an accommodation wing for guests. Closer to the main building, there are signs of a newer small wooden and iron structure, which might have been a bathroom.

Why This Place is Important

The former Royal Hotel was added to the Queensland Heritage Register because it meets several important rules.

A Link to Queensland's Past

The Royal Hotel, built around 1883, is a key reminder of the first farms in the Diamantina area of western Queensland. When it was the Australian Inland Mission's Nursing Home from 1923 to 1937, it became nationally important. It was the first of many such bush hospitals in central Australia. It is also linked to the first outback radio communication and the start of the Flying Doctor Service. These medical services completely changed life in remote central Australia in the 1920s and 1930s.

A Rare Building

The former Royal Hotel/Australian Inland Mission Hospital is one of only three old stone buildings left in Birdsville. The others are the Birdsville Hotel and the police station. These buildings help give the town its unique historic feel. Birdsville has become a popular tourist spot in Queensland.

Showing a Special Building Style

This building is a great example of a special stone building style. This style spread across central Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland in the late 1800s. These buildings were designed to handle the extreme heat of the desert. They also made up for the lack of timber in the area.

By studying the former Royal Hotel, we can learn a lot about how hotels were designed in far western Queensland during that time. We can also learn about the people who built them.

Beautiful and Important to the Town

The way the building looks and its details are valued by the community. It helps define the unique look of Birdsville town.