Bendigo has had hundreds of public houses over the years. Apart from the well-known hotels such as the Shamrock, Goldmines, Queens Arms, Metropolitan and Rifle Brigade, there were many with striking names. Here are a few from a list of over 417 hotels: Bay Horse, Baden Baden, Beehive, Beelzebub, Bird’s Reef, Cornish Cottage, Crooked Billet, Early Bird, Full and Plenty, Mizzen Top, Noah’s Ark, Old House at Home, Star and Garter and Wait Till I’m Ready.
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Many are no longer with us and others have changed name. The façade of the Bay Horse Hotel is still in Lucan Street, opposite the present Bendigo hospital gates.
The family of Bendigo Historical Society member, Karl Jackson, has had a long association with the Belmont Hotel on the corner of Skene and Neale Streets. Ann Jackson was the licensee. She was the wife of Edward Jackson who was blinded in an underground explosion at the Lady Barkly Mine in 1875. Their daughter, Ann Jackson continued in the hotel until the 1950s.
Anita Schinetti, then a school girl, wrote in a school project of the early history of the Belmont, “The land that the Belmont Hotel now stands was bought by Thomas Buzza of Charleston Road for 11 pounds. Early owners included George Bell, James Boyd, John Holmes and Robert Burrowes, before being transferred to the Bendigo and Eaglehawk Benefit Building and Investment Society… The Jackson connection started in 1893. The hotel increased the area of its land to hold a car park… On the Skene Street side there was a side door, where a large crack appeared during a minor earthquake which shook glasses on the shelves. The doorway was filled in but the crack could still be seen.”
In the early 20th century there was concern at the huge number of hotels in Bendigo and the Licenses Reduction Board was entrusted to see into the matter.
It was considered that there was room for a reduction in the number of hotels in Back Creek (Kennington), but the Belmont Hotel was described as being in good repair and fairly well furnished. One witness before the Board considered the Belmont a better hotel than the nearby Kennington Hotel.
The Belmont survived the ‘reduction’ question, but in an earlier incident the hotel was charged with trafficking in liquor on a Sunday.
A Chinaman, Ah Hang, was charged with carrying liquor from the Belmont, when a small bottle of brandy was found in his pocket.
