And so will disappear an ancient landmark, which unfortunately will soon be forgotten.
These closing words of a 1933 newspaper report on a building demolition proved true, for few people today passing the corner of Regent St and Russell Rd know that it was the site of one of New Lambton’s earliest hotels.
The Hand of Friendship Hotel was opened on 18 September 1869, its first publican Benjamin Lunn pledging in an advertisement the sale of ‘none but the very best wines, spirits, ales etc.’ The premises also offered ‘abundant accommodation for the requirements of a colliery township.’ It was just the second hotel to open in New Lambton, when the town was barely a year old and the streets not yet formed.
Benjamin Lunn remained the publican until his death in 1878 when the hotel passed to his wife Jane, and later to their son James in 1884. In the ensuing years, the hotel had numerous licensees. Ralph Snowball photographed the hotel in September 1895, and the group standing at the door is almost certainly the publican of the day, George Masters, with his wife and two daughters.
In the next decade, the hotel passed through numerous hands and the building gradually deteriorated. In 1905, the police opposed the renewal of the hotel’s licence ‘on the ground that the building was in bad condition, owing to the white ants.’ It survived that objection, but only for another year. Plans to demolish the building and erect a new hotel came to nothing, and in 1906 John Canning, the last publican to stand behind the bar of the Hand of Friendship Hotel, relinquished his licence.
The building stood idle for some time before it was sold, when it gained a new life as a second-hand goods shop. The weathering of the years however was relentless. In 1933 the building was finally demolished, and a tangible link with New Lambton’s infancy was lost.
The article above was first published in the February 2018 edition of the Lambton & New Lambton Local.
Additional information
See the entry for the Hand of Friendship Hotel on my New Lambton Hotels page.
Great history of The Hand Of Friendship Hotel. Noticed John Williams was the License in 1887/1888. His wife was Mary Williams. Would like to find more information on John & Mary Williams, deaths etc. Noticed in census 1903 Mary Williams was living in Thalaba Rd New Lambton. John Williams was a Miner, possibly had a brother Francis.
I was delighted to read all of the above in The Local dated Febuary 2018 as my father, Don Elsley (1916 – 1999) bought the property in 1954. The property was a bakehouse/cakeshop until the last few years and my father was a master baker. My father moved from Stanthorpe, Qld and our family of 5 lived upstairs. Adjoining the cakeshop was a delicatessen and Mr Honey ran this business for many years.
Vol-Fol 4523-28 in the HLRV shows the purchase by Donald Albert Elsley in December 1954.