Flinders Hotel, Flinders, VIC
The Flinders Hotel has been a part of the Flinders community since 1866 when David Hamilton application for a beer license, running what was then known as the Flinders Hotel.
His application reads:
“To the Bench of Magistrates at Mornington – I, David Hamilton, farmer, now residing at West Head, Flinders, in the county of Mornington, do hereby give notice, that it is my intention to apply to the justice sitting at the Court of Petty Sessions to be [held] at Mornington, on the 27th day of January next, for a Certificate authorising the issue of a beer license for a house situated at Flinders.
“The house is built of wood, containing two sitting rooms and two bedrooms, now occupied and owned by me, at present unlicensed.”
A report in The Age on 12 April 1881 mentioned “Mrs David Hamilton, Flinders Hotel, Flinders”.
In 1889 a new hotel was built by J.B. Baldassari to include accommodation, a large double-storey wooden building that could house 100 guests.
In the Mornington Standard of 12 October 1889 a report noted the application for a publican’s licence had been adjourned as “completion of the building in accordance with plans previously approved by the Court [are] now shown to have been carried out”. It said “such accommodation was much required at Flinders”.
It went on: “Our friend Mr Baldassari who is always foremost in matters designed to push Flinders ahead has, I am pleased to be able to state, obtained a licence for his hotel.”
In the 1880s there was indeed need for accommodation in Flinders. The township’s population was increasing as the farming and fishing industries grew.
There was also a need to accommodate and supply refreshments to Morse code trainers and staff at the cable station, following the laying of an underwater cable between Tasmania and Flinders for communication to London and the local community.
It’s an intriguing chapter in Flinders’ history. In May 1869 the cable, operated by the Victorian and Tasmanian Submarine Cable Co, allowed the first message to be sent.
On a plaque erected in Flinders in 1993 the story was told.
“On the 19th April 1869 the cable laying vessels ‘Investigator’ and ‘Pharos’ began the journey across [Bass] Strait to low head Tasmania. On the 1st May the Governor of Tasmania Mr Charles du Cane and the Governor of Victoria Sir Henry Manners-Sutton exchanged morse code greetings.
“The cable was connected to a hut on the beach near the Flinders jetty.”
Messages from there would be relayed by hand up the cliff and “telegraphed to Melbourne and overland to Darwin where they again went by undersea cable to the rest of the world”.
In the 1890s Flinders was known as a charming township. A report in The Australasian on 15 February 1896, noting its relaxed atmosphere, is a detailed description of life in Flinders at the time.
“It is still possible, if it so please you, to walk down the main street in your shirt sleeves without exciting any particular attention,” the report noted.
“You may purchase your stamps at the little window of the post office…. You may pass on to the quaint old general store and look in and admire its wonderful generality.
“In the evening you could head to the festive hall and by paying 3 [shillings] at the entrance, you may join the happy throng and dance until sunrise.
“This, then, is the Flinders of today. Thus has it been for the last quarter of a century. Long may it remain.”
Flinders’ “fine pier” is provided with steps leading down to the water from which the boating parties embark.”
Flinders Hotel is mentioned in the report. “The public buildings of Flinders have mostly yet to be built. A few pioneers exist, however… The largest of these is Baldassari’s hotel which, by the way, is the only hotel in the district.”
In the early 1900s the first horse drawn coach service operated from the Bittern railway terminal to Flinders, making the Flinders Hotel an important destination for rest and refreshments, as well as a general meeting place.
In 1926 a fire destroyed the hotel and it took two years for it to be rebuilt. It reopened in 1928. Since then, under the auspices of 30 licensees, it has undergone many extensions and improvements including a large dining room added in the 1970s.
But the most significant changes made to the Hotel occurred in 2009 when the owners the Inge Family began a massive renovation and refurbishment, transforming the hotel into a culinary destination.
Today the Flinders Hotel remains an integral part of a community it has welcomed for 158 years.
