BEGINNER’S LUCK:
BORN ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRACKS
The coming of the Eastern Railway through Parkerville and the building of the station cemented Parkerville’s status. However, the railway service was irregular. The short-lived Hills ‘gold rushes’ bought workers to the area. Many provided wood for the buildings and railways.
The original Eastern railway was opened on 11 March 1894 as a narrow-gauge section that ran from Chidlow to Guildford. It was soon learnt that the route’s steeply graded sections and sharp curves affected its operational efficiency. The solution was the creation of the 22km route via Parkerville known by some as the ‘Mahogany Creek deviation.’
Nonetheless, the train led to the establishment of the stone quarry and the transportation of both stone and harvested timber from the Darling Ranges to Perth. Between 1906 and 1925, bush railways ran between Parkerville, Mt Helena and Toodyay Road on a system owned by the Bunnings Brothers.
Charles Hebb – an early resident, complained about the Parkerville Railway inefficiency in 1900. “I purchased goods in Fremantle and waited six weeks before receiving them. They had been offloaded at Zamia on the Mundaring line and spent two weeks unattended on the station platform. It was only luck that I learnt of their whereabouts and retrieved them.”
CRUELTY & MURDER
TNo history of the Parkerville Tavern would be complete without reference to Joseph Ottey. Ottey came from the Western Ranges in Victoria. A bad tempered character, he was known as a hard-working timber worker who neither smoked, nor drank. Although married for 25 years, his marriage deteriorated due to regular violence and cruelty to his wife and children.
In 1896, Ottey bought Lot 72 – around 22 acres for £40 in the new land division of Parkerville. He built their timber and iron house where the Parkerville Tavern now stands. After a fierce argument in 1900, he first beat his son, then his 19 year old daughter and began to choke his wife. His daughter, Catherine then shot her father and he died the following day in Guildford. Charged with murder, she was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense after merely five minutes deliberation by the jury.
ILLEGAL LIQUOR
Evidence that liquor was illegally supplied to timber workers, quarrymen and labourers working and living in the Parkerville area is recorded in ‘The Inquirer and Commercial News’ of 24 June 1898. When a constable witnessed a bottle being paid for ‘in silver,’ Charles Dawson was charged with selling liquor without a licence from his store. The bench decided the contents of the bottle be ‘examined by an expert.’ Unsurprisingly, the bench’s decision is not known.
Several attempts at establishing a liquor business in Parkerville failed. In 1898, David Harvey applied for a ‘Gallon’ licence (similar to today’s ‘Bottle License’), but failed. The first application for a ‘Publican’s License’ was made in 1899, but this also failed. The reasons for both failures are unknown.
THE PUB THAT ALMOST DIED
By 1910, the pub had become dilapidated. Police opposed the license renewal at the annual Licensing Court to the then licensee, Edward McNamara. They claimed the hotel was ‘well managed and clean, but the building was in a ruinous condition.’ However, the license was renewed for a year so that the owner, Alice Ottey (by then, Alice Hebb) and her husband Charles, could undertake the improvements.
During McNamara’s tenure as licensee, he was charged with being drunk while in charge of licensed premises. “It was bad enough for an ordinary man to be drunk, but it was a serious offence in a licensee,” the Magistrate ruled. McNamara was fined forty shillings.
Keeping cows was common as they provided fresh milk and cream – and the Pub was no exception. In 1914 under ‘Lost and Found’ in the ‘West Australian,’ it was reported ‘LOST from Parkerville Hotel, Sunday last, black and white cow, one horn broken. Finder rewarded.’ It is not known if the cow was found and recovered.
The era also saw the advent of competitive wood chopping amongst the axemen next to the pub which began as soon as the Sunday train arrived.
Angove left in June 1908 and the pub, although it remained owned by Alice and Charles Webb, passed through a succession of twelve licensees during the next thirteen years until Robert Congden held the license in 1921.
Then, the pub was de-licensed.
HOW THE PUB LOST & WON BACK ITS LICENSE
From 1928 onwards, various licensees faced charges including selling liquor during prohibited hours, adulterating whisky with water, keeping premises that tolerated disorderly conduct, overcharging for beer, permitting gaming, failing to keep an accurate register of bona fide travellers, and overcrowded bars. From 1933 to 1943, there were 17 Licensees and charges of this type were regularly levied against publicans during the first 50 years of the 20th Century. They likely adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward the authorities which was not unusual for country people. ‘Customers were customers, no matter from where they came.’
REBUILT IN THE FEDERATION STYLE IN 1928 FOR £7000
In 1927, it was rebuilt as a two-storey hotel at a cost of £7000. …’in an elevated position on seven acres, containing 16 bedrooms, large dining, commercial and smoking rooms, public and saloon bars, parlour, office, two reception rooms, three bathrooms, store room, spacious halls and large verandahs and large balconies, six lock-up garages and lavatories connected with a septic sewerage system.’
LIQUORED LICENSEES
From 1928 onwards, various licensees faced charges including selling liquor during prohibited hours, adulterating whisky with water, keeping premises that tolerated disorderly conduct, overcharging for beer, permitting gaming, failing to keep an accurate register of bona fide travellers, and overcrowded bars. From 1933 to 1943, there were 17 Licensees and charges of this type were regularly levied against publicans during the first 50 years of the 20th Century. They likely adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward the authorities which was not unusual for country people. ‘Customers were customers, no matter from where they came.’
THE MYTH OF MOONDYNE JOE AND THE SECRET CELLAR.
A rumor suggesting that notorious West Australian bushranger, Moondyne Joe had hidden a treasure in a secret cellar under the Parkerville Hotel was resurrected when a previously unknown cellar under the pub was discovered by licensee, Bill Cudmore in 1963. However, nothing was found. While it may have been true that the Bushranger spent some time in the Darling Ranges and enjoyed a secret affair with a waitress/barmaid at the nearby Mahogany Creek Inn, he had no association with The Railway Hotel. Moondyne Joe died in 1900 before The Railway Hotel opened.
MISSING, HIDDEN OR DESTROYED? CLEOPATRA’S POOL.
Believing it could give him relief from his arthritis, Licensee, Edward Forest built a mineral pool during the 1940s ‘ten feet long and six feet wide.’ It was fed from a mineral spring on the property.
SOME SERVICES ARRIVE. ANOTHER ENDS.
Evidence that liquor was illegally supplied to timber workers, quarrymen and labourers working and living in the Parkerville area is recorded in ‘The Inquirer and Commercial News’ of 24 June 1898. When a constable witnessed a bottle being paid for ‘in silver,’ Charles Dawson was charged with selling liquor without a licence from his store. The bench decided the contents of the bottle be ‘examined by an expert.’ Unsurprisingly, the bench’s decision is not known.
Several attempts at establishing a liquor business in Parkerville failed. In 1898, David Harvey applied for a ‘Gallon’ licence (similar to today’s ‘Bottle License’), but failed. The first application for a ‘Publican’s License’ was made in 1899, but this also failed. The reasons for both failures are unknown.
WHEN THE WAR CAME TO PARKERVILLE
During World War 2, although almost 40,000 Australians lost their lives and 30,000 were taken prisoner, the Perth Western Mail records on Thursday 6 March 1941, that a horse known as Tosser Bareback was a daily visitor to Parkerville Hotel. Two pots of beer were ordered for him every day. The horse became so experienced and practiced in the art of drinking from a pot, that he could lift it by himself and drain the contents without losing a drop.
On a more serious side, like many country towns throughout Australia, the male population of the Darling Ranges was decimated as many volunteered or were conscripted into military service.
After the Parkerville pub was rebuilt, the roof was painted with the word ‘PARKERVILLE’ in very large letters. To ensure that enemy aircraft could not use it as a navigation aid, the Mundaring Road Board ordered that the sign be painted out.
THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES: A BROTHEL?
A JOEY IN A PRAM, A MOTORBIKE THAT LOST ITS WAY AND
AN OFFER OF FREE DRINKS FOR LIFE.
Long-time local and regular at the tavern, Stan ‘The Mayor’ Gough, grew up in Parkerville. He remembers timber workers, chicken farms, orchardists, quarries and the railway, which was closed in 1966. He recalls that in the 1950s, Parkerville was very much a place ‘for blokes.’ This made the pub a big focal point.
It was famous for its fabulous Sunday Sessions in the 1970s, a time when pubs in the Perth metropolitan area weren’t allowed to open on Sundays. Back then, because the tavern was just outside the metropolitan area, it was widely popular as a relaxed drinking venue. Rumours suggested the premises operated as a brothel for a while, with many of the rooms upstairs being rented out by the hour.
Local resident, Ian Elliott recalls: ‘I was a dedicated underage drinker at the Parky during the early 1960s when the drinking age was still 21. The Mundaring police frequently visited the Pub checking that underage lads were only consuming cool drinks. It always paid to have a glass of squash on the side so you could deny all knowledge of the middy on the bar nearby.’
Ian also recalls that during the sixties, the bar boasted a kangaroo joey in a pram who developed a taste for beer in his bottle.
An old timer who Ian recalls was Harvey. ‘He was a regular who would sip red wine at the bar until near closing time. Harvey travelled on a water-cooled Velocette motorcycle which he leaned against the outside wall of the public bar (then on the east side of the building) whenever Harvey was inside. When any of us suggested he might need a lift because he didn’t look too steady on his feet, he always maintained that the bike knew its way home. One night, he staggered out the door and spluttered away down the road. Ten minutes later, Harvey poked his head around the door soaked to the skin. It appeared that the bike had ‘lost its way’ that night, missed the bridge and upended him into the creek.’
Around 1962, the Parky employed an Irish barman who Ian remembers well due to a business proposition he put to Ian. ‘I’d just bought my first licensed car, a Mk VII Jaguar. The barman suggested I take out a life insurance policy naming him as beneficiary. In return, he’d serve me free drinks for as long as I lived. I realized that my poor driving history and free drinks would stack the deck his way. So, I paid for my drinks and I’m still here.’