The Emu Park Endeavour Inn could be said to be the most
prestigious building on the site in the history of the town which began on
January 9, 1869.
The area had been claimed by Rockhampton business people,
central and western graziers and sheep farmers as a seaside resort. They were
anxious to gain possession of blocks of land for their holiday retreats
overlooking Keppel Islands.
A protracted battle for land ownership raged between an
original owner Robert Ross, who owned a cattle run almost the length of the
coast and business and western grazing interests.
It is recorded in the archives of Emu Park Historical Museum
Society Incorporated, that the first ale of 34 Emu Park allotments was held at
the Lands Office in Rockhampton on May 18, 1970. All were sold. The upset price
was eight pounds an acre.
Two allotments on the corner of Hill & Pattison Sts
(allotments 1 and 5, Section 3) were bought by a Rockhampton ironmonger named
Robert Gardiner.
Their value was recognised by a former Cawarral stockman Mr
Charles Redman who bought the allotments from Gardiner and built The Railway
Hotel.
The site was opposite Emu Park railway station and turntable
on the end of the line which was built from Rockhampton. The first licensee was
Mrs Kate Evans and husband Mr J.H. Evans.
The hotel was gutted by fire in 1905 and replaced with a
boarding house operated by Mr & Mrs Hugh Owens until 1914.
Mrs J Begg moved into Emu Park and in 1912, bought the
Imperial Hotel, the boarding house and two shops in between. Just before the
outbreak of World War 1, Mrs Begg acquired Mt Usher Hotel for removal and
relocated it in front of the boarding house, under the name of The Grand
Central.
Mrs Begg leased The Imperail to Mr Charles Hoffman and in
early 1920s bought Mr Howard English’s home on the corner of Pattison and
Granville Sts to build the Pine Beach Hotel.
She moved into the Pine Beach and leased The Grand Central to
Mr Wiltshire until 1931. The hotel was take over by the Finlay family from Mt
Morgan until 1940, then it went to Brice and Moll Begg and again to Mr Walter
Miller who changed The Grand Central to Emu Park Hotel.
There followed another series of changes in ownership with Mr
Don Cameron and Inez Taylor buying in, in 1945. They sold to Mrs Smith who ran
the hotel for a short time with her sons, then sold to Mrs Mellick.
The next owner and licensee was Mrs Rowe who sold out of the
Toowoomba Shamrock Hotel and took over the Grand Central for a couple of years.
During the term of the next licensees, the Bennetts, the hotel was condemned as
a licensed premises by the Licensing Commission, put up for sale and won a new
owner in Mr Edward McInnes, the engine driver of the Emu Park train. After the
Emu Park rail passenger service was discontinued, The Beachcomber was sold to Mr
Bob Leicht and lay vacant for some considerable time. Eventually the building
was demolished. In December 1986, T.T. Cummins & Son, builders of
Rockhampton, took interest in the block of land and bought it at auction in May
1987.
Construction of the Endeavour Inn commenced Monday September 7th
1987 and was officially opened by Member for Broadsound Mr Denis Hinton on
Friday February 26th 1988.
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