editorletters, Recent News > Letter: History of Gold Digger’s Arms

Letter: History of Gold Digger’s Arms

Filed in editorletters, Recent News by Elizabeth Flaherty August 29, 2017

Re: Proposal to demolish existing buildings at 77 Main Street, Scone, and construct a storage shed.

Development Application 57/2017 should not be allowed to proceed on both demolition and development grounds. The buildings at 77 Main Street should not be demolished as the Local Heritage listed building known as the former Gold Diggers Arms is one of the oldest buildings in Scone, and the proposed storage shed is not an appropriate development for this site.

The former Gold Diggers Arms is item no. 144 on the Schedule of Heritage Items in Upper Hunter Shire. Council presumably has designated this building a heritage item that should be preserved. It should therefore not allow a proposal that would demolish this historic building.

In researching the history of the former Gold Diggers Arms I started with the photo of the building on the State Library of NSW website and then worked backwards and forwards from the date of the photo, searching newspapers on the National Library’s Trove website and liquor licensing records on ancestry.com.

The photo is labelled “Former Gold Diggers Arms, Main Street, Scone circa 1900 McDonald Family home.” It is clearly the building at 77 Main Street, albeit with a white picket fence across the front of the verandah. Mrs Emma Jane McDonald was the sister of James Henry Doyle, owner of “Invermein” stud, and granddaughter of John Howe, who mapped the route from Windsor to Maitland through Howes Valley.

The former Gold Diggers Arms was constructed no later than 1849. It was built on land in the St Aubins Estate owned by Captain William Dumaresq. He is shown as the proprietor of the Gold Diggers Arms in 1850s Liquor Licensing records.

In 1849 the premises was the Bush Inn and the licensee was Henry Smith. He advertised the Bush Inn in the Maitland Mercury as being roomy and commodious, the wines, ales, and spirits first rate, the charges moderate and the stabling department second to none.

In October 1851 Henry Smith was convicted of the offence of receiving 100 stolen sheepskins and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in Maitland Gaol. His wife continued to carry on the business but the premises no longer had a liquor licence.

In September 1853 Charles Wilson was granted a Publicans General Licence for quote “the house occupied by him situated in St Aubins formerly known and licensed under the sign of the Bush Inn to be known as the Gold Diggers Arms”. He advertised in the Maitland Mercury that he had laid in a stock of the best wine and spirits, had good accommodation for stabling, good secure paddocks, moderate charges and that the Gold Diggers Arms was on the main road to the Northern Goldfields.

Charles Wilson also fell foul of the law. At the annual licensing meeting in April 1855 the Sergeant of Police told the local magistrates that Wilson was not a fit and proper person to hold a licence because he was a reputed drunkard. The licence was transferred to Samuel Hirst in 1856.

The final licensee of the Gold Diggers Arms was Hugh Brien Murray. He was granted a General Publicans Licence in April 1857. Even though licensing records show that he changed the name of the premises to the Rock of Cashel it continued to be referred to as the Gold Diggers Arms.

Hugh Brien Murray became insolvent in 1859. He too served time in Maitland Gaol – in his case four months imprisonment for taking back from the sheriff horses and other items that the sheriff had lawfully seized to sell to pay Murray’s creditors.

Reminiscing in the “Scone Advocate” in 1927 long time Scone resident William Bridge said that the former Gold Diggers Arms had been Dr Russell’s surgery in the 1860s and then James Dodds cabinet making business.

Searching the “Scone Advocate” for 20th century references to 77 Main Street reveals that in the 1940s Frank Maloney had his skin buying business there. He was a regular advertiser in the local paper. As well as buying rabbit, hare and fox skins, he also bought and sold wheat bags.

Prior to August 1950 well-known local solicitor Mr A.A. McLellan had his office at 77 Main Street, a relatively short walk to the Court House. When he vacated the premises it was taken over by Ivor Smith & Co. Accountants. Smith, a Muswellbrook Shire Councillor, was a leading campaigner for a water conservation scheme in the Upper Hunter, a campaign that culminated in the construction of Glenbawn dam.

The final business to operate from 77 Main Street was Craig and Jim Clark’s Furniture Store. It opened with great fanfare in September 1954 but did not advertise in the “Scone Advocate after that.

More recently the building has been divided into 3 flats and another 3 flats built alongside.

Turning to the proposed shed, this is an inappropriate development for this site on both aesthetic and transport grounds. The aesthetic grounds would I think be fairly self-evident. A Colourbond shed would not be a positive addition to the streetscape in an area with a number of attractive historic buildings.

The proposed shed would house a bulky goods retailer. All customers would drive to premises because (a) most live outside town and (b) all are buying goods that cannot be carried home by any other means. Sites in the centre of towns should be reserved for businesses that have some customers who travel from the surrounding residential areas by bicycle or on foot. Alternatively sites close to the main shopping centre should be used for medium density housing thereby maximizing the number of people who walk or cycle to the shops. Either way the volume of motor vehicle traffic is minimized. This has both environmental and congestion minimization benefits.

77 Main Street is already used for medium density housing. It is an appropriate use of one of the oldest buildings in Scone – a building with an interesting history that has been heritage listed and should be preserved. The proposed development would be more appropriately sited in the industrial estate with other similar businesses.

For these reasons I urge Council to adopt the recommendation of its Director of Environmental and Community Services to refuse Development Application no. 57/2017.

Sincerely,

Veronica Antcliff
Resident of Scone.

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