Older than XXXX itself and older than Castlemaine Perkins!

You see in the 1920s another brewing company, Castlemaine, acquired the assets of Perkins & Co, creating a new company, Castlemaine Perkins. Oh all right, Castlemaine themselves started in 1878 by two brothers, Nicholas and Edward Fitzgerald, who had one goal in life: to create the finest ales known to man across this sun-drenched land. They started out as Mexicans (in Castlemaine Victoria) but like most of us decided they needed warmer weather (and) a world-class brewery, so they packed their bags and headed to Queensland.

Back in the day, beer quality was measured in Xs. The brewery’s first drop produced was XXX Sparkling Ale, awarded a very respectable three Xs. But something was missing. In 1893, the brewers perfected the recipe further, gaining a fourth X – and, some years later, establishing the XXXX name that we all know and love today.

By the time the early 1900s rolled around, XXXX was well and truly a hit across Queensland, but there was a problem with transporting the beer to the hottest and driest parts of the state. The Brewery needed someone with a bit of know-how to solve the problem of cloudy beer – and that’s where a German bloke proved to be important in the history of Queensland’s favorite brew, Bill Leitner.

After working in Germany and Austria and looking for a spot to settle Down Under in Queensland of course, Bill came on board as the new Master Brewer. He worked out that the problem came from the way the brew vessels were cleaned – with that fixed up, it was problem solved.

Job was done but Bill set about improving the beer even more, and he put together a drop that Queenslanders have been loving ever since. His recipe for XXXX BITTER <https://www.xxxx.com.au/xxxx-bitter/> hasn’t changed since it was first brewed in 1924!

Oh yeah it’s a technicality but we are claiming it, older than Castlemaine Perkins and older than XXXX Bitter but there’s more to this relationship than just dates, grab a Beer and lets us tell you a few of our yarns;
1910 - The property was originally constructed as a timber saloon-style Hotel in November 1910 where Mr. John James Fallon applied for a provisional license. Sadly in this instance, the application was refused on the grounds that it was felt the district did not need another hotel. Instead, it then appears to have traded as the Residential Hotel, which provided accommodation only.

1912 - A license was finally obtained on Thursday, October 3rd, 1912 by Mr. James Lawrence Johnson, who named the venue, The Club Hotel.

1913 - 1924 It was reported in December 1913 that a billiard room would be available shortly for the establishment. The yearly licensee fees were £30.

The freehold to the hotel appears to have been owned by Mr. G.W. Price, who in 1915 sold to his daughter Mrs. Johnson. Mr. Johnson then appears to have sold the license and possibly the freehold to Mr. Alfred Robert White, who in June 1916 accepted the transfer in the Licensing Court.

Mr. White was reported to have sold the freehold in November 1919 to Mr. Benjamin Miller of Ascot in Brisbane who was passed the licence in December. Mr. Miller, had previously operated the Breakfast Creek Hotel which was established in 1889. Mr. Miller then passed the license to Mr. Patrick McFadden in September 1921. In April 1922 the licensing fees increased to £40. In May 1922 Mr. McFadden passed the publicans license on to Mr. North Brake, who on September 7th 1923 was fined £3 for having kept his hotel open on a Sunday.

1925 -1937 In June 1925 Mr. Brake transferred the license to Mr. Roy Beresford Shaw who was already operating the Club Hotel in Caboolture. Interestingly he subsequently transferred the license to Mr. Trevor Terry in October 1925, who in turn passed it to Mr. Walter Thomas Waldby in November 1926 and at the time also was accepted for a billiards license.

By January 1927 Mr. Waldby appears to have been looking to make some improvements as tenders were called for the repainting of the Club Hotel. Mr. Waldby’s license renewal appears to have been in jeopardy in 1928 as a list of repairs had been asked of the Licensing Court, which were sorted out by July 1928. The license was held by Mr. Waldby until October 1932 when he transferred it to Mr. Samuel White, who in September 1933 passed it to Mr. James Fraser White.

In April 1934 Mr. White lodged an application for the redetermination of the annual value of the Club Hotel, which at the time was £260 16s10d. Then in July 1934 the license was transferred to Mr. Arthur George Cooper and at the same time a billiards license was also granted.

1938 - On the evening of Sunday January 2nd 1938 the Club Hotel, which was one of the oldest buildings in the town, caught fire. The fire was reported to have started in the store room in the back of the property. In order to save the neighbouring buildings, it was quickly demolished by the bucket brigade. It was estimated that Mr. Arthur George Cooper had lost £1,800, though he had a policy with the Gardian Insurance Company for £835.

The hotel was owned by Castlemaine Perkins Limited (yep little Mr. XXXX) who announced shortly after the fire that they would be making temporary arrangements for a bar, while a new building made of brick and concrete would be constructed to the value of about £10,000. The new Club Hotel was Built by S.S. Carrick to the designs of architects Addison and Macdonald. It appears the then £16,000 building had been completed around March 1939, though some sources suggest it had been trading as early as December 1938. Its worth noting that the Mr. XXXX logo was modified to include the boater hat and a ‘wink’ shortly after this in 1941. Coincidence, we wink not…..

1939 – 1952 In mid-1940 the publican’s license was transferred from Mr. Arthur George Cooper to Mr. L. Benness who in turn sold his publicans license to Mr. Ernest H. Skipper. Sadly on February 6th, 1945 Mr. Skipper’s 24-year-old brother, Private C.N. Skipper, was killed in action while fighting in World War II. After 4 and a half years of managing the Club Hotel, Mr. Ernest H. Skipper sold his license to Mr. George Ferguson in January 1946.

From here the licensing reporting becomes scarce, but there are some clues here and there.

In October 1946 Mr. George Reid, who is able to be traced until at least January 1947. A very sad and confusing article appeared on January 1st 1952 that indicates that the 2-year-old twin daughter of licensee Mr. F.M O’Reilly fell 20 feet from a window. The confusing part about this article is that it lists this as occurring at the Club Hotel but in both Nambour and Caboolture.

Its considered this article may have been for the Caboolture hotel as another article from May 10th 1952 indicates that Mr. James Alexander Stenhouse was the licensee of the Club Hotel in Nambour. Sadly this article accompanied bad news which revealed that his 41-year-old wife, Mrs. Florence Mary Stenhouse, had passed away at Nambour Private Hospital. Interestingly while armed with this information a search was conducted on his name and traced his occupation back to at least September 1949. This also leaves us wondering about the name Flo and the middle age female ghost that occupies the halls of the Hotel on Level 1 but that’s another story……

1953 - The license then appears to have passed to Mr. R.J. (Bob) Grundy as he was the licensee from at least June 1953 to at least March 1954 when the definitive licensee records at this stage, sadly cease.

1960 – From street side photos the hotel appears to have been extensively renovating during the 1960s including the rendering and painting of the buildings façade to complete its current Art Deco look from the formerly face brick.

1975 - A document from January 10th 1975 indicates that Castlemaine Perkins Limited still owned the establishment at the time, as well as Mr. R.J. Grundy still being the licensee.

1980’s – The white Art Deco Façade was re painted an era defining purple in perhaps one of its more out there changes of décor.

2008 - The Club Hotel underwent an extensive reported $3 million renovation that remodelled the bar, relocated the bottle shop and expanded the then ‘Pokie’ room plus removed the men’s and ladies toilets from both the Mill street side of the building (which are now booths) and also the 2nd ‘staff’ toilets located in the corner of what is now the beer garden to the rear North West corner, where they are currently. Sadly, shortly after the effects of the GST and pressure from one of the Big Banks forced the owners to sell the Poker Machines in short time and then liquidate the sale of the building.

2010 - In more recent times the Club Hotel has ridden some waves like the town it calls home; the GFC, Mill Closure and a retail drift to the coast. You don’t last 100+ years however without a strong ticking heart, a persistence to survive and a will to serve your community. Its this strong heart beat of an Iconic Qld Hotel, a Pub! that wants to serve you in a hospitable fashion, a warm hearty meal, an ice cold beer, a wine, a cider, your fav spirit mixer al the while with a laugh with mates and smiles with your family.

How can we help you, please tell us as we look to build this icon to its 200th Birthday, 2112 isn’t that far away after all for this old girl is it?

If you now wanna hear about how the Club Sandwich was invented and the part we played……then you better get another round. “XXXX please barman”!