Dangin Temperance Hotel - Site

Statement of Significance

The site is significant in demonstrating a way of life and beliefs which are no longer practiced. The association with the district pioneer, JW Parker, the early settlers who formed the Syndicate, the Lawley College, the CWA and the Quairading Roads Board are all significant in the history of the place and the town of Dangin. The innovation and technology of an in-house aerated water plant in 1910 is significant, and demonstrates a way of life.

Physical Description

Two storey brick construction with an iron roof. The top storey had verandahs around the two street fronts. The verandahs had timber fretwork detailing to the columns and the balustrade.

History

In 1836 Stephen Parker took up a pastoral selection at Dangin Springs. It was not until 1859, that his son Edward Read Parker settled on the selection. In 1892, a eucalyptus oil distillery was operating at the Dangin estate. After ER Parker's death in 1905, his son Jonah Smith Wells Parker took over the Dangin property. Parker allotted a portion of his estate for a townsite, and by 1902, the town lots were surveyed and the town of Dangin declared. In 1908, after the railway line passed through Dangin, from York to Quairading, JW Parker decided to build a hotel, which was completed in 1910, together with septic system. The bricks were burnt on the site. Parker stipulated that the two storey hotel was a temperance hotel and no alcoholic licences were to be held within 5 miles of Dangin. The hotel would provide cheap meals and soft drinks. Dangin town developed, by 1911 there was a two storey temperance hotel, two general stores, a drapery store, bank, post office, Agricultural Hall, hospital, Methodist church and Manse, school, blacksmith operation, bakery, and twelve residences. An aerated water plant at the Dangin Temperance Hotel, owned by Parker, provided non-alcoholic beverages for the patrons, which were unfortunately few in number. In 1912 Parker developed Toapin Weir on the estate to provide the town of Dangin with a reticulated water supply. The temperance hotel was a focus of the life in Dangin, meals and accommodation were provided for the farm workers and the school teachers at various times The hotel's billiard table provided another social entertainment. In 1921 Parker sold the temperance hotel for £1200 to a syndicate of 11 residents who called themselves "The Dangin Temperance Hotel Company Limited" A subsequent meeting the same year limited the shareholders to 5, who were; JJ Geyer, H Johnston, T Richards, JH Stone, WP Stone. The advent of World War Two signalled a downturn in the prosperity of Dangin, and a gradual dominance by Quairading town. In 1942 the hostel was used as a city retreat for the Lawley Ladies College boarding school when they were evacuated from the City of Perth. In 1944 the Syndicate terminated their association with the hotel, firstly offering it to the Nurses Association, who could not utilise the place to advantage, and then to the CWA. The syndicate donated the hotel to the CWA on condition that no alcohol was sold on the premises. The CWA intended to operate a children's holiday hostel, but that did not eventuate, it was run as a boarding house. The boarding house was not successful, and the CWA were about to de-construct the place and re-erect it in Rockingham as a seaside home, when the Quairading Roads Board suggested the building for use by their staff. The CWA sold the hotel to the Quairading Roads Board for £1200 in 1950, on the understanding it would be retained and converted into flats, despite the agreement, the building was immediately demolished before any preventative action could be taken. The materials were used to construct four Roads Board houses for employees in Quairading. As part of the Australian bi-centennial celebrations in 1988, a Dangin heritage walk trail was developed and the historic sites in the town were marked and interpreted.

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