Ora Banda Hotel

Statement of Significance

Ora Banda Hotel is a simple and unsophisticated example of Australian Colonial Vernacular architecture. The variety of warm colours and textures provided by the stonework and brickwork creates visual interest.

Ora Banda Hotel is the last remaining substantial building in Ora Banda, and as such is a representative example of the way of life in those remote settlements which thrived in a harsh environment and all but disappeared when the gold mines closed down.

The restoration and reconstruction of Ora Banda Hotel, in the 1980s, helped contribute to the community's sense of place by preserving a link with what was a prosperous mining town.

Ora Banda Hotel is representative of the type of vernacular architecture constructed during early European settlement phases of Western Australia.

Statement of Significance: Ora Banda Hotel has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:

- The place is a reminder of the development and decline cycle that occurred with the discovery of gold outside the major eastern goldfields centres.

- The place is considered to have cultural heritage significance at a local level for its aesthetic, social and representative value.

Physical Description

Ora Banda Hotel is one of the few structures remaining in Ora Banda, a small mining town about 65 kilometres north-west of Kalgoorlie. The building is in an isolated setting approached by a gravel road. There is no delineation between the property boundary and the road reserve.

Ora Banda Hotel is a single-storey structure built in the Australian Colonial Vernacular Style (Cox and Lucas, 1978). The exterior walls are local stone in coursed random rubble with tuck-pointed brick quoins and heavily recessed openings with rendered reveals and sills. Rectangular in plan, the building is two rooms wide and three rooms deep covered by a 'M' formed roof covered with corrugated iron. A gravel verandah, partially covered with concrete, wraps the building, covered with a lean-to roof supported by square timber posts. The verandah roof is separate from the main roof but covered to match. The verandah roof c.1929, was supported by timber posts with decorative brackets and frieze. Three fireplaces are on internal walls serviced by a single chimney.

The windows are divided into two sashes, further divided into smaller panes. Doorway openings are flat arched and elliptical arched on the east elevation. Door fanlights are fixed panes.

The interior comprises a bar, pool room, dining room, cool room and a general store on the south side of the passage, and toilets, kitchen, pantry, office, cool room and store rooms on the north side.

Pressed metal lines the ceilings, and the walls are clad in a combination of ripple-iron and pressed metal. The floors are timber boards throughout.

After the business was abandoned in 1957, severe weather, vandalism and termites reduced the building to a stone shell.

In 1970, some superficial works were carried out to the interior of the bar in preparation for the filming of 'The Nickel Queen'. The building was fire damaged in 1980. The roof of the building was destroyed and the chimney collapsed. Photographic evidence shows the interior comprising of its floor structure and remnant interior wall framing with some linings, and the verandah roof missing (photographs lent by permission of Stephen Hancock). The remaining roof timbers were continued to be removed by vandals. Graffiti on the west elevation, "This Pub's Haunted" is believed to have been applied at this time.

Restoration works began in 1981, and continued to 1987. The pressed metal linings were salvaged from the building and from others in the area, the bar was discarded as it was termite infested and rebuilt to different detail, and the rotted floorboards, windows and doors were replaced.

In 1983, the roof was replaced due to hailstorm damage that flattened the corrugations and damaged the gutters.

In 1984, diesel and super fuel tanks were installed adjacent to the hotel, and the wall plaque commemorating the opening of the hotel was reset on the west elevation. New electrical services were installed and the General Store was opened.

In 1985, telephone services were installed and two telephone boxes erected against the east elevation. The bar refurbishment was completed with all new fittings and finishes, the pool room was completed and the fireplaces were reconstructed. A brick toilet block with a hipped roof was constructed on the north side of the building.

In 1986, a pergola was constructed at the rear of the north elevation to protect a beer garden. The main roof was partially recovered after damage from a willy-willy. The verandah roof was rebuilt after 1987.

In 1987, transportable buildings were erected on site to accommodate staff.

In March 1988, another fire burnt out the bar, burn marks are evident on the floorboards, and part of the roof was blown away in a storm. In 1988, the beer garden was completed on the north side of the building and a brick barbecue was constructed.

In 1989, the road around the hotel was sealed.

A new fence has been erected along the perimeter of the eastern boundary, and a small shed has been erected at the rear of the site.

In 1999, the building was in fair to good condition. Stonework had fretted below the window sill on the south elevation and at the base of the wall on the east elevation. Fretted mortar had been haphazardly patched on the east elevation.

In late 2000, the building was damaged by an explosion. At present (July 2001), the building is vacant, and the viability of restoring the building is currently being undertaken.

History

Ora Banda Hotel is a single-storey stone and iron hotel constructed in 1911, when the town of Ora Banda was the centre of a rich goldmining area.

The original Ora Banda, about 65 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, was the centre for a district extending from the "Lady Evelyn" mine to the east, "Christmas Reef" mine to the west with the township being adjacent to the Ora Banda mine. The finds of 1906 brought a large influx of men to the district and increased the prospecting activities.

Unsurveyed, the original settlement at Ora Banda consisted of a hall, a small school, a few dwellings and a hotel. The 1906 boom produced a few public spirited citizens who formed a Progress Association which attended to matters such as the surveying of a new townsite, recreational ground, cemetery and water supply. Paddington, a nearby district, was on the wane and several buildings were brought from there to Ora Banda, namely the Post Office, Miners Union Hall, the Police Station and the Catholic Church.

Mr A. E. Garnett had the license transferred from his original hotel to the new one he built in the new townsite, the Ora Banda Hotel. Garnett managed the hotel until his death in the mid-1920s, and then his brothers Bob and Gary took over. Between 1928 and 1932 the hotel was managed by David Moyes, after which it was sold to Mr John Finlayson. The Finlaysons managed the Hotel for about eight years then leased it to various people.

By 1957, the price of gold had dropped and people had started to move out of the town. The Finlaysons decided to close down the Ora Banda Hotel. They walked away leaving everything (West Australian: 1 January 1988: 11). Over a period of 25 years, vandals stole or destroyed everything, leaving the building a shell of its former self. Mr Finlayson continued to pay the rates and taxes on the building.

In 1967, Mr Albert Klaassen saw the ruined building and 12 years later, in 1979, decided to find out who owned it. He was told the hotel was on vacant crown land and that he was free to apply for a lease. It is argued that a bureaucratic bungle saw Mr Finlayson lose control of the land. After a protracted dispute it was resolved that Mr Klaassen was the legal owner of the land.

Klaassen commenced extensive restoration/reconstruction work on the hotel in December 1981 (information regarding work carried out by Mr Klaassen is recorded in a book that was viewed at the Ora Banda Hotel). In July 1983, the windows and doors were replaced and construction of a toilet block was commenced. On Good Friday 1984, the Ora Banda General Store was opened in the south side of the building. By October 1984, large fuel tanks had been installed so that fuel was now available in Ora Banda. In 1985, the owners were issued with a Historic Inn liquor licence. The Klaassen family estimated that they spent about $180,000 on the building's restoration and the provision of other facilities.

The official opening of the Ora Banda Historic Inn took place on 9 November 1985, the ceremony being conducted by President of the Boulder Shire Council, Mr C. Daws.

Work carried out since the re-opening includes the erection of a new verandah, and the provision of accommodation facilities.

In late 2000, the building was damaged by an explosion and, at present, the building is vacant. Up until this explosion, Ora Banda Hotel continued to be used for its original purpose, attracting not only the locals but tourists curious to see a remnant of a once thriving goldmining town.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High
Authenticity: High

Condition

Fair-Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.