Introduction

Ballarat's early years were tumultuous. The town had been flooded with gold seekers during the 1850s and alcohol was both a social lubricant and an escape for those who found themselves in straitened circumstances far from home. In an effort to minimise the ill effects of alcohol, Governor La Trobe had imposed prohibition on the goldfields, but this action gave rise to numerous 'sly grog' outlets, which competed for trade with licensed premises. Police raids were frequent and large quantities of 'grog' were often seized.¹ According to historian WB Withers, cited in the centenary edition of the Courier, there were 477 licensed hotels in Ballarat in 1867 and all hotels remained open until 1.30 am.² Hotels were not then viewed as fit places to entertain respectable men, much less their families, and it took many years and the efforts of various groups before the situation was improved. One of Ballarat's more substantial hotels was the Royal Oak and its first publican was John Ellis.

According to the rate book of 1858, John Ellis owned a store at 10 Raglan Street Ballarat that was rated at £6 5s per annum.³ He was also shown as the owner of a brick house on the west side of Raglan Street with a net value of £126.⁴ This house became the Royal Oak Hotel, although it was originally named the Sign of the Castle and Ball.

An application was filed by John Ellis of Raglan Street with the licensing registrar for a hearing on 2 October 1866 'for house situate at Raglan Street aforesaid, his own property, consisting of a brick building containing a bar, bar parlour, sitting room, six bedrooms, kitchen etc. and to be known as the Sign of the Castle and Ball Hotel'.⁵ Ellis's application was successful as his name was listed in the hotels index of 1866, although the index recorded the name wrongly as the Castle and Bowl Hotel. Ellis moved into the hotel, and the store at 10 Raglan Street, which appeared to have been his prior dwelling, was offered for private sale shortly afterwards with negotiations conducted at the hotel.⁶

The 1867 rate book lists John Ellis as the owner of a brick hotel on the north side of South Street, but does not mention the hotel by name. It is evident, though, that entry to it was no longer from Raglan Street but from South Street. This was confirmed by the 1868 rate book, which listed Ellis as the keeper of a brick hotel consisting of a bar and eight rooms in South Street on the north-west corner of Raglan Street.⁷ Further along South Street was vacant land owned by the Kohinoor Gold Mining Company, while on the corner of South and Errard Streets was a site measuring approximately 101 x 117 links⁸ (approximately 66 x 77 ft or 20 x 23 metres), which was purchased by J Roberts and others, trustees of the United Methodist Free Church, in May 1889. A brick church was opened on this site in May 1890. These three properties, the hotel on one corner, the church on the other, and the mine in the middle, form the dynamic of interest to this historical sketch, and although the establishment of the hotel preceded that of the church by some decades, the two establishments represented a continuing and sometimes bitter division between different perceptions of respectability, New World (male) identity and manhood.

Sitting on gold

The Sign of the Castle and Ball Hotel had become the Royal Oak Hotel by the time the licence changed hands on 20 June 1873, going from John Ellis to Thomas Sanderson, who retained the licence until 21 October 1875. Gold was Ballarat's primary attraction though, and a veritable army of male gold seekers gave rise to Ballarat's many hotels. In 1867, there were 230 registered mining companies in Ballarat and on the north side of South Street, beside the Royal Oak, was the main shaft of the Great Eastern Company, which was registered as working the Malakoff Lead. Mining companies in the vicinity included the Sons of Freedom, the Great Western, the British Company, and Hawthorn's. The Great Eastern Company of ninety-six shareholders was said to have held twelve claims on the Malakoff Lead, but only one of these appeared on Baragwanath's geological and topographical map of 1917: the one adjacent to the Royal Oak Hotel.⁹ During the 1850s there was a lot of confusion as to which lead was being worked by which company, and lawsuits to resolve disputes were common.

A succession of licensees

After 1875 there was a succession of licensees trading from the Royal Oak. After Ellis and Sanderson came John Thomas, the licensee from 22 October 1875 until 20 June 1878, and after Thomas a woman named Winifred O'Meara traded from 21 June 1878 until 1889. Both Thomas and O'Meara were subject to unfortunate incidents during their tenures. In the case of Thomas, it was an incident that resulted in a man's death. The man was an engineer named Edward O'Brien, aged 39, and employed at the works of Davey Brothers.