Darebin
Bridge Hotel in 1988
Driving
along Heidelberg Road towards the City of Melbourne, an
old building with the strange word "SICK" on
a sign near the front door, can be seen on the right,
just before you cross Darebin Creek. In 2006, it was owned
by an electronics company. You would hardly guess that
it was one of the earliest hotels in the district, the
famous Darebin Bridge Hotel.
This
article was found in our archives, headed:
"D.A. Bulletin No. 121, June 1965".
OLD
DAREBIN HOTEL AND FAIRY HILLS.
"The
route of the first made road in Victoria - the Heidelberg
road - crossed the Darebin Creek at a ford situated at
the foot of the hill near the Christian Brothers College,
Alphington. From this crossing - later augmented by a
low-level log bridge - a short stretch called Turnpike
Road led northerly across the flat to join up with the
present line of the road near the entrance to the Boulevard.
The land on the Darebin side of the creek hereabouts,
was part of Portion One, Parish of Keelbundora, an area
of 1200 acres sold by the Crown at the first sales of
Victorian Country lands in Sydney on 12th September, 1838,
the purchaser being Thomas Walker.
This
gentleman was an investor and land speculator, well-known
in Sydney business circles of the day. He was the father
of the late Dame Eadith Walker of Concord. Walker sub-divided
his purchase soon after - the agent concerned being R.H.
(Continental) Browne - most famous of early land salesmen.
Of
this sub-division, some 54 acres were purchased by J.H.
Burn in October 1839, being the area of Darebin proper,
bounded by the Darebin Creek, the Yarra, Waterdale Road,
and a northern line somewhere about the top of the Darebin
hill. This land was transferred to George Langhorne in
1840, and to G.T. and F. Fenwick in 1853.
It
appears that during the Langhorne ownership, the two storied
Darebin Hotel was erected, about the year 1848. Solidly
built, the hotel is well proportioned, with ground floor
stone walls two feet thick, and on the first floor the
walls are 22 inches across, with windows deeply embrasured.
Under the tall wooden verandah is the wide doorway to
the old bar room, with capacious cellars underneath.
