| Historical notes: | The "Eora people" was the name given to the coastal Aborigines around Sydney. Central Sydney is therefore often referred to as "Eora Country". Within the City of Sydney local government area, the traditional owners are the Cadigal and Wangal bands of the Eora. There is no written record of the name of the language spoken and currently there are debates as whether the coastal peoples spoke a separate language "Eora" or whether this was actually a dialect of the Dharug language. Remnant bushland in places like Blackwattle Bay retain elements of traditional plant, bird and animal life, including fish and rock oysters.
With the invasion of the Sydney region, the Cadigal and Wangal people were decimated but there are descendants still living in Sydney today. All cities include many immigrants in their population. Aboriginal people from across the state have been attracted to suburbs such as Pyrmont, Balmain, Rozelle, Glebe and Redfern since the 1930s. Changes in government legislation in the 1960s provided freedom of movement enabling more Aboriginal people to choose to live in Sydney.
(Information sourced from Anita Heiss, "Aboriginal People and Place", Barani: Indigenous History of Sydney City http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani )
In 1792 Governor Phillip marked the boundary of the town of Sydney on Eora land from the head of woolloomooloo Bay to the head of Cockle Bay (Darling Harbour). All the land outside the boundary which became Surry Hills was designated for farming. The sandhills and vegetation enjoyed and maintained by the Cadigal owners for thousands of years were quickly stripped to provide materials for the new town.
In 1793 Major Francis Grose 'allotted to such officers as have asked one hundred acres of land which with great spirit, they at their own expense are clearing'. The first Surry Hills landowner under the authority of terra nullius was Captain Joseph Foveaux, the tiger of the rum corps. Foveaux accepted his first grant of 105 acres in 1793 and later increased his property to most of Surry Hills.
John Palmer in 1794 was granted 70 acres. His land become known as George Farm. The area was first utilised for horticultural activities with the encouragement by Major Grose to use convict labour to work their land and sell their products to the government.
During the 1830s and 1840s the area was subdivided into villa estates that were highly fashionable amongst the gentry class. From 1850 to 1890 a major surge of development occurred in Surry Hills. The 1860s and 1870s saw the decline of the gentry class and the rise of mechanics, artisans and shopkeepers. The rapid subdivision of land and development of housing was not proceeded with the implementation of basic amenities and sanitation problems became widespread. Having been developed over swampland, drainage problems in the southern Bourke Street area were particularly bad.
Somewhere between 1836 and 1839 the hotel was built. It was was known as the Cookatoo Inn with Joseph Ward holding the licence that he had transferred from a establishment he had in Pitt street Sydney. He retained this till 1841. In june 1842 to May 1859 Benjamin Joseph Oliffe was the licensed publican of the Cookatoo Inn.
From 1860 to 1873 the name changed to the Sportsman's Arms with William Keble as the publican to 1863 and Francis Phillips to 1873.
The name was changed in late 1873 to the Kilkenny Inn with Margaret Conlon as licensee till 1879. She became the registered owner of the property in 1879 and Edward Rout became the licensee.
In 1882 the property was sold to James Brierley, a builder for 1630 pounds. Patrick O'Malley became the publican in 1882 and then Thomas Hope took over in 1884.
May 1885 the property was sold to Publican Gustave Thomas Buckham for 3515 pounds. The building underwent renovations, including an iron roof replacing the shingles, and now called the Great Western Hotel. Buckham was managing the hotel in 1886 and was followed by 5 licenses until his deathin 1893. The hotel continued operation under the guidence of Buckhams trustes and the hotel was leased to Tooth & Co. in 1900. When Buckhams wife died in 1901 the hotel was auctioned and sold to Tooth & Co. for 5400 pounds.
Tooth & Co. proceeded to fix up the hotel with a new face brick façade with contrasting bands and sandstone base to sill height, casement windows and detailed parapet, replaced the old walls fronting Bourke Street and Fitzroy Street, protruding 9 inches outside the 19th century building line.
In 1901, the revamped Hotel was named in honour of the first Governor General, Lord Hopetoun.
Many general repairs occured over the following years including the result of a car crash causing damage to the show window and displacing seven bricks in 1931 and damage to upstair rooms after storm damage in the same year.
Since the 1920s it had become illegal to provide verandahs with posts and most pubs were required to install steel framed awnings suspended from the façade. This also resulted in tiling the outside façade. From the pavement to a tile of five feet, the façades were covered with hygienic vitreous tiles in dark orange and brown. Above the tiles, up to the underside of the canopy, the wall was plastered and painted cream. The part of the building above the canopy was left left untouched.
For much of the late 20th century, the Hopetoun Hotel was regularly used as a venue for live music, until the venue closed in 2009. It has remained vacant since that time.
In 2012, the pub was used as a set for the filming of the for the Hugh Jackman-led movie Wolverine. |