1886-1924 – Original building
The Shakspeare family (note spelling) dismantled and transported their Shakspeare Hotel building from Jericho in 1886 (evidence of Shakspeare name can be seen in an image below).
Prior to that, the building had popped up and down in other small township locations as the Central Rail Line made its way out from Rockhampton to the terminus, Barcaldine.
The hotel was unusual in that it was a 2-storey timber building with a verandah overhanging the footpath. The other hotels of the day were one-storey.
After the death of George Paige, Emma Jane continued to improve and expand the building until it took up the corner of Oak and Beech Streets. It became the Shakespeare in the early 1900s.
Female publicans Maryanne Dennett and Barbara Mahoney were in residence in the 1920s.
In 1924, the timber building burned down, suffering the same fate as many other Barcaldine hotels before it. Barbara Mahoney was the proprietor. She managed to obtain finance to rebuild in 1925, the current building.
1924 Hotel Fire – Rebuilt 1925 – Current Building
Mrs Barbara Mahoney, widow and mother of six sons, was proprietor of the Hotel in 1924 when it burnt down. She received fifteen thousand pound insurance and secured funding from sources in Melbourne to rebuild it in 1925
The draft plan for the new hotel (above) was more lavish than the final building – possibly due to a shortfall in funding
1930s view of the new Hotel Shakespeare building under Barbara Mahoney’s ownership.
Barbara retired in 1946.
Hotel Shakespeare c1950s when Mrs Margaret Mahoney (daughter-in-law of Barbara) was the proprietor
Changing face of the Hotel Shakespeare
Repainted, reclad, re-signed and rebadged many times over its 100 years
After originally being the Shakspeare Hotel, the hotel’s signage switched periodically between Hotel Shakespeare and Shakespeare Hotel, or took the name of the publican of the day
