The Otago Central Hotel at Hyde, with new owners Craig and Liz Alderson, is ready to welcome Otago Central Rail Trail travellers once again after being closed for about seven years.
Although Hyde became a gold rush township in the 1860s with several hotels, the original Otago Central Hotel was actually a "railway rush" pub.
When the Otago Central Railway reached Hyde in 1894 a lack of flat land in the township meant that the station was a mile and a-half southwards at an area called Newtown.
Miner Robert McBride built a 10-roomed hotel near the station site in 1893 but the local option poll of 1891 had been against any new accommodation licences and McBride was not granted one.
However, in August 1893 John Beatty, who had the Carriers’ Arms at Kyeburn, made a successful application and by early 1894 the Otago Central Hotel was in business and what tales it had to tell.
In July 1895 Constable Michael O’Brien during a routine check found Andrew Gillon sleeping by the fire.
Gillon, who could barely stand, was ejected only to be arrested for being drunk in a public place.
John Beatty told the court that Gillon was not drunk and that the constable had lifted him up and dropped him on the floor before making an arrest inside the hotel which he had no right to do.
The court decided that Gillon was drunk but that he would not have been in a public place if the policeman had not thrown him out.
Gillon was fined one shilling and his lawyer indicated he would seek a prohibition order.
No wonder Andrew had taken to drink. In February 1880 he worked at Mullocky Gully near the Wingatui Viaduct where unemployed men camped during the building of the Otago Central Railway.
Living in a tent and working nine hours per day for five shillings (about $50) with a wife and family to support he was soon in court over a debt of £10.
Worse followed two months later when he was in charge of a blast which exploded leaving him badly burned on the face and hands.
In October 1895 other keen drinkers stole a hogshead of beer from the hotel and hid it in the tailings ready for use during the predicted dry summer.
By 1902 Beatty’s site included the hotel, 57 acres of land, grocery store and butcher’s shop, the railway refreshment rooms and billiard room all turning over about £50 ($10,000) a week and on the market for £500.
It was bought by Tom Tate who had been the blacksmith at Patearoa.
The energetic Tom revived the old Hyde Turf Club and established a cricket pitch at the site of the present Hyde Hall.
In 1907 Thomas Richardson took over the pub and in 1908 James Silver became the publican until 1909 when John Beatty took over again at a time when the cry for reduction of hotel numbers was at its loudest.
The battle was on between the Otago Central Hotel and Thomas Connolly’s Hyde Hotel in the township.
Saul Solomon KC led the charge, describing the Otago Central Hotel as close to the railway and much used by teamsters.
Moonlight farmer William Fraser, speaking for about 20 farmers in his district, said it took a day to get to Hyde and if Beatty’s closed they faced another two uphill miles to get to the township. James Silver told of accommodating passengers when the train was held up by winter snows.
In the end, Connolly was refused a licence and the Otago Central Hotel was now Hyde’s only pub and William Lynch of Queenstown became the publican but his tenure was brief and ended tragically.
In December 1909 he joined some guests who were rabbit shooting but slipped and fell.
The rifle went off, fatally wounding 35-year-old Lynch.
His wife Elizabeth joined the long list of widows who took over Central Otago hotels and became a much-respected publican.
In 1922 she sold to John Sharp and William Matthews and Peter Lane followed until in 1925 the hotel burned down.
Lane immediately rebuilt the hotel, this time at the present site in the township.
So, a hundred years on, the Otago Central Hotel is ready again to add to its stories.
— Jim Sullivan is a Patearoa writer.
