| Following on from the posts about
women publicans and the Camp Hotel in the Whipstick. |
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| I don't know what Mary Deeming thought but she sold the hotel to my Grt Grt Grandfather John Dolman
in 1856. |
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| John Dolman (1813 - 20 Dec 1878) purchased the Camp Hotel, the Whipstick, from a Mrs. Deeming.
In June 1862, he was granted the licence for the Hotel after
departure of the aforementioned Mrs. Deeming (note: at the time
licences were granted in June of each year). |
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| After the purchase, John's
wife, Margaret is alleged to have run the Hotel, on her own,
while John worked on the diggings and conducted a small store.
John is also said to have been a gold buyer but as a lot of
the early diggers exchanged their gold dust for supplies this
comes as little surprise. |
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| As a storekeeper John must
have been somewhat successful as in 1865, he constructed a kiln
on the site of the old Camp Hotel at Flagstaff Hill and built
a new "Camp Hotel" on the same site made out of the
bricks. The building contains 100,000 bricks which cost £1
(pound) per thousand and was valued at £542 at the time
of his death. The lime, 25 ton of it was carted by their son
John, and came from Bendigo while the timber for the roof was
milled in the Whipstick forest and pit-sawn into planks. |
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| The new Hotel & Store contained
11 rooms, the front 3 being the bar, store and dining room,
the rest being 5 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a lounge. |
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| Its is interesting to note that
the water supply is a large underground tank which is 20 feet
in diameter and 18 feet deep, holding 56,000 gallons. It is
unfortunate that given the shortage of water during the gold
days of the Whipstick that John did not turn the water to use
in 'puddling' gold as this may even have been more profitable
than selling beer and spirits. |
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John Dolman died at
the Camp Hotel on 20 December 1878, and his will (Will
of John Dolman, late of the Camp Hotel Whipstick near Sandhurst
in the Colony of Victoria Publican deceased), details, amongst
other things, the following debts due by deceased:
W Bruce Brewer 59.15.6
J Fawns Brewer 24.15.0
GF Hunter Brewer 24.15.0
J Steward Brewer 20.06.6
R Moorhead Wine & Spirit Merchant 19.00.0
D Moorhead 55.00.0
(that's pounds, shillings and pence to the post decimal crew)
They certainly were a thirsty lot! |
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| Gets better though as prior
to purchasing the Camp Hotel John already exhibited 'hotelier
leanings'... |
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| In 1859, John Dolman was a storekeeper at Beelzebub Gully near Sydney Flat. It is believed that he
built a store and named it "Whitehorse Hotel" on North
side of Beelzebub Gully, Whipstick, |
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| 1860 - Eaglehawk Police Court 8
June and 15 June John was charged with selling illegal liquor
from his unlicensed tent at Beelzebub Gully, and selling nobblers
of whisky on Sunday (heaven forbid). He was fined 50 Pounds
or 4 months. After initially clearing out, leaving his wife
to pay |
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| (I think he was merely misunderstood by the constabulary.
I suggest that he was providing communion wine for the church
services! Give me time to work out what the whisky was for). |
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| John next appears in the Eaglehawk Gazette 8/6/1860: |
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| EAGLEHAWK POLICE COURT |
"John Dolman of Beelzebub Gully was informed against for having sold three knobblers of brandy
and several "old toms" (unquote - old tom: a mug with
two handles holding a quart) on Sunday last. The case was remanded
until Tuesday next for the attendance of council (SIC). Margaret
Dolman the wife of John Dolman was charged with being the occupier
of a tent where spirituous liquors were illegally sold. Owing
to the difficulty of the police obtaining an interview with
her husband, he having since returned up, she was discharged."
(family hearsay is that initially he shot through and left Mary
to face the music). |
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From Bendigo Advertiser 15/6/1860:
"John Dolman charged with illegally selling of spirituous liquors was remanded until June
25" |
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From the Bendigo Advertiser 26/6/1860:
"Illegal Selling of Spirituous
Liquors: John Dolman was charged by Constable McGovern
with this offence. This case differed from many of those lately
brought before the bench inasmuch the defendant not only sold
beer but various kinds of spirits, a large quantity of which
was found on the premises and the evidence showed that he was
doing a thriving trade in the same, and that on a Sunday. The
offence was clearly proved - Defendant was fined 50 pound or
4 months and liquor confiscated. The fine was paid. " |
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Camp Hotel Whipstick
photos |
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Camp Hotel circa 1960s |
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Camp Hotel - 01 Jan 2004 |
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