| Sawyers Valley Tavern | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Former names | Sawyers Valley Hotel |
| General information | |
| Type | Hotel |
| Address | 10860 Great Eastern Highway |
| Town or city | Sawyers Valley |
| Country | Australia |
| Coordinates | 31°54′14″S116°12′17″E / 31.9038°S 116.2047°E |
| Opened | 1882 |
| Website | |
| http://sawyersvalleytavern.com.au/ | |
The Sawyers Valley Tavern was established in 1882 in Sawyers Valley, a hills suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was originally called the Sawyers Valley Hotel before acquiring its current name.
Lot Leather arrived on the convict ship Clyde in 1863 after killing his sweetheart's lover. [1] Leather began pit sawing at Sawyers Valley soon after, and in 1874 he purchased the land on which the Sawyers Valley Tavern is built. In the mid 1880s he built a store, next to his homestead on York Road, to serve the Eastern Railway construction workforce and the local sawyers. [2]
In 1882 Leather successfully applied for a colonial wine and beer licence, and the store was replaced with the Sawyers Valley Hotel. [3] Even after the railway was finished, the hotel attracted locals from nearby sawmills. [4]
The hotel and the adjacent recreation ground served as a local meeting place for mill workers, travellers, road boards, progress associations, historical societies and political rallies. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
It also quickly became the gathering place for numerous sporting clubs, rifle clubs, cricket teams, cycling and motorcycle clubs. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Sports meetings were promoted by subsequent publicans, including JH Kendall, who was licensee for 21 years. It was the focus of annual competitions in wood chopping, timber sawing, and tug-of-war, with teams from nearby mills and hotels in Chidlow and Mount Helena. [15]
In 1937 the old timber hotel was demolished and the new single storey brick hotel, designed by William Bennett, was erected on the same site, featuring saloon and public bars, lounges, a dining room and ten bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms. [16]
During the Second World War the hotel featured in the local newspapers for incidents involving American servicemen. American soldiers and sailors were arrested for being drunk and fighting, and their girlfriends arrested for living "idle and disorderly lives" and prostitution. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]
Over time licensees of the hotel have included Thomas Stone, Walter Pearce, William Riley, Fred Jacoby, Mary Kelly, and Clare Firth. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26]
The single storey Sawyers Valley Tavern is one of a few Art Deco style buildings in the shire other than some minor elements on several residence. The overall character of the building retains much of its original form and is simply detailed. The principle focus of Art Deco decoration is the projection through the tiled roof at the main entry of a tall, stepped, rounded and streamline rendered parapet element. [27] [28]
The Sawyers Valley Tavern has high social significance for the local community. The building's Art Deco character is unique in the Shire of Mundaring. Sitting opposite the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail, the site also has historic significance as the location of Lot Leather's former store and hotel. [29]
In 2016 the Sawyers Valley Tavern was listed on Western Australia's Heritage Register for the contribution made by the place to Western Australia's cultural heritage. [30]
John Forrest National Park is a national park in the Darling Scarp, 24 km (15 mi) east of Perth, Western Australia. Proclaimed as a national park in November 1900, it was the first national park in Western Australia and the second in Australia after Royal National Park.
Mundaring is a suburb located 34 km east of Perth, Western Australia on the Great Eastern Highway. The suburb is located within the Shire of Mundaring.
Mount Helena is an urban suburb on the outskirts of Perth, in Western Australia, 35 km from the city, in the Shire of Mundaring. Its population in 2016 was 3,185 people.
Darlington, Western Australia, is a locality in the Shire of Mundaring on the Darling Scarp, bisected by Nyaania Creek and north of the Helena River.
Greenmount is a locality and a geographical feature in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia, on the edge of the Darling Scarp. It is a vital point in the transport routes from the Swan Coastal Plain into the hinterland of Western Australia.
The Swan View Tunnel is a former railway tunnel located on the southern side of the Jane Brook valley in the outer Perth suburb of Swan View in the John Forrest National Park on the edge of the Darling Scarp. After its closure as a railway tunnel, it reopened as part of the John Forrest Heritage Trail, a rail trail.
The Railway Reserves Heritage Trail – also on some maps as Rail Reserve Heritage Trail or Rail Reserves Historical Trail, and frequently referred to locally as the Bridle Trail or Bridle Track – is within the Shire of Mundaring in Western Australia.
The Mundaring Weir Branch Railway was constructed from Mundaring, Western Australia to the site of the Mundaring Weir, and opened on 1 June 1898.
The Mundaring Branch Railway is a historical section of the original Eastern Railway main line across the Darling Scarp in the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) system.
Mundaring Weir is a dam located 39 kilometres (24 mi) from Perth, Western Australia in the Darling Scarp. The dam and reservoir form the boundary between the suburbs of Reservoir and Sawyers Valley. The dam impounds the Helena River.
Swan View is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government areas are the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Perth in the Perth Hills on the edge of the Darling Scarp, just to the west of the John Forrest National Park, east of Roe Highway and north of the Great Eastern Highway.
Darlington Hall is a heritage listed building in Darlington, Western Australia.
Sawyers Valley is sited on the Great Eastern Highway about 40 kilometres from Perth, Western Australia in the Shire of Mundaring. The community began as a sawmill and railway siding to process timber from the forest surrounding the Helena River to the south. Local employment included forest and Goldfields Water Supply Scheme maintenance, small orchards, and the Midland Railway Workshops. The suburb's name comes from the occupation of many of the first European settlers to the area in the 1860s, who were sawyers working at the local saw-pits. The Sawyers Valley Tavern, which sits on the Highway opposite the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail, was first established in 1882 and the Sawyers Valley railway station was built in 1884.
Swan View railway station, Perth was a railway station of significance on the Eastern Railway in Western Australia. In all working timetables during the operation of this line, the station was the point of control for the Swan View Tunnel.
Darling Range Hotel was a hotel in Bellevue, Western Australia, on the end of the slope on the Great Eastern Highway at the 'bottom of' Greenmount Hill and just north of the former Bellevue railway station, and over the road from the Helena Vale Racecourse.
The Parkerville Tavern was opened in 1902 in Parkerville a hills suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was originally called The Railway Hotel and later The Parkerville Hotel before adopting its current name in the 1970s.
The Chidlow Tavern was opened in 1884 in Chidlow a hills suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was originally called The Oxford Inn before assuming its current name in 1973.
The Mount Helena Tavern was opened in 1902 in Mount Helena, a hills suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was originally called the Lion Mill Hotel, then the Mount Helena Hotel, before acquiring its current name. Locally it is referred to as The Mounties.
The Mundaring Hotel was opened in 1899 in Mundaring, a hills suburb of Perth, Western Australia.
Mundaring Weir Hotel, is located in Mundaring, Western Australia.