Darling Range Hotel west face, taken from the south west or Horace Street in front of the TABHotel north side from Great Eastern Highway in October 2018
The locality known earlier as 'Helena Vale' and 'East Midland', was near the border of the council in the hills above 'Greenmount Road Board' - (now Shire of Mundaring), and the 'Midland Junction Council' (now City of Swan).
It was started as the East Midland Hotel, on the earlier name for the highway - the York Road. Despite the name the local councils called it 'The Bellevue Hotel'.[2]
The hotel was licensed in 1905, and its outward appearance changed over the years with change of owners and managers and circumstances.[3][4]
The owners, Licensees or Managers to the end of the First World War included:-
Thomas Wilkins 1903-1913
W.K. Lamzed 1914-1916
H. Finlayson 1916-1920
The longest connection on record was that of J.K. Robinson and S. Boyd 1950 -1960[5]
It was considered an excellent location and opportunity for owners and trainers with horses at the Helena Vale Racecourse.[6]
It was the base of a lengthy association with billiards and darts for the area.[7][8]
More historic hotels in the Midland - Bellevue area have been lost due to fire, loss of licence and neglect. The Darling Range Hotel building is one of the few remaining buildings in the area with well documented connections to the troops leaving Blackboy Hill Training Camp, and leaving Helena Vale Racecourse by railway to serve in the First World War.
The building remained, with a different configuration from the first world war era,[9] and was in potential threat of immanent demolishing to make way for a service station development, in an area that already has a significant concentration of service stations.[10][11][12]
Bellevue Hotel
The original hotel building was planned to be renovated in July 2018, according to the Facebook group Remember Midland[13]
As of 2019 the Bellevue Hotel and adjacent petrol station were operational.
Hotel with signs at front after 2020 covid crisisPetrol station and Hotel operational in 2020
↑ "Darling Range Hotel". Truth. No.590. Western Australia. 24 October 1914. p.5 (CITY EDITION). Retrieved 18 October 2016– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "DARLING RANGE HOTEL". Swan Express. Vol.XXIX, no.51. Western Australia. 8 February 1929. p.4. Retrieved 18 October 2016– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "BELLEVUE BITS". Swan Express. Vol.LI, no.6. Western Australia. 9 February 1950. p.4. Retrieved 18 October 2016– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "EAST MIDLAND HOTEL". The Daily News. Vol.XXVII, no.10, 415. Western Australia. 17 October 1908. p.15. Retrieved 18 October 2016– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "BILLIARDS". Swan Express. Vol.XLVII, no.48. Western Australia. 5 December 1946. p.7. Retrieved 18 October 2016– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "BELLEVUE BITS". Swan Express. Vol.LI, no.24. Western Australia. 15 June 1950. p.4. Retrieved 19 October 2016– via National Library of Australia.
↑ In 2016, the main building being known as Darling Range Lodge and a downstairs Indian restaurant in the former main bar area, with a building on the east side known as 'Ranges Inn'
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.
The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to the south of Pemberton. The adjacent Darling Plateau goes easterly to include Mount Bakewell near York and Mount Saddleback near Boddington. It was named after the Governor of New South Wales, Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling.
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.
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.
Bellevue is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia in the local government areas of the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is at the foot of the slopes of Greenmount, a landmark on the Darling Scarp that is noted in the earliest of travel journals of the early Swan River Colony.
The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and flows north-west to Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed. It then flows west until it reaches the Darling Scarp.
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 Branch Railway is an historical section of the original Eastern Railway main line across the Darling Scarp in the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) system.
Blackboy Hill was named after the Australian native "black boy" plants, Xanthorrhoea preissii, which dominated the site which is now absorbed into Greenmount, Western Australia.
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.
Helena Valley is the name of a river valley and a locality in the foothills of the Darling Scarp in Perth, Western Australia.
The Midland Junction railway station was an important junction station on the Eastern Railway of Western Australia until its closure in 1966.
Helena Vale was the original name for Midland Junction in Western Australia between 1885 and 1901. It was also the earlier name of the Midland Junction Municipality between 1895 and 1901. The name has been long associated with the area between Midland and the Darling Scarp.
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.
Bellevue railway station was a junction station on the Eastern Railway in the Perth suburb of Bellevue.
Kalamunda is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.
The Helena Vale Racecourse was a Thoroughbred horse racing track in the eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia now known as Midvale. The course operated from the 1890s until the late 1960s.
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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
